Thomas J. Christensen
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691142609
- eISBN:
- 9781400838813
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691142609.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter examines how, in the post-Cold War era, the United States' alignment with Taiwan and alliance with Japan again have figured prominently among issues affecting U.S.-China security ...
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This chapter examines how, in the post-Cold War era, the United States' alignment with Taiwan and alliance with Japan again have figured prominently among issues affecting U.S.-China security relations. While they are far from being allies, the United States and the People's Republic of China (PRC) are not enemies either, but rather major economic partners who have also cooperated to some degree in addressing an increasing range of international problems. But there are still security tensions between the two sides over issues such as relations across the Taiwan Strait, and both nations practice coercive diplomacy toward the other, sometimes tacitly, sometimes less so. The chapter considers how the legacies of these Cold War alliances—particularly the U.S.–Taiwan relationship and the U.S.–Japan security treaty—have affected U.S.–China relations since the collapse of the Soviet Union.Less
This chapter examines how, in the post-Cold War era, the United States' alignment with Taiwan and alliance with Japan again have figured prominently among issues affecting U.S.-China security relations. While they are far from being allies, the United States and the People's Republic of China (PRC) are not enemies either, but rather major economic partners who have also cooperated to some degree in addressing an increasing range of international problems. But there are still security tensions between the two sides over issues such as relations across the Taiwan Strait, and both nations practice coercive diplomacy toward the other, sometimes tacitly, sometimes less so. The chapter considers how the legacies of these Cold War alliances—particularly the U.S.–Taiwan relationship and the U.S.–Japan security treaty—have affected U.S.–China relations since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Melvyn P Leffler
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691196510
- eISBN:
- 9781400888061
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691196510.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This book gathers together decades of writing by the author, to address important questions about U.S. national security policy from the end of World War I to the global war on terror. Why did the ...
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This book gathers together decades of writing by the author, to address important questions about U.S. national security policy from the end of World War I to the global war on terror. Why did the United States withdraw strategically from Europe after World War I and not after World War II? How did World War II reshape Americans' understanding of their vital interests? What caused the United States to achieve victory in the long Cold War? To what extent did 9/11 transform U.S. national security policy? Is budgetary austerity a fundamental threat to U.S. national interests? The wide-ranging chapters explain how foreign policy evolved into national security policy. The book stresses the competing priorities that forced policymakers to make agonizing trade-offs and illuminates the travails of the policymaking process itself. While assessing the course of U.S. national security policy, the author also interrogates the evolution of his own scholarship. Over time, slowly and almost unconsciously, the author's work has married elements of revisionism with realism to form a unique synthesis that uses threat perception as a lens to understand how and why policymakers reconcile the pressures emanating from external dangers and internal priorities.Less
This book gathers together decades of writing by the author, to address important questions about U.S. national security policy from the end of World War I to the global war on terror. Why did the United States withdraw strategically from Europe after World War I and not after World War II? How did World War II reshape Americans' understanding of their vital interests? What caused the United States to achieve victory in the long Cold War? To what extent did 9/11 transform U.S. national security policy? Is budgetary austerity a fundamental threat to U.S. national interests? The wide-ranging chapters explain how foreign policy evolved into national security policy. The book stresses the competing priorities that forced policymakers to make agonizing trade-offs and illuminates the travails of the policymaking process itself. While assessing the course of U.S. national security policy, the author also interrogates the evolution of his own scholarship. Over time, slowly and almost unconsciously, the author's work has married elements of revisionism with realism to form a unique synthesis that uses threat perception as a lens to understand how and why policymakers reconcile the pressures emanating from external dangers and internal priorities.
Harvey Molotch
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691163581
- eISBN:
- 9781400852338
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691163581.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Security Studies
The inspections we put up with at airport gates and the endless warnings we get at train stations, on buses, and all the rest are the way we encounter the vast apparatus of U.S. security. Like the ...
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The inspections we put up with at airport gates and the endless warnings we get at train stations, on buses, and all the rest are the way we encounter the vast apparatus of U.S. security. Like the wars fought in its name, these measures are supposed to make us safer in a post-9/11 world. But do they? This book explains how these regimes of command-and-control not only annoy and intimidate but are counterproductive. The book takes the reader through the sites, the gizmos, and the politics to urge greater trust in basic citizen capacities—along with smarter design of public spaces. The book criticizes a range of security structures and protocols: airport security that requires body searches while generating long lines of queuing people; New Orleans water projects that precipitated the Hurricane Katrina flood, and the militarized disaster response that further endangered residents; even gender-segregated public restrooms. The book recommends simple improvements, from better structural design and signage to assist evacuations to customer-service procedures that help employees to spot trouble. More so, it argues for a shift away from command and control toward a security philosophy that empowers ordinary people to handle crises. The result is a far-reaching re-examination of the culture of public fear.Less
The inspections we put up with at airport gates and the endless warnings we get at train stations, on buses, and all the rest are the way we encounter the vast apparatus of U.S. security. Like the wars fought in its name, these measures are supposed to make us safer in a post-9/11 world. But do they? This book explains how these regimes of command-and-control not only annoy and intimidate but are counterproductive. The book takes the reader through the sites, the gizmos, and the politics to urge greater trust in basic citizen capacities—along with smarter design of public spaces. The book criticizes a range of security structures and protocols: airport security that requires body searches while generating long lines of queuing people; New Orleans water projects that precipitated the Hurricane Katrina flood, and the militarized disaster response that further endangered residents; even gender-segregated public restrooms. The book recommends simple improvements, from better structural design and signage to assist evacuations to customer-service procedures that help employees to spot trouble. More so, it argues for a shift away from command and control toward a security philosophy that empowers ordinary people to handle crises. The result is a far-reaching re-examination of the culture of public fear.
William Michael Schmidli
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801451966
- eISBN:
- 9780801469626
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801451966.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
This chapter details the 1976 Argentine coup d’état. When the commanders of the three branches of the Argentine service announced the inauguration of the “National Reorganization Process,” few ...
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This chapter details the 1976 Argentine coup d’état. When the commanders of the three branches of the Argentine service announced the inauguration of the “National Reorganization Process,” few Argentines expressed genuine surprise as it was an open secret that military preparations for a political takeover had advanced to the final stage, with meticulous orders distributed to units across Argentina. When the military assumed power on March 24, 1976, U.S. ambassador Robert C. Hill offered full and definite support. This support for the Argentine military takeover exemplified a defining feature of U.S. policy toward Latin America during the Cold War: quiet cultivation of strong ties with politically ambitious Latin America militaries to protect U.S. national security.Less
This chapter details the 1976 Argentine coup d’état. When the commanders of the three branches of the Argentine service announced the inauguration of the “National Reorganization Process,” few Argentines expressed genuine surprise as it was an open secret that military preparations for a political takeover had advanced to the final stage, with meticulous orders distributed to units across Argentina. When the military assumed power on March 24, 1976, U.S. ambassador Robert C. Hill offered full and definite support. This support for the Argentine military takeover exemplified a defining feature of U.S. policy toward Latin America during the Cold War: quiet cultivation of strong ties with politically ambitious Latin America militaries to protect U.S. national security.
Melvyn P. Leffler
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780691196510
- eISBN:
- 9781400888061
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691196510.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter considers the end of the Cold War as well as its implications for the September 11 attacks in 2001, roughly a decade after the Cold War ended. While studying the Cold War, the chapter ...
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This chapter considers the end of the Cold War as well as its implications for the September 11 attacks in 2001, roughly a decade after the Cold War ended. While studying the Cold War, the chapter illustrates how memory and values as well as fear and power shaped the behavior of human agents. Throughout that struggle, the divergent lessons of World War II pulsated through policymaking circles in Moscow and Washington. Now, in the aftermath of 9/11, governments around the world drew upon the lessons they had learned from their divergent national experiences as those experiences had become embedded in their respective national memories. For policymakers in Washington, memories of the Cold War and dreams of human freedom tempted the use of excessive power with tragic consequences. Memory, culture, and values played a key role in shaping the evolution of U.S. national security policy.Less
This chapter considers the end of the Cold War as well as its implications for the September 11 attacks in 2001, roughly a decade after the Cold War ended. While studying the Cold War, the chapter illustrates how memory and values as well as fear and power shaped the behavior of human agents. Throughout that struggle, the divergent lessons of World War II pulsated through policymaking circles in Moscow and Washington. Now, in the aftermath of 9/11, governments around the world drew upon the lessons they had learned from their divergent national experiences as those experiences had become embedded in their respective national memories. For policymakers in Washington, memories of the Cold War and dreams of human freedom tempted the use of excessive power with tragic consequences. Memory, culture, and values played a key role in shaping the evolution of U.S. national security policy.
Keren Yarhi-Milo
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691159157
- eISBN:
- 9781400850419
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691159157.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter examines the indicators used by the Reagan administration to assess the intentions of the Soviet Union between 1985 and 1988. Ronald Reagan assumed the presidency in 1981 after an ...
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This chapter examines the indicators used by the Reagan administration to assess the intentions of the Soviet Union between 1985 and 1988. Ronald Reagan assumed the presidency in 1981 after an election campaign that expressed alarm over a “window of vulnerability” that endangered U.S. national security. Reagan's national security strategy featured schemes such as the Strategic Defense Initiative, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. The chapter considers U.S. perceptions of Soviet military capabilities, military doctrine, and behavior during the period based on predictions derived from the selective attention thesis, capabilities thesis, strategic military doctrine thesis, and behavior thesis. It also explores how, when, and to what extent U.S. perceptions of Soviet intentions changed in order to elucidate the broader changes that eventually led to the end of the Cold War.Less
This chapter examines the indicators used by the Reagan administration to assess the intentions of the Soviet Union between 1985 and 1988. Ronald Reagan assumed the presidency in 1981 after an election campaign that expressed alarm over a “window of vulnerability” that endangered U.S. national security. Reagan's national security strategy featured schemes such as the Strategic Defense Initiative, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. The chapter considers U.S. perceptions of Soviet military capabilities, military doctrine, and behavior during the period based on predictions derived from the selective attention thesis, capabilities thesis, strategic military doctrine thesis, and behavior thesis. It also explores how, when, and to what extent U.S. perceptions of Soviet intentions changed in order to elucidate the broader changes that eventually led to the end of the Cold War.
Shane J. Maddock
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807833551
- eISBN:
- 9781469604220
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807895849_maddock.7
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
This chapter studies the origins and failure of America's first nonproliferation proposal, the Baruch Plan, and the Truman administration's abandonment of nonproliferation from 1949 to 1953. It ...
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This chapter studies the origins and failure of America's first nonproliferation proposal, the Baruch Plan, and the Truman administration's abandonment of nonproliferation from 1949 to 1953. It observes that the U.S. government officials believed that weapons rather than treaties ensured U.S. security and made no pretense of sharing American know-how with the rest of the world. The chapter notes that national security managers feared communist ideas more than Soviet arms and Byrnes hoped to convince the American and Western European publics that an effective nuclear nonproliferation agreement could not be negotiated with the Soviets. It notes that Truman worked to solidify U.S. nuclear superiority with little concern for nonprolifieration.Less
This chapter studies the origins and failure of America's first nonproliferation proposal, the Baruch Plan, and the Truman administration's abandonment of nonproliferation from 1949 to 1953. It observes that the U.S. government officials believed that weapons rather than treaties ensured U.S. security and made no pretense of sharing American know-how with the rest of the world. The chapter notes that national security managers feared communist ideas more than Soviet arms and Byrnes hoped to convince the American and Western European publics that an effective nuclear nonproliferation agreement could not be negotiated with the Soviets. It notes that Truman worked to solidify U.S. nuclear superiority with little concern for nonprolifieration.
Frank L. III Smith
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801452710
- eISBN:
- 9780801455162
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801452710.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Security Studies
Biological weapons have threatened U.S. national security since at least World War II. Historically, however, the U.S. military has neglected research, development, acquisition, and doctrine for ...
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Biological weapons have threatened U.S. national security since at least World War II. Historically, however, the U.S. military has neglected research, development, acquisition, and doctrine for biodefense. Following September 11 and the anthrax letters of 2001, the United States started spending billions of dollars per year on medical countermeasures and biological detection systems. But most of this funding now comes from the Department of Health and Human Services rather than the Department of Defense. Why has the U.S. military neglected biodefense and allowed civilian organizations to take the lead in defending the country against biological attacks? This book addresses this puzzling and largely untold story about science, technology, and national security. The book argues that organizational frames and stereotypes have caused both military neglect and the rise of civilian biodefense. In the armed services, influential ideas about kinetic warfare have undermined defense against biological warfare. The influence of these ideas on science and technology challenges the conventional wisdom that national security policy is driven by threats or bureaucratic interests. Given the ideas at work inside the U.S. military, the book explains how the lessons learned from biodefense can help solve other important problems that range from radiation weapons to cyber attacks.Less
Biological weapons have threatened U.S. national security since at least World War II. Historically, however, the U.S. military has neglected research, development, acquisition, and doctrine for biodefense. Following September 11 and the anthrax letters of 2001, the United States started spending billions of dollars per year on medical countermeasures and biological detection systems. But most of this funding now comes from the Department of Health and Human Services rather than the Department of Defense. Why has the U.S. military neglected biodefense and allowed civilian organizations to take the lead in defending the country against biological attacks? This book addresses this puzzling and largely untold story about science, technology, and national security. The book argues that organizational frames and stereotypes have caused both military neglect and the rise of civilian biodefense. In the armed services, influential ideas about kinetic warfare have undermined defense against biological warfare. The influence of these ideas on science and technology challenges the conventional wisdom that national security policy is driven by threats or bureaucratic interests. Given the ideas at work inside the U.S. military, the book explains how the lessons learned from biodefense can help solve other important problems that range from radiation weapons to cyber attacks.
Teishan A. Latner
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781469635460
- eISBN:
- 9781469635484
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469635460.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
Chapter Two examines efforts by the FBI, CIA, local law enforcement, and U.S. politicians to portray travel to Cuba by American dissidents as a threat to U.S. national security. Alleging covert Cuban ...
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Chapter Two examines efforts by the FBI, CIA, local law enforcement, and U.S. politicians to portray travel to Cuba by American dissidents as a threat to U.S. national security. Alleging covert Cuban involvement in left-wing political bombings, espionage, street demonstrations, and growing interest in socialism among the American public, U.S. officials claimed that Cuba’s support for American radicals posed an internal security threat. Lurid media coverage focused on the Venceremos Brigade and Black Panther Party, which were accused of violating the U.S. travel ban to Cuba to receive training in guerrilla warfare from Fidel Castro’s government. The imagined perils of contact between Cuba’s revolutionaries and American radicals, however, lay in their ideological, not military, potentials. In 1976, the FBI summed up a decade of investigations, concluding that the communist nation had been the single greatest foreign influence on domestic radicalism during the 1960s.Less
Chapter Two examines efforts by the FBI, CIA, local law enforcement, and U.S. politicians to portray travel to Cuba by American dissidents as a threat to U.S. national security. Alleging covert Cuban involvement in left-wing political bombings, espionage, street demonstrations, and growing interest in socialism among the American public, U.S. officials claimed that Cuba’s support for American radicals posed an internal security threat. Lurid media coverage focused on the Venceremos Brigade and Black Panther Party, which were accused of violating the U.S. travel ban to Cuba to receive training in guerrilla warfare from Fidel Castro’s government. The imagined perils of contact between Cuba’s revolutionaries and American radicals, however, lay in their ideological, not military, potentials. In 1976, the FBI summed up a decade of investigations, concluding that the communist nation had been the single greatest foreign influence on domestic radicalism during the 1960s.
Arthur B. Laby
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199683772
- eISBN:
- 9780191763359
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199683772.003.0013
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Pensions and Pension Management
When buying stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and other securities, individuals seeking advice typically turn to broker-dealers or investment advisers before they invest. In many cases, brokers and ...
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When buying stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and other securities, individuals seeking advice typically turn to broker-dealers or investment advisers before they invest. In many cases, brokers and advisers perform similar functions but they are regulated differently under laws enacted during the Great Depression. Regulators are considering ways to harmonize the regulation of these professionals, but harmonization is fraught with difficulties. This chapter discusses the debate over harmonization and explains how the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the courts, and Congress have responded. The chapter concludes with insights into considerations that will likely determine how the harmonization debate will be resolved.Less
When buying stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and other securities, individuals seeking advice typically turn to broker-dealers or investment advisers before they invest. In many cases, brokers and advisers perform similar functions but they are regulated differently under laws enacted during the Great Depression. Regulators are considering ways to harmonize the regulation of these professionals, but harmonization is fraught with difficulties. This chapter discusses the debate over harmonization and explains how the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the courts, and Congress have responded. The chapter concludes with insights into considerations that will likely determine how the harmonization debate will be resolved.
William Michael Schmidli
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801451966
- eISBN:
- 9780801469626
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801451966.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
During the first quarter-century of the Cold War, upholding human rights was rarely a priority in U.S. policy toward Latin America. Seeking to protect U.S. national security, American policymakers ...
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During the first quarter-century of the Cold War, upholding human rights was rarely a priority in U.S. policy toward Latin America. Seeking to protect U.S. national security, American policymakers quietly cultivated relations with politically ambitious Latin American militaries. By the mid-1970s, however, the blossoming human rights movement in the United States posed a serious threat to the maintenance of close U.S. ties to anticommunist, right-wing military regimes. The competition between cold warriors and human rights advocates culminated in a fierce struggle to define U.S. policy during the Jimmy Carter presidency. This book argues that Argentina emerged as the defining test case of Carter’s promise to bring human rights to the center of his administration’s foreign policy. Carter set out to dramatically shift U.S. policy from subtle support to public condemnation of human rights violation. But could the administration elicit human rights improvements in the face of a zealous military dictatorship, rising Cold War tension, and domestic political opposition? By grappling with the disparate actors engaged in the struggle over human rights, including civil rights activists, second-wave feminists, chicano/a activists, religious progressives, members of the New Right, conservative cold warriors, and business leaders, the book utilizes unique interviews with U.S. and Argentine actors as well as newly declassified archives to offer a telling analysis of the rise, efficacy, and limits of human rights in shaping U.S. foreign policy in the Cold War.Less
During the first quarter-century of the Cold War, upholding human rights was rarely a priority in U.S. policy toward Latin America. Seeking to protect U.S. national security, American policymakers quietly cultivated relations with politically ambitious Latin American militaries. By the mid-1970s, however, the blossoming human rights movement in the United States posed a serious threat to the maintenance of close U.S. ties to anticommunist, right-wing military regimes. The competition between cold warriors and human rights advocates culminated in a fierce struggle to define U.S. policy during the Jimmy Carter presidency. This book argues that Argentina emerged as the defining test case of Carter’s promise to bring human rights to the center of his administration’s foreign policy. Carter set out to dramatically shift U.S. policy from subtle support to public condemnation of human rights violation. But could the administration elicit human rights improvements in the face of a zealous military dictatorship, rising Cold War tension, and domestic political opposition? By grappling with the disparate actors engaged in the struggle over human rights, including civil rights activists, second-wave feminists, chicano/a activists, religious progressives, members of the New Right, conservative cold warriors, and business leaders, the book utilizes unique interviews with U.S. and Argentine actors as well as newly declassified archives to offer a telling analysis of the rise, efficacy, and limits of human rights in shaping U.S. foreign policy in the Cold War.
Elizabeth Grimm Arsenault
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780231180788
- eISBN:
- 9780231543255
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231180788.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Security Studies
Legal, foreign policy, and operational harms call into question the narrative that the United States is better off as a result of inhumane detainee treatment. This chapter explores how the life cycle ...
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Legal, foreign policy, and operational harms call into question the narrative that the United States is better off as a result of inhumane detainee treatment. This chapter explores how the life cycle of norms applies to policy and whether a new normative consensus has been reached on the issue of detainee treatment. It concludes by offering several policy recommendations and future avenues of research for scholarship.Less
Legal, foreign policy, and operational harms call into question the narrative that the United States is better off as a result of inhumane detainee treatment. This chapter explores how the life cycle of norms applies to policy and whether a new normative consensus has been reached on the issue of detainee treatment. It concludes by offering several policy recommendations and future avenues of research for scholarship.
Kenneth D. Garbade
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262016377
- eISBN:
- 9780262298674
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262016377.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Econometrics
The market for U.S. Treasury securities is a marvel of modern finance. In 2009 the Treasury auctioned $8.2 trillion of new securities, ranging from four-day bills to thirty-year bonds, in 283 ...
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The market for U.S. Treasury securities is a marvel of modern finance. In 2009 the Treasury auctioned $8.2 trillion of new securities, ranging from four-day bills to thirty-year bonds, in 283 offerings on 171 different days. By contrast, in the decade before World War I, there was only about $1 billion of interest-bearing Treasury debt outstanding, spread out over just six issues. New offerings were rare, and the debt was narrowly held, most of it owned by national banks. This book traces the development of the Treasury market from a financial backwater in the years before World War I to a multibillion dollar market on the eve of World War II. It focuses on Treasury debt management policies, describing the origins of several pillars of modern Treasury practice, including “regular and predictable” auction offerings and the integration of debt and cash management. The book recounts the actions of Secretaries of the Treasury, from William McAdoo in the Wilson administration to Henry Morgenthau in the Roosevelt administration, and their responses to economic conditions. His account covers the Treasury market in the two decades before World War I, how the Treasury financed the Great War, how it managed the postwar refinancing and paydowns, and how it financed the chronic deficits of the Great Depression. It concludes with an examination of aspects of modern Treasury debt management that grew out of developments from 1917 to 1939.Less
The market for U.S. Treasury securities is a marvel of modern finance. In 2009 the Treasury auctioned $8.2 trillion of new securities, ranging from four-day bills to thirty-year bonds, in 283 offerings on 171 different days. By contrast, in the decade before World War I, there was only about $1 billion of interest-bearing Treasury debt outstanding, spread out over just six issues. New offerings were rare, and the debt was narrowly held, most of it owned by national banks. This book traces the development of the Treasury market from a financial backwater in the years before World War I to a multibillion dollar market on the eve of World War II. It focuses on Treasury debt management policies, describing the origins of several pillars of modern Treasury practice, including “regular and predictable” auction offerings and the integration of debt and cash management. The book recounts the actions of Secretaries of the Treasury, from William McAdoo in the Wilson administration to Henry Morgenthau in the Roosevelt administration, and their responses to economic conditions. His account covers the Treasury market in the two decades before World War I, how the Treasury financed the Great War, how it managed the postwar refinancing and paydowns, and how it financed the chronic deficits of the Great Depression. It concludes with an examination of aspects of modern Treasury debt management that grew out of developments from 1917 to 1939.
Seth Jacobs
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801445477
- eISBN:
- 9780801464041
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801445477.003.0009
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the relationship between Laos and U.S. policy. The U.S. policy toward Laos under Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy shaped America’s approach to ...
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This introductory chapter provides an overview of the relationship between Laos and U.S. policy. The U.S. policy toward Laos under Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy shaped America’s approach to Southeast Asia during the cold war. Laos was the testing ground for counterinsurgency and nation-building programs that emerged in Vietnam, and many of the features that distinguished later programs—support of unpopular but pro-Western despots, matches between U.S. civilian and military bureaucracies, and ignorance of the needs and problems of the native populations—first became known in Laos. Indeed, Laos occupied more of Eisenhower’s and Kennedy’s time than Vietnam. The “Kingdom of a Million Elephants” was considered essential to America’s national security and a vital piece in the fight between communism and anticommunism.Less
This introductory chapter provides an overview of the relationship between Laos and U.S. policy. The U.S. policy toward Laos under Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy shaped America’s approach to Southeast Asia during the cold war. Laos was the testing ground for counterinsurgency and nation-building programs that emerged in Vietnam, and many of the features that distinguished later programs—support of unpopular but pro-Western despots, matches between U.S. civilian and military bureaucracies, and ignorance of the needs and problems of the native populations—first became known in Laos. Indeed, Laos occupied more of Eisenhower’s and Kennedy’s time than Vietnam. The “Kingdom of a Million Elephants” was considered essential to America’s national security and a vital piece in the fight between communism and anticommunism.
Martin Feldstein and Jeffrey B. Liebman
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226241067
- eISBN:
- 9780226241890
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226241890.003.0008
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Public and Welfare
This chapter explores the distributional effect of a change from the existing pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) U.S. Social Security system to one that combines both PAYGO and investment-based elements. The ...
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This chapter explores the distributional effect of a change from the existing pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) U.S. Social Security system to one that combines both PAYGO and investment-based elements. The shift to the personal retirement account (PRA) system is potentially more significant for blacks than it is for whites in combating poverty in old age. Individuals with higher earnings and benefit levels receive more weight in the internal rate-of-return calculations. Furthermore, higher income groups tend to receive benefit increases from a PRA system relative to the Social Security system that are larger than those of lower income groups. All demographic and income groups can benefit from an investment-based system with a lower saving rate than the projected long-run PAYGO tax, and that the potential reductions in poverty are the largest for those most at risk of poverty.Less
This chapter explores the distributional effect of a change from the existing pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) U.S. Social Security system to one that combines both PAYGO and investment-based elements. The shift to the personal retirement account (PRA) system is potentially more significant for blacks than it is for whites in combating poverty in old age. Individuals with higher earnings and benefit levels receive more weight in the internal rate-of-return calculations. Furthermore, higher income groups tend to receive benefit increases from a PRA system relative to the Social Security system that are larger than those of lower income groups. All demographic and income groups can benefit from an investment-based system with a lower saving rate than the projected long-run PAYGO tax, and that the potential reductions in poverty are the largest for those most at risk of poverty.
Eugene Ford
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780300218565
- eISBN:
- 9780300231281
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300218565.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
How did the U.S. government make use of a “Buddhist policy” in Southeast Asia during the Cold War despite the American principle that the state should not meddle with religion? To answer this ...
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How did the U.S. government make use of a “Buddhist policy” in Southeast Asia during the Cold War despite the American principle that the state should not meddle with religion? To answer this question, this book's author delved deep into an unprecedented range of U.S. and Thai sources and conducted numerous oral history interviews with key informants. The author uncovers a riveting story filled with U.S. national security officials, diplomats, and scholars seeking to understand and build relationships within the Buddhist monasteries of Southeast Asia. This fascinating narrative provides a new look at how the Buddhist leaderships of Thailand and its neighbors became enmeshed in Cold War politics and in the U.S. government's clandestine efforts to use a predominant religion of Southeast Asia as an instrument of national stability to counter communist revolution.Less
How did the U.S. government make use of a “Buddhist policy” in Southeast Asia during the Cold War despite the American principle that the state should not meddle with religion? To answer this question, this book's author delved deep into an unprecedented range of U.S. and Thai sources and conducted numerous oral history interviews with key informants. The author uncovers a riveting story filled with U.S. national security officials, diplomats, and scholars seeking to understand and build relationships within the Buddhist monasteries of Southeast Asia. This fascinating narrative provides a new look at how the Buddhist leaderships of Thailand and its neighbors became enmeshed in Cold War politics and in the U.S. government's clandestine efforts to use a predominant religion of Southeast Asia as an instrument of national stability to counter communist revolution.
Brian Woodall
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- September 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813145013
- eISBN:
- 9780813145327
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813145013.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
This chapter traces the evolution of Japan’s cabinet system in the first years of the “1955 System,” during which time a seniority system for cabinet ministers became established. Because Liberal ...
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This chapter traces the evolution of Japan’s cabinet system in the first years of the “1955 System,” during which time a seniority system for cabinet ministers became established. Because Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmakers monopolized ministerial portfolios, appointment to a cabinet post became simply another wrung on the perpetually ruling party’s internal promotional ladder. And yet because the LDP was, in essence, a “federation of factions” united for purposes of campaign and legislative strategy, rather than a unified national party, Machiavellian machinations played a role in deciding the party’s president, who doubled as prime minister. Yet, under the surface, differences in style and outlook pitted rival camps of “ex-bureaucrats” and “career politicians,” and the need to maintain balance among intraparty factions dictated frequent cabinet changes, and often, the appointment of ministers with dubious qualifications. At the same time, the autonomy of cabinets in executive affairs was called into question by the actions of an activist government bureaucracy and a hegemonic party that preapproved all major policy departures. Meanwhile, prime ministers and cabinets were forced to respond to challenges produced by high-speed economic growth and dissatisfaction with institutional arrangements put in place during the American-led occupation.Less
This chapter traces the evolution of Japan’s cabinet system in the first years of the “1955 System,” during which time a seniority system for cabinet ministers became established. Because Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmakers monopolized ministerial portfolios, appointment to a cabinet post became simply another wrung on the perpetually ruling party’s internal promotional ladder. And yet because the LDP was, in essence, a “federation of factions” united for purposes of campaign and legislative strategy, rather than a unified national party, Machiavellian machinations played a role in deciding the party’s president, who doubled as prime minister. Yet, under the surface, differences in style and outlook pitted rival camps of “ex-bureaucrats” and “career politicians,” and the need to maintain balance among intraparty factions dictated frequent cabinet changes, and often, the appointment of ministers with dubious qualifications. At the same time, the autonomy of cabinets in executive affairs was called into question by the actions of an activist government bureaucracy and a hegemonic party that preapproved all major policy departures. Meanwhile, prime ministers and cabinets were forced to respond to challenges produced by high-speed economic growth and dissatisfaction with institutional arrangements put in place during the American-led occupation.
David R. Jardini
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262082853
- eISBN:
- 9780262275873
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262082853.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
The present chapter explores RAND’s development of analytical management techniques for military purposes and the diffusion of these methodologies from the military context into broader social ...
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The present chapter explores RAND’s development of analytical management techniques for military purposes and the diffusion of these methodologies from the military context into broader social welfare policy-making applications. It concentrates on three main issues, first providing a brief discussion of RAND’s history, focusing on the processes of intellectual production at RAND and the ways in which the creation of techniques there was shaped by a military context. Second, the chapter traces the dissemination of RAND’s systems methodologies from the corporation’s quasi-academic setting to the highest echelons of the U.S. national security structure. Finally, it examines where and how RAND’s methodological innovations diffused beyond the military establishment into programs of the “Great Society.” In general, the chapter traces the consequences of Cold War technical development for American democracy and argues that the widespread adoption of centralized, elitist policy making in the federal government may have contributed to the alienation many Americans feel toward the national government.Less
The present chapter explores RAND’s development of analytical management techniques for military purposes and the diffusion of these methodologies from the military context into broader social welfare policy-making applications. It concentrates on three main issues, first providing a brief discussion of RAND’s history, focusing on the processes of intellectual production at RAND and the ways in which the creation of techniques there was shaped by a military context. Second, the chapter traces the dissemination of RAND’s systems methodologies from the corporation’s quasi-academic setting to the highest echelons of the U.S. national security structure. Finally, it examines where and how RAND’s methodological innovations diffused beyond the military establishment into programs of the “Great Society.” In general, the chapter traces the consequences of Cold War technical development for American democracy and argues that the widespread adoption of centralized, elitist policy making in the federal government may have contributed to the alienation many Americans feel toward the national government.
John Acacia
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813125510
- eISBN:
- 9780813135304
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813125510.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, Military History
Clark Clifford had spent the better part of a lifetime cultivating and living off his reputation, and he had become one of the most powerful and respected men in Washington. Unfortunately for ...
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Clark Clifford had spent the better part of a lifetime cultivating and living off his reputation, and he had become one of the most powerful and respected men in Washington. Unfortunately for Clifford, a reputation is a fragile thing in Washington, especially when tarnished by scandal—the BCCI scandal. BCCI, otherwise known as the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, was founded in 1972 by a Pakistani named Agha Hasan Abedi. The bank catered mostly to the wealthy rulers of the Arab states in the Persian Gulf. It was, however, unwilling to be acquired and filed suit against Bert Lance, Abedi, BCCI, and a group of Arab investors for violating U.S. security laws by failing to disclose that they had been operating as a group in their attempt to gain a controlling interest in Financial General. In February 1978, Lance asked Clifford to defend them in the lawsuit.Less
Clark Clifford had spent the better part of a lifetime cultivating and living off his reputation, and he had become one of the most powerful and respected men in Washington. Unfortunately for Clifford, a reputation is a fragile thing in Washington, especially when tarnished by scandal—the BCCI scandal. BCCI, otherwise known as the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, was founded in 1972 by a Pakistani named Agha Hasan Abedi. The bank catered mostly to the wealthy rulers of the Arab states in the Persian Gulf. It was, however, unwilling to be acquired and filed suit against Bert Lance, Abedi, BCCI, and a group of Arab investors for violating U.S. security laws by failing to disclose that they had been operating as a group in their attempt to gain a controlling interest in Financial General. In February 1978, Lance asked Clifford to defend them in the lawsuit.
Yanek Mieczkowski
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801451508
- eISBN:
- 9780801467936
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801451508.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter discusses Eisenhower's televised efforts to “calm” the American public after the Sputnik launch. He gave a series of nationally televised speeches on science and national security, ...
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This chapter discusses Eisenhower's televised efforts to “calm” the American public after the Sputnik launch. He gave a series of nationally televised speeches on science and national security, assuring the public that there was no crisis, that no rash action or legislative program was needed. General Andrew Goodpaster noted that this effort—dubbed as Operation Confidence—aims to restore the public confidence in the U.S. national security, and prevent “crash programs that would be unnecessary, that would be very wasteful and misdirected.” By setting the proper tone and invoking the right words, he hoped to banish the Sputnik issue from the news.Less
This chapter discusses Eisenhower's televised efforts to “calm” the American public after the Sputnik launch. He gave a series of nationally televised speeches on science and national security, assuring the public that there was no crisis, that no rash action or legislative program was needed. General Andrew Goodpaster noted that this effort—dubbed as Operation Confidence—aims to restore the public confidence in the U.S. national security, and prevent “crash programs that would be unnecessary, that would be very wasteful and misdirected.” By setting the proper tone and invoking the right words, he hoped to banish the Sputnik issue from the news.