A Superpower Transformed: The Remaking of American Foreign Relations in the 1970s

457 Pages·2016·5.71 MB·English

by  Daniel J. Sargent

A Superpower Transformed
A Superpower
Transformed
The Remaking of American Foreign Relations
in the 1970s

D A N I E L J .  S A R G E N T
1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sargent, Daniel J.
A superpower transformed : the remaking of American foreign relations in the 1970s / Daniel J. Sargent.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–19–539547–1 (hardcover : acid-free paper) 1. United States—
Foreign relations—1969–1974. 2. United States—Foreign relations—1974–1977.
3. United States—Foreign relations—1977–1981. 4. United States—Foreign relations—Decision
making. 5. Presidents—United States—History—20th century. 6. Statesmen—United
States—History—20th century. 7. Great powers—History—20th century.
8. Geopolitics—History—20th century. 9. Cold War. 10. World politics—1945–1989.
I. Title.
E855.S26 2015
327.73009047—dc23
2014013877
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
For Alethea
C O N T E N T S

Acknowledgments ix

Abbreviations xiii

Note on Sources and Prices xv

Introduction 1

1. Pax Americana 14

PA RT I R E A CH I N G B A CKWA R D

2. In Pursuit of Primacy 41

3. Geopolitics and Humanitarianism 68

4. Te Dollar and Decline 100

5. Oil Shocked 131

PA RT I I ST U M B L I N G F O RWA R D

6. Managing Interdependence 165

7. Human Rights and Détente 198

8. World Order Politics 229

9. Te Revenge of Geopolitics 261

Conclusion 297

Notes 311

Sources 371
Index 409
vii
A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S
Te year 1979 was pivotal in the making of this book. Culminating in the Soviet
Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, 1979 marked the end of the transformative
phase that this book traverses. With rather less consequence, 1979 was also the
year when the author began accumulating debts. Tis book does not discharge
them, but I am glad to be able to acknowledge in print at least some of the obliga-
tions that I have accrued in the writing of it.
Te research project that culminates in this book began at Harvard University,
under the direction of Akira Iriye, who guided my graduate studies and gave me
historical vantage on world politics. From Charles Maier, in efect a coequal
adviser, I  learned how to think about the past—and why the 1970s matered.
Ernest May taught me the history of the United States—and how to practice it.
Niall Ferguson joined these mentors midway and brought new insight, energy,
and enthusiasm. Others at Harvard from whom I learned include Sugata Bose,
Liz Cohen, Erez Manela, and Kenneth Weisbrode, who was a peer in theory
but a guide in practice. Tat I learned anything at Harvard depended on earlier
mentors. At Cambridge University, Susan Bayly and David Reynolds taught me
how to think, argue, and write like a historian. But I  would never have made
it to either Cambridge—Cambridgeshire or Massachusets—without Paul
Summers, Richard Wiles, and many other dedicated teachers, without whom
the journey leading to this book would not have begun.
Various institutions facilitated the research that led to this book. At Harvard,
the Department of History, the Charles Warren Center for American History,
the Weatherhead Center for International Afairs, and the Graduate School of
Arts and Sciences supported my career in various ways. Pre-doctoral fellowships
at the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, under the directorship of Steve Rosen,
and at the Weatherhead Center provided sustenance and camaraderie, for which
I  remain most grateful. I  am also indebted to Dunster House and Ann and
Roger Porter, who ofered lengthy hospitality and frsthand insight into the Ford
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