Dan Caldwell

The dynamics of domestic politics and arms control : the SALT II Treaty ratification debate

This consideration of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II) ratification debate focuses on the role that domestic political factors - including public opinion, the executive branch of the government, Congress, and special interest groups - play in the ratification of arms control treaties, calling attention to the importance of these factors in the treaty ratification process. After reviewing the domestic and international contexts of the treaty ratification debate, the author considers the role of public opinion and interest groups. The Carter administrations strategy for obtaining the Senates approval of the treaty is described and assessed, and in the concluding chapter, the lessons of the SALT II case are presented. Included in the book are interviews with a number of key players in the treaty negotiation process, such as former President Jimmy Carter, Senator Alan Cranston, former President Gerald Ford, Senator Mark Hatfield, Senator William Proxmire and former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance.

A Research Note on the Quarantine of Cuba October 1962

Graham Allisons book Essence of Decision has been justly acclaimed by both proponents and critics of the bureaucratic politics approach. One of the most demanding requirements of this approach is the collection and processing of large amounts of data. Based on intuitive and empirical evidence, it appears that Allisons interpretation of the Navys implementation of the blockade of Cuba during the missile crisis is factually incorrect, and the findings in this research note have several broader implications for analysts employing the bureaucratic politics framework.

The SALT II Treaty

On June 18, 1979, President Jimmy Carter and General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev signed the second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (salt II) in Vienna. Carter considered the treaty to be very significant; a month before signing the treaty, he told a congressional delegation: “I will never have a chance so momentous to contribute to world peace as to negotiate and to see ratified this salt treaty. And I don’t believe that any member of the Senate will ever cast a more important vote than when a final judgment is made to confirm and ratify this negotiated treaty.”1 Members of Congress agreed. Senate minority leader Howard Baker (R-Tenn.) called salt II “the most important treaty this country has undertaken since World War I.”2 Senator John Glenn (D-Ohio) concurred: “Not since Woodrow Wilson’s time and the League of Nations debate has a treaty been so important, yet so contentious, as the salt II Treaty.”3

The Academic Outreach Program of the Council on Foreign Relations

The Council on Foreign Relations was founded in 1921 as an independent, national membership organization and a nonpartisan think tank dedicated to producing and disseminating ideas to foreign policy practitioners, including Council members, senior government officials, prominent journalists, and members of Congress and their staffs. Two years ago, the Council launched its Academic Outreach Program, designed to connect the academic community to the Councils research and analysis. The program consists of the following components.