Description
Book SynopsisThis book examines President Reagan's and his administration's efforts to mobilize public and congressional support for seven of the president's controversial foreign policy initiatives. Each chapter deals with a distinct foreign policy issue, but they each is related in one way or another to alleged threats to U.S. national security interests by the Soviet Union and its allies. When taken together these case studies clearly illustrate the book's larger thrust: a challenge to the conventional wisdom that Reagan was the indisputable Great Communicator. This book contests the accepted wisdom that Reagan was an exemplary and highly effective practitioner of the going public model of presidential communication and leadership, that the bargaining model was relatively unimportant during his administration, and that the so-called public diplomacy regime was a high-value addition to the administration's public communication assets. The author employs an analytical approach to the historical re
Trade ReviewIn this exceptional scholarly contribution, N. Stephen Kane confronts the conventional wisdom of President Ronald Reagan as the “Great Communicator.” . . the book offers seven detailed case studies that challenge the going public model of presidential leadership. . . . Kane makes a clear and convincing case that Reagan’s public relations efforts largely failed on these policies. * Congress & the Presidency *
In this clearly-written, well-researched book, Stephen Kane demonstrates convincingly that Ronald Reagan was not at all `the Great Communicator’ of his era. Despite considerable effort, Reagan failed to alter widespread public opposition to his administration’s key foreign and military policy ventures. -- Lawrence S. Wittner, , author of Confronting the Bomb: A Short History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement
Table of ContentsIntroduction
Chapter 1: Nicaragua: Peril at the Gates?
Chapter 2: Yellow Rain: To Bee or Not to Bee?
Chapter 3: Arms and Controversy: Selling Advanced Weapons to Saudi Arabia
Chapter 4: The MX Missile: Phoenix Rising
Chapter 5: The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI): The Impossible Dream?
Chapter 6: Grenada: The Fury That Wasn’t So Urgent
Chapter 7: Diversion, Denial, and Scandal: Responding to Iran-Contra
Conclusions: Analysis and Discussion
Note on Sources
Bibliography
