American Presidential Statecraft

During the Cold War and After

Ronald E. Powaski

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9783319504537
• eBook ISBN:
  9783319504544
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

This book, the second of two volumes, examines the presidency in last half of twentieth century America and explores the successes and failures of presidents in their foreign policy initiatives. It examines each president's ability to apply his skills to a foreign policy issue in the face of opposition that may come from a variety of sources, including the Congress, the Pentagon, the State Department, the press, and often their own in-house advisers. This volume in particular focuses on John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush. 

Table of contents

• Preface
• Contents
• List of Figures
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: John F. Kennedy, the Hawks, the Doves, and the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
• Chapter 3: A “Worm with a Hook”: Lyndon Johnson’s Decision to Escalate US Involvement in the Vietnam War, November 1963–July 1965
• Chapter 4: Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and the Congress: Ending US Involvement in the Vietnam War, 1969–1974
• Chapter 5: Ronald Reagan, George Shultz, and Caspar Weinberger: Winding Down the Cold War, 1984–1988
• Chapter 6: George W. Bush’s Decision to Invade Iraq, 2001–2003
• Chapter 7: Conclusion: The Art of Presidential Statecraft
• Index