Description: Does the public alter American foreign policy choices, or does the government try to change public opinion to support its policies? In Counting the Public In, Douglas C. Foyle demonstrates that it depends on the president. Using archival collections and public sources, Foyle rigorously examines the foreign policy beliefs of all the post-World War II presidents. He also discusses the decisions of Eisenhower, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, outlining four distinct types of decision makers (delegates, executors, pragmatists, and guardians), each of which weighs the importance of public opinion differently. Including detailed case studies of decisions on military intervention in Indochina, Lebanon, Somalia, Bosnia, and the Gulf, and reactions to Sputnik, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and German reunification, Counting the Public In offers a valuable contribution to recent debates about the domestic sources of international relations and the development of American foreign policy.

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