Dealing with dictators : dilemmas of U.S. diplomacy and intelligence analysis, 1945-1990 / Ernest R. May and Philip D. Zelikow, editors ; with Kirsten Lundberg and Robert D. Johnson.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction : seven tenets / Ernest R. May and Philip D. Zelikow -- Ch. 1. China, 1945-1948 : making hard choices / Ernest R. May, Kirsten Lundberg and Robert D. Johnson -- Ch. 2. The Congo, 1960-1963 : weighing worst choices / Charles G. Cogan, Ernest R. May, Kirsten Lundberg and Robert D. Johnson -- Ch. 3. Nicaragua, 1977-1979 : losing "our son-of-a-bitch" / Robert D. Johnson and Kirsten Lundberg -- Ch. 4. Iran, 1978-1979 : coping with the unthinkable / Gregory F. Treverton and James Klocke -- Ch. 5. The Philippines, 1983-1986 : arranging a divorce / William E. Kline, James Worthen, Kirsten Lundberg and Robert D. Johnson -- Ch. 6. Iraq, 1988-1990 : unexpectedly heading toward war / Zachary Karabell, Philip D. Zelikow, Ernest R. May, Kirsten Lundberg and Robert D. Johnson -- Ch. 7. Learning from the cases / Ernest R. May and Philip D. Zelikow.

"This book illustrates the chronic dilemmas inherent in U.S. dealings with dictators under conditions of uncertainty and moral ambiguity. The authors' insights shed new light on critical episodes in U.S. foreign policy and provide a basis for understanding the dilemmas that U.S. decision-makers confronted. The chapters do not focus on whether U.S. leaders made the "right" or "wrong" decisions, but instead seek to deepen our understanding of how uncertainty permeated the process and whether decision-makers and their aides asked the right questions. This approach makes the book invaluable to scholars and students of government and history, and to readers interested in the general subject of how intelligence analysis interacts with policymaking."--BOOK JACKET.