The Carter years

This book, reprinted from the original 1991 edition, is still the classic on President Carter's foreign policy.

"No government can at the same time protect the nation's security and tell its people the truth. All governments seek to bridge the gap to one degree or another, but never succeed completely. The width of the resulting gap between truth and security denotes a government's credibility, or lack of it." Richard C. Thornton

Although Jimmy Carter came to office fully prepared to carry forward the general strategy of a new global order initiated by Henry Kissinger in 1973, his administration immediately encountered a Soviet Union embarked upon a multi-pronged geopolitical offensive, backed by a major advance in strategic weaponry, which threatened to undermine America's global position. Recognition of the Soviet offensive forced a reconsideration of American strategy, splitting the new administration.

Secretary of State Cyrus Vance insisted that the strategy of a new global order, whose prerequisite was detente with the Soviet Union, remained viable. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, on the other hand, argued that a temporary return to some modified form of containment was necessary. President Carter, caught between the diametrically conflicting advice of his principal advisers, vacillated-at times supporting the views of one adviser, then the other. Even though Secretary Vance generally prevailed, the result was that indecision and vacillation marked the foreign policy of the Carter years.

Written by a leading expert in the field of history and international affairs, readers will gain a deeper appreciation for the forces at work during the Carter years and how decisions made during that time influenced US history.

RICHARD C. THORNTON is professor of History and International Affairs at the Elliott School of International Affairs of The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. A frequent commentator on current issues, Professor Thornton has served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of State, lecturer around the world for the United States Information Agency, and as a reserve officer for Air Force Intelligence, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.

Professor Thornton has written numerous books and articles on American foreign policy and international affairs, including: The Nixon-Kissinger Years: Reshaping America’s Foreign Policy; China: A Political History, 1917-1980; Soviet Asian Strategy in the Brezhnev Era and Beyond; Is Detente Inevitable?; Soviet Strategy in the Vietnam War; and Detente II—SALT III: American Dream or Nightmare?