George Ball : behind the scenes in U.S. foreign policy / James A. Bill.

Author
Bill, James A. [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
New Haven : Yale University Press, ©1997.
Description
xvii, 274 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Availability

Available Online

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Firestone Library - Stacks E840.8.B32 B54 1997 Browse related items Request
    Mudd Manuscript Library - StacksE840.8.B32 B54 1997 Browse related items Reading Room Request

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      Summary note
      Tells the story of a man whose experiences, ideas and courageous opposition within the political system reveal much about the inner workings of foreign policy and about the practice of prudent and moral statesmanship in the twentieth century. Diplomat and "wise man" George Ball wielded enormous influence in American foreign policy for more than forty years. Best known for his dissent from U.S. Vietnam policy when he was under secretary of state during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, he also helped those administrations formulate policy concerning the European Community, the Congo, the Cuban missile crisis, and Cyprus. His last formal appointment was in 1968 as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, but he continued to advise and unofficially assist presidents and members of the American political elite for another twenty-five years. He often took contrary and critical positions on the major issues of the day. In this book, James Bill offers fascinating new insights into the inner workings of foreign policy by examining Ball's career and the political problems with which he grappled. Drawing on Ball's personal archive as well as extensive interviews with Ball and with dozens of his associates, Bill traces Ball's involvement with foreign policy. He begins in the 1940s, when Ball was a close associate of Jean Monnet, chief architect of the European Community, and ends with Ball's death in 1994. He also chronicles Ball's forty-year involvement as a founding member of the Bilderberg group--an international clique of powerful European and American leaders. The book stresses a seldom-recognized dimension of the U.S. foreign policymaking process: The importance of the second tier of officialdom--the level just below that of cabinet secretary. It provides a thoughtful comparison of the realpolitik model of statesmanship practiced by Henry Kissinger and the phronesis practiced by Ball. Ball was a prudent statesman guided by practical wisdom within a moral framework.
      Bibliographic references
      Includes bibliographical references (p. 233-263) and index.
      Contents
      • Acknowledgments
      • Introduction
      • Prologue
      • Pragmatic idealist from the midwest: Personal roots and rites of passage
      • Political practitioner and intellectual gladiator
      • Global policymaker: Politics of European integration
      • Rebellion and war in Africa and Asia: Congo and Vietnam
      • Public policy and private dissent: Cuba, Cyprus, and the Middle East
      • Statecraft for the twenty-first century: Essence of statesmanship: George Ball and Prudence
      • Notes
      • Select bibliography
      • Index.
      Other title(s)
      Behind the scenes in U.S. foreign policy
      ISBN
      • 0300069693 ((cloth ; : alk. paper))
      • 9780300069693 ((cloth ; : alk. paper))
      • 0300076460
      • 9780300076462
      LCCN
      96033991
      OCLC
      35145953
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