Cornell Studies in Security Affairs

1 total work

The Nixon Administration and the Making of U.S. Nuclear Strategy

by Terry Terriff

Published 1 June 1995

In 1974 Richard Nixon's defense secretary, James Schlesinger, announced that the United States would change its nuclear targeting policy from "assured destruction" to "limited nuclear options." In this account of the Schlesinger Doctrine based on newly declassified documents and extensive interviews with key actors, Terry Terriff challenges the Nixon administration's official explanation of why and how this policy innovation occurred.