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Shaping and Signaling Presidential Policy The National Security Decision Making of Eisenhower and Kennedy by Meena Bose |
National security strategies are vitally important in international politics because they integrate a nation's broad foreign political goals with the means to achieve them. In Shaping and Signaling Presidential Policy, Meena Bose compares how Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy developed their Cold War strategies, focusing on how each president's decision-making process shaped his policy. The study also compares how the presidents communicated their strategies, with particular attention to possible signals conveyed to the leaders of the Soviet Union.
Bose analyzes the leadership styles and advisory systems of the two presidents, applying Alexander L. George's concept of "multiple advocacy," which recommends that presidents review a wide range of policy options in a structured setting with advisors before making a decision. Bose finds that Eisenhower's formal leadership style ensured that he examined alternatives thoroughly with associates before making policy decisions. Kennedy's informal leadership style increased opportunities for access to the president but also overloaded him with detail. The development of Eisenhower's "New Look" national security strategy illustrates the benefits of multiple advocacy, whereas the development of Kennedy's "Flexible Response" strategy demonstrates the problems that may arise without such a process. At a more general level, the study finds that policy planning early in an administration can be of great help to presidents in preparing their agendas.
Bose also finds that multiple advocacy has important payoffs for presidential policy communication. In the area of national security, where misperceptions can heighten tensions and exacerbate conflicts, it is particularly important that an administration's rhetoric be consistent with its policies.
Scholars of the American presidency and foreign policy will find Shaping and Signaling Presidential Policy a well-written and carefully documented study.
MEENA BOSE received her Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University in 1996. She is an assistant professor of political science at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.
Number Two: The Joseph V. Hughes, Jr., and Holly O. Hughes Series in the Presidency and Leadership Studies
Shaping and Signaling Presidential Policy
ISBN 0-89096-833-0 cloth $29.95s
LC 98-21374. 6x9. 208 pp. Apps. Bib. Index.
Political Science. Presidential Studies.
Publication Date: December 1998.
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