Role of Presidential Advisory Systems in US Foreign Policy-Making

Through close examination of president Dwight D. Eisenhower's Vietnam policy-making, Pasi Tuunainen presents an analysis of the functioning of the President's National Security Council (NSC) machinery as an advisory system. Tuunainen rebuts the traditional criticism that Eisenhower's NSC machinery was merely a slow and toilsome "paper mill" which produced consensus recommentations and Policy Papers for long-term consumption. Tuunainen reveals instead that, regardless of its red-tapism during the Eisenhower Administration, the formalized NSC think tank mechanism operated with considerable efficiency and flexibility, providing the President with a wide range of options and even adapting to acute situations.