The National Security State was challenged in the 1970s due to the diminished capacity of the United States to control world events, made evident by the defeat in Vietnam, and the unsustainable economic development that had started with president Lyndon B. Johnson and continued with president Richard Nixon. This challenge also impacted the Nixon administration and its decision-making process, including abuse of executive power, misleading the public, wiretappings of National Security Council employees, and justified it by saying “(…) freedom must sometimes be sacrificed for security.”
When Ronald Reagan took over the presidency after Jimmy Carter, he continued the defense buildup throughout the 1980s. The Reagan administration worked to reintroduce the use of force in pursuit of foreign policy goals , and did so directly and indirectly in Central America and in the Middle East. The Iran-contra affair and the Kirkpatrick doctrine signifies a continuation of the Nixon era, where misconduct and abuse of executive power was used as a justification, because it was all done in the name of the security.
The purpose of this essay is to analyze the state of the national security state in the 1970s and the 1980s. The primary focus will be on how Watergate and the Iran-contra affair could occur, and how these events affected the state of the national security state. Furthermore, a structure and agency perspective will be applied to the presidencies of Nixon and Reagan in order to investigate which parameters influenced the presidents to act as they did.
The United States as a hegemonic power was challenged in the 1970s due to a number of changes occurring all over the world. The Western European market was emergin...
... middle of paper ...
...ustified their misconduct and abuse of power, by arguing that they did it because of the National Security State, but what they really did was to undermine the importance of telling the truth, in a world built on mutual trust and respect.
Bibliography
Barnet, Richard J. “The Ideology of the National Security State”. The Massachusetts Review, Vol. 26, No. 4. 1985, pp. 483-500
Clyne-Canham, John. “Business as Usual: Iran-Contra and the National Security State”. World Policy Journal, vol. 9, No. 4. 1992, pp. 617-637
Freeman, Joshua B. American Empire. Penguin books. New York. 2013
Hanhimäki, Jussi M. Et al. Transatlantic Relations Since 1945. Routledge. New York. 2012
Morgan Ruth P. “Nixon, Watergate, and the study of the Presidency”. Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 1, The Nixon Presidency. 1996, pp. 217-238
Steven Hook and John Spanier's 2012 book titled “American foreign policy since WWII" serves as one of the most important texts that can be used in understanding the underlying complexities on American foreign policies. Like the first readings that are analyzed in class (American Diplomacy by George Kennan and Surprise, Security, and the American Experience by John Lewis Gaddis), this text also brings history into a more understandable context. Aside from being informative and concise in its historical approach, Hook and Spanier also critiques the several flaws and perspectives that occurred in the American foreign policy history since World War II.
The documentary entitled, Watergate Plus 30: Shadow of History, documents the political decisions and environment within the Nixon Administration from 1969-1974. The documentary specifically details and describes the environment and culture in which the Watergate scandal could occur and the events and abuses of power that lead to its occurrence. Setting the tone and the political climate of the Nixon Administration was the Vietnam War; making him a wartime President, a war that he inherited from his predecessor. The Vietnam War faced a lot of opposition from the general public, with massive protests and political demonstrations by the younger generations and overall general public. Nixon’s presidency was surrounded by this climate amidst the
As the United States developed into a world economic power, it also became a military and political power. Certain things led Americans to become more involved in world affairs, such as territorial growth. There were also consequences to the nation’s new role, like conflict between citizens and people of power. United States government and leaders had to learn the “hard way”, the challenges and negativity that they would face, such as loss of money and lack of control between certain nations, and the positive effects such as expansion of territory and alliances.
It is clear that while political scandal, primarily the 1974 Watergate scandal, played a large role in the rapidly declining confidence in government between 1968 and 1980, it is not the sole or even the dominant factor. The Watergate scandal only impacted on the Nixon era, and subsequently lead to measures that should have prevented further distrust in the government. Instead, the role played by the four presidents who held office in those years was the main reason behind the decline in confidence. The role of the presidents and their White House administrations encompassed political scandals, and also clearly influenced other factors such as the role
Nixon, Richard M. The Memoirs of Richard Nixon. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1978. Print.
Prados, John. Safe for Democracy The Secret Wars of the CIA. Chicago, IL: Ivan R Dee, Publisher, 2006.
Kennedy, JFK assassination, and after the effect on RFK. But the newer books in Dulles include a wider scope of how the US government was transformed into a state of national security in the year that follow WW II. David Talbots goal in preparing this book is to show the urgency to come to terms with our past and how it is important that we continue to fight for the right to have our history. There is no better book on Allen Dulles and his leadership of the CIA from this one. And it is a very ugly picture. Dulles did basically what makes the US became The Ugly American, but psychotic US in the Third World. He did not respond to crises, Allen Dulles created the
Abrahamian, Ervand. The Coup: 1953, the CIA, and the Roots of Modern US-Iranian Relations. The New Press, 2013.
Bose, M.. (1998). Shaping and Signaling Presidential policy; the National Security Decision Making of Eisenhower and Kennedy. College Station: Texas A&M University Press
Aitken, Jonathan. (1993). Nixon A Life. Washington D.C: Regnery Publishing, Inc. Emery, Fred. (1994). Watergate. United States: Times Books. Infopedia (1995). [Computer Software] U.S.A: Future Vision Holding Inc.
In the novel All The Shah’s Men we are introduced to Iran, and the many struggles and hardships associated with the history of this troubled country. The Iranian coup is discussed in depth throughout the novel, and whether the Untied States made the right decision to enter into Iran and provide assistance with the British. If I were to travel back to 1952 and take a position in the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) for the sole purpose of examining the American Foreign Intelligence, I would have to conclude that the United States should have examined their options more thoroughly, and decided not to intervene with Iran and Mossadegh. I have taken this position after great analysis, which is something that Eisenhower and his staff never did. By discussing the history of Iran, the Anglo-Iranian oil company, and Document NSC-68 I will try to prove once and for all that going through with the coup in Iran was a terrible mistake made by the United States.
Wendt, Alexander. “Constructing International Politics.” International Security. Cambridge: President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1995. 71-81. Print.
Political leaders of the United States were, at one time, thought of as crucial members of our society. Ideally, their main goal was to represent and satisfy the needs of the American people. Unfortunately, over the last fifty years, our trust in our administrative representatives has drastically declined. Beginning with the great conspiracy theory that President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 was actually planned by political leaders, America had, for the first time in history, begun to question its faith in its very own government. Consequently, the American people became extremely hesitant when it came to electing officials into office. Despite his loss to JFK in the 1960 presidential election, in 1968, Richard M. Nixon was elected as the thirty-seventh president of the United States. He was praised by many for his comeback after previously losing an election and seemed to be an admirable man. While in office, Nixon made many achievements and followed through with all of his promises made during his campaign. For the first time in what seemed like forever, the American people had finally elected a leader who seemed unquestionably trustworthy – or so they thought. Unfortunately, shortly after Nixon was elected to his second term of presidency in 1972, the Watergate Scandal changed America forever by creating a sense of mistrust toward the government for the American people because of The Nixon Administration’s actions.
John Lewis Gaddis, Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of American National Security Policy During the Cold War, (Oxford: OUP, 1982), 206.
Tidd, J. M. (2008). From revolution to reform: A brief history of U.S. intelligence. The SAIS