The State Department today published Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981-1988, Volume I, Foundations of Foreign Policy.
This book documents the intellectual foundations of the foreign policy of President Ronald Reagan’s administration. Unlike other installments in the Reagan subseries, the documentation attempts to shed light on the collective mindset of Reagan administration officials in the broadest sense of the word.
Rather than examining the formulation of individual policy decisions or diplomatic exchanges, the book takes as its canvas the entire 8-year record of the administration, as well as the immediate pre-presidential period, including the transition between the administrations of Jimmy Carter and Reagan. In particular, it documents the ways in which the Reagan administration tried to “reset” foreign policy after the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, and the Iran hostage crisis, and it sought to create a world structure that was welcoming to certain American values. The book is based on the published record of speeches, press releases, press conferences and briefings, interviews and testimony from Congress as well as internal memoranda, correspondence, minutes of meetings and other documents generated by government officials to clarify the policy positions and assumptions of foreign policymakers. . The documentation in this book, drawn from public and archival sources, describes the perspectives not only of President Reagan, but also of Vice President George H.W. Bush, Secretaries of State Alexander Haig and George Shultz, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and other prominent policymakers.
This volume was compiled and edited by Kristin L. Ahlberg. The volume and this press release are available on the Office of the Historian website. Copies of the book are available for purchase from the U.S. Government Printing Office online (GPO S/N 044-000-02708-9; ISBN 978-0-16-095933-2), or by calling toll-free 1-866 -512-1800 (DC Area 202-512- 1800). For more information, please contact history@state.gov.<
