Carter's conversion : the hardening of American defense policy / Brian J. Auten.

Originally presented as author's thesis (Ph. D.)--2004.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 311-332) and index.

1. Introduction and Common Theoretical Explanations for Carter's "Conversion" -- 2. The Strategic Environment of the 1970s -- 3. The Pre-Presidential Strategic Thought of Jimmy Carter -- 4. The Carter Administration's First Year of Defense Policy: The Strategic Slowdown and the Conventional Emphasis -- 5. Carter's FY1979 Defense Budget: Understanding Changes to the MX Missile and Theater Nuclear Force Modernization Programs, 1977-January 1978 -- 6. Carter's Adjustments to the MX and TNF Modernization Programs in 1978 -- 7. Carter's Conversion: Explaining MX and LRTNF Decision-Making in Early 1979 -- 8. Conclusion.

"In Carter's Conversion, Auten reveals how strategic ideas and studies, allied relations, and arms control negotiations each worked to deflect Carter's initial defense stance away from the policy path suggested by the prevailing international military environment. He also shows how the administration's MX and Long-Range Theater Nuclear Force decisions subsequently hardened following significant adjustments to these three variables." "Employing the approach to international relations known as neoclassical realism, Auten demonstrates that Carter reassessed his strategic thinking and revised his policy stance accordingly. Integrating declassified documents, interviews, and private archives with a mountain of secondary sources, he provides a historical analysis of defense policy transformation over the first three years of the Carter administration and a detailed examination of how Carter and his national security team addressed challenges posed by the expansion of Soviet military power." "Full of rich history and cogent analysis, Carter's Conversion presents a wealth of detailed arguments about how Carter adjusted his policy outlook, couched in a thorough understanding of weapons, arms control dynamics, and defense policy-making. As a revision of common interpretations, it provides both an example of self-correcting policy change and a realist argument about the end of superpower detente and the start of the "Second Cold War"."--BOOK JACKET.