MORALITY, REASON, AND POWER: American Diplomacy in the Carter Years

by Gaddis Smith ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1986

The first comprehensive analysis of foreign policy and diplomacy during the Carter years. The title refers to the fact that there are only three approaches to foreign policy. Carter in the beginning chose morality, the preservation of moral principles in dealing with other nations and their leaders. ""He promised to lead the country in a new direction, [away from the militarism of the Vietnam era] openly, morally, and with an absolute commitment to human rights."" However, the three approaches were constantly in conflict within the Administration. Carter adopted the moral stance; Secretary of State Cyrus Vance believed in reason--the efficacy of negotiation and compromise; the confrontational stance based on the projection of power was personified by Zbigniew Brzezinski. Morality predominated during Carter's first two years. Then the militarists began to take over and the last two years of the administration saw a radical shift toward those who favored power. Smith argues that ""One may deplore or applaud the objectives, methods, and results of those years. But to ignore or forget them is to block from memory a period when a fundamental debate about how the US should behave in international affairs was waged with unusual clarity; when the President and his highest advisers tried more intensively than at any time since 1945 to grapple with and relieve the terrible insecurity of the nuclear age through negotiated arms control; when an effort was made to think in terms of a lasting world order beneficial to all people rather than to make every decision on the basis of short-term calculation of American advantage over the Soviet Union; when leaders tried consciously and explicitly to discover and apply an effective combination of morality, reason, and power in the conduct of American foreign policy."" Smith offers fresh perspectives on many of the major issues of the period. A useful and readable first cut at recent history.

Pub Date: June 1, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Hill & Wang/Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1986

Categories: NONFICTION