Congress and the Cold War [Paperback]

This book offers the first historical study of the congressional response to the entire Cold War.This book provides the first historical interpretation of the congressional response to the entire Cold War, using a wide variety of sources, including several manuscript collections opened specifically for this study. The manuscript places the congressional revolt against U.S. foreign policy during the Vietnam War in historical perspective, arguing that both ideologically and tactically, congressional critics of the war built off earlier precedents. In addition, the book offers some guidance for understanding the relatively weak congressional role in contemporary foreign policy, a product of institutional, ideological, and political changes at the end of the Cold War.This book provides the first historical interpretation of the congressional response to the entire Cold War, using a wide variety of sources, including several manuscript collections opened specifically for this study. The manuscript places the congressional revolt against U.S. foreign policy during the Vietnam War in historical perspective, arguing that both ideologically and tactically, congressional critics of the war built off earlier precedents. In addition, the book offers some guidance for understanding the relatively weak congressional role in contemporary foreign policy, a product of institutional, ideological, and political changes at the end of the Cold War.This book challenges the popular and scholarly image of a weak Cold War Congress, in which the unbalanced relationship between the legislative and executive branches culminated in the escalation of the U.S. commitment in Vietnam, paving the way for the passage of the War Powers Act in 1973. It evokes a more flexible conception of the congressional role in foreign policy, focused on three facets of legislative power: the use of spending measures; the internal workings of a Congress increasingly dominated by subcommittees; and the ability of indlC7