Date post: | 29-Dec-2015 |
Category: |
Documents |
Upload: | clara-bates |
View: | 217 times |
Download: | 1 times |
Lesson 25
The Era of Retrenchment: Presidents Ford and Carter
1974-1980
Learning Objectives
• Understand the Navy under President Ford and the political and economic factors that contributed to the Carter Administration viewpoint of the Navy’s role in Military Strategy and foreign relations.
• Know the evolution of strategic thinking and the defense policy during of the Carter Administration and the internal political factors that influenced these policies.
• Comprehend the policy goals that preceded the Reagan defense buildup and the internal political situation that enabled it.
Remember our Themes!
• The Navy as an Instrument of Foreign Policy• Interaction between Congress and the Navy• Interservice Relations• Technology• Leadership• Strategy and Tactics• Evolution of Naval Doctrine
The Navy Under President Gerald Ford
• Vietnam: Frustration –Congress would not fund $1 billion for SVN that had been previously promised
• USSR: – “Peaceful coexistence” interpreted as rivalry for
dominance through client states in Third World, notably Africa (Angola, Ethiopia, Somalia, Zaire)
– Nuclear arms race intensifies• USSR develops triple-MIRV ICBM, SS-20; Backfire
bomber• US develops Trident SSBN; total of 8,500 warheads
(nearly 3,000 increase in five years)• SALT-II dead in water
MAYAGUEZ Incident: 12 May 1975
• Cambodian communist forces seize 40 man American commercial vessel.
• Diplomacy fails to gain release• Pres. Ford sends in USAF, USN, USMC (largest
deployment since Vietnam)• Recapture: 15 Marines killed; 50 wounded
Economic Inflation: Technology Costs
Pre - Vietnam Post - VietnamForrestal = $350 million
Nimitz = $2 billion
F-4 Phantom = $3 million
F-14 Tomcat = $23 million
Destroyer = $50 million
Spruance = $350 million
By 1975, the Navy’s 200th anniversary, the Navy had less than 500 ships.
Decline of the U.S. Navy Under Carter (1977-1981)
• Background: He inherited a congressional and popular antimilitary attitude as well as a reduced Navy composed of older ships.
• Diplomacy: He believed containment could be achieved through diplomacy and did not think the Soviets were a world threat.– Salt I– Salt II
The Carter Naval Policy
• The President did not support naval expansion.
• His five-year building programs were extremely austere.
• He de-emphasized the “presence” mission of the Navy.
• He limited the conceptual basis for the Navy’s size to plan for SLOC protection and support of the major U.S. commitments to Europe.
• The Iranian crisis (1978-1981) forced Carter to send warships to the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean
The Carter Naval Policy
• 1979, Anti-American Ayatollah Khomeini comes to power in Iran
– De-stabilizes the region for U.S.– Since 1953 Iran was American friendly: imported in excess
of 10.5 million dollars of arms– Iran Hostage Crisis
• 1980, failed rescue attempt with hostages in Iran• Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
– U.S. supports anti-Soviet fighters with high-tech arms– Conflict lasts 10 years
• Soviets Withdraw, leaving Afghanistan in hands of warlords, (ultimately, anti-U.S. Taliban)
Carter Doctrine
• “Let our position be absolutely clear: An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an attack on the vital interests of the U.S.”– State of the Union,
1979
Consequences: Ford/Carter
• Carter policy of Soviets being European Continental Threat only badly damaged the Navy’s ability to handle crisis in Middle East.– American Embassy in Tehran– Stability in Middle East– Iran/Iraq War
• Regan easily elected in 1980– Carter’s dealing w/ hostagesin Iran– Soviet threat