Word: abm
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...President facing this kind of situation would have a major problem. For Richard Nixon, who must contend with opposition majorities on Capitol Hill and try to govern by conciliation, the situation is particularly hazardous. As the Sentinel dispute heated up, he said that he would announce his ABM policy this week. By any reckoning, it is the biggest decision of his Administration to date?and it could bring down righteous wrath on Nixon's head no matter how he decides...
...general expectation was that the President would choose to continue the ABM program in some form, despite the bitter criticism that that course would draw. To do otherwise would amount to a vote of no confidence in the military and undercut Defense Secretary Melvin Laird, who has come out in favor of the ABM. In the highly unlikely event that Nixon chose to abandon this system, he would come under heavy fire from those Americans who voted for him at least in part because he promised to guarantee clear U.S. military superiority over the Soviet Union. To steer a cautious...
...ABM's advocates contend that the system would be a stabilizing influence among the nuclear powers, a necessary addition to the U.S. arsenal, a strong lever in prospective arms-control negotiations?and the savior of tens of millions of lives in the event of nuclear war. The project's foes, on the other hand, see the ABM in itself as a threat to peace?a new source of fuel for the already flaming arms race and a potentially voracious consumer of resources urgently needed for a lengthening catalogue of domestic ills. Beyond that, the critics contend, there are reasons...
There is even dispute over ABM's likely adversary. Sentinel has long been billed as a "thin" defense, suitable only against a Chinese attack. Yet some of its strongest supporters?and critics?view it as the beginning of a "thick" shield to counter Russian strength. One point seems certain: if Washington and Moscow decide to invest heavily in ABMs, the world will see a new watershed in nuclear weaponry...
...stakes are immense, the controversy is vociferous and widespread. The scientific community has been hotly arguing the issue for months. A series of student-faculty protests against the ABM have taken place on university campuses. In areas where ABM facilities might be situated, there have been angry citizens' meetings and demonstrations that the Pentagon's representatives have been unable to mollify. The protesters resent such use of desirable sites, fear that the missiles might be unsafe and, furthermore, insist that their presence would make the host community a special target for the enemy in the event...