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- Title
WAR COUNSEL: MILITARY ADVICE IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
- Authors
Strathman, Brent A.
- Abstract
Many accounts of American foreign policy prominently feature advisors in presidential decision making. Yet the question of advisory influence has not been fully examined. What is the role of advisors in decisions of war and peace? This paper argues the extent of advisory influence is tied to how presidents ease credibility problems in the White House. Presidents and advisors have an uneasy relationship, and presidents learn to structure the foreign policy system to limit bias. The ways in which presidents inculcate trust and avoid bias determines the extent and type of advisory influence. Decisions of war and peace are connected to not only how presidents see the world, but also how presidents manage trust in the inner circle. The logic of the argument is explored in a case study of the Spanish-American War. Unfortunately for the President, his inner circle was unable to ease the endemic uncertainty surrounding the crisis on the island. The inability of McKinley to manage the process allowed imperialists to execute their design for empire. The competition between advisors in the McKinley Administration manifested a war plan that ignored the imbalance of power between the United States and Spain.
- Subjects
UNITED States; PRESIDENTS of the United States; MCKINLEY, William, 1843-1901; MILITARY policy; POLITICAL consultants; CAUSES of war; UNITED States politics &; government, 1897-1901
- Publication
White House Studies, 2009, Vol 9, Issue 2, p159
- ISSN
1535-4768
- Publication type
Case Study