Discontinuity, Uncertainty and Change: Atlanticism in Retreat

Abstract

The Administration of President Jimmy Carter arguably represented a marked departure in style from what had gone before in domestic American politics, and—equally—in some important respects was very different from previous regimes in terms of foreign-policy themes and priorities. One should not carry this argument too far: the President, for all the emphasis on morality and modesty in power, was very much in tune with the mass-media and public-relations demands of modern American electoral politics. Only in retrospect, after the defeat in 1980 by Ronald Reagan, was the extraordinary accomplishment represented by Carter’s electoral victory in 1976 overshadowed. Likewise, the Carter regime in different ways, including seeking arms accords with the Soviet Union and integrative overall themes to foreign policy, was very much in tune with the concerns of earlier administrations. The threat of nuclear war was a most central preoccupation, with the consequent strongly felt need to do something to control the strategic nuclear arsenals held by the superpowers. In this sense the interests of the President and his associates were consistent with those of U.S. foreign policy since the Eisenhower Administration.