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SUMMARY:The Public Politics of America's First Missile Defence System\, 19
 67-1969 - James Cameron (Sidney Sussex)
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UID:TALK24476@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Ilya Berkovich
DESCRIPTION:The signature of the ABM Treaty in May 1972 was a significant 
 moment\, both in the development of detente between the United States and 
 the Soviet Union and the history of nuclear arms control. Yet the United S
 tates' policy towards missile defence before the ABM Treaty has received l
 ittle attention from scholars. My PhD thesis traces the evolution of missi
 le defence from a broad concept in 1955 through to a working deployment pr
 ogramme in the mid-1960s and a diplomatic bargaining chip in the early 197
 0s. This paper addresses a key phase of this evolution: the passionate and
  highly contested public debate surrounding deployment of America's first 
 ABM system.\n\nFor the first time\, foreign and defence policy elites of e
 qual weight and standing disagreed openly over the wisdom of a major strat
 egic nuclear weapons system\, with many prominent scientists and intellect
 uals testifying against ABM in Congress. This divergence was in part drive
 n by differing interpretations of the war in Vietnam. The war was also a c
 omponent in rising popular participation on the ABM question\, with suburb
 an pressure groups objecting to the siting of the system near their homes 
 and speaking out against Federal spending priorities that many felt privil
 eged defence to the detriment of social programmes. The ABM debate culmina
 ted with a 50-51 vote in the Senate on appropriations for its deployment i
 n August 1969\, the closest vote in Congress on a defence issue since the 
 extension of the draft in 1941. This was indicative of the resurgence of C
 ongress as a counterpoint to the executive on questions of national securi
 ty. In the process\, the US ABM programme became highly politicised\, faci
 litating its transition to a diplomatic tool in the SALT talks\, which com
 menced in November 1969.
LOCATION:Graduate Union Lounge\, 17 Mill Lane\, Cambridge
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