Eisenhower and Kennedy: A Comparison of Confrontations at Little Rock and Ole Miss

The purpose of this study is to assess the ways in which President Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy reacted to the civil rights crises in Little Rock in 1957 and at Ole Miss in 1962. A side theme is to assess presidential learning by seeing whet Kennedy learned from the lessons taught by Eisenhower. Each president was reluctant to commit federal troops to enforcing civil rights, was concerned about the problems associated with federalism, and ended up feeling forced to commit troops nonetheless. The message is that despite the presidents' best intentions, troops ultimately had to be committed. Kennedy was unable to avoid the traps that Eisenhower had encountered, and the imposition of the national government on the enforcement of civil rights was firmly established.     

Nuclear Weapons: The Global and Popular Context of Policy

Book reviewed:
Lawrence S. Wittner. Toward Nuclear Abolition: A History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement , 1971 to the Present . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003. 491 pp. Notes, bibliography, index. $75.00 (cloth), $32.95 (paper).     

Ronald Reagan,the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign and the Nuclear scare of the 1980s

This article examines the Reagan's administration response to the nuclear scare and the ensuing antinuclear mobilization of the early 1980s. Specifically, it analyses the interaction between the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign (NWFC) and the Administration's Nuclear Arms Control Information Policy Group (NACIPIG), the ad hoc interdepartmental group created in order to counter the NWFC's influence on public opinion and regain control of the debate on nuclear arms negotiations. By looking simultaneously at the NACIPIG's records and the nuclear freeze campaign documents, the article analyses the interplay between the movement and the executive branch, aiming at understand how the White House responded to the domestic antinuclear challenge and in which way the movement influenced public opinion and affected in the end policy-making. The purpose is to offer a nuanced understanding of the role played by the antinuclear movement that, through its pressure on the U.S. public opinion and Congress, induced Reagan first to temper his bellicose rhetoric and then to alter his negotiating strategy with the Soviets.     

Eisenhower and Castro: US-Cuban relations, 1958-60

Books reviewed in this article:
United States Government Printing Office, Foreign Relations of the United States 1958-1960, Vol. V. American Republics
United States Government Printing Office, Foreign Relations of the United States 1958-1960, Vol. VI. Cuba     

核武器与新中国60年发展历程

从抗日战争时期的"原子弹是纸老虎"到20世纪50年代对"蘑菇云"的追逐,中国领导人对核武器态度的变化只发生在战术方面,而战略上的积极防御以及在国家安全诉求之外对民族复兴、外交独立、国际认可和尊重、追赶先进、实现现代化等多方面的诉求,才是这一过程中不变的主旋律,同时也是中国发展核武器的根本动因。从追逐"蘑菇云"的"革命国家"到积极参与防止核扩散的负责任大国,核武器对新中国60年发展历程的政治意义大于军事意义。     

Eisenhower and Nixon: A Friendship of Unequals

Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon are linked forever in the history of the American presidency, yet only recently have scholars paid notable attention to their relationship. While this uptick in research about how the two men related to each other has been important, it has not fully grappled with the political implications of their relationship. This article argues that understanding the friendship the two men had, including how it changed over time, provides insight into the way each viewed and conducted his own politics. I argue that the two most often shared an Aristotelian friendship of utility, which provided Eisenhower with a rising conservative politico and Nixon with a respected national figure for a mentor. Though neither would ever come to fully understand the other they influenced each other in profound ways.     

Kennedy and Cuba: Then and Now

Book reviewed:
Sheldon Stern. Averting 'the Final Failure': John F. Kennedy and the Secret Cuban Missile Crisis Meetings . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003. 496 pp. Illus. $35.00 (cloth).
Alice L. George. Awaiting Armageddon: How Americans Faced the Cuban Missile Crisis . Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003. Illus., notes, bibliography, index. $29.95 (cloth).