American Foreign Policy Since the Vietnam War

This book integrates the study of presidential politics and foreign policy-making from the Vietnam aftermath to the events following September 11 and the Iraqi War. Focusing on the relationship between presidents' foreign policy agendas and domestic politics, it offers compelling portraits of presidents Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II. In the course of comparing the efforts of these presidents to articulate a clear conception of the national interest and to forge a foreign policy consensus, the author shows the key role of public opinion in constraining presidential initiatives, in particular the decision to use military force overseas. Never more timely, this popular text is appropriate for courses in U.S. foreign policy, the presidency, or contemporary U.S. politics.

Richard A. Melanson is the author or editor of several books on American foreign policy including Writing History and Making Policy: The Cold Wan Vietnam, and Revisionism and Re-Evaluating Eisenhower: American Foreign Policy in the 1950s. He has taught international politics, public opinion and U.S. foreign policy, and American Grand Strategy at the National Defense University, Brown University, Kenyon College, and the University of California at Los Angeles.

Part 1 The Rise and Fall of the Cold War Consensus; Chapter 1 In Search of Consensus; Part 2 American Foreign Policy After Vietnam; Chapter 2 The Nixon Administration; Chapter 3 The Carter Administration; Chapter 4 The Reagan Administration; Part 3 The Post-Cold War Interlude; Chapter 5 The Bush Administration; Chapter 6 The Clinton Administration; Part 4 The Global War on Terror; Chapter 7 The George W. Bush Administration; Part 5 Conclusions; Chapter 8 American Foreign Policy Since Nixon;