The CIA and American Democracy [Paperback]

Professor Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 23, 1991 | ISBN-10: 0300050178 | ISBN-13: 978-0300050172

The role of the CIA is crucial for America's security and for the prospects of world peace. Democracy depends on secret intelligence for its survival, yet the relationship between the two has always been controversial and, at times, mutually harmful. In this history of the CIA based on verifiable documents and on scholarly sources, Jeffreys-Jones examines the agency as an institution operating within a political context. Providing an account of the CIA's shifting relationship with the American public, Congress, and presidents, Jeffreys-Jones's assessment of the CIA and the factors that increase or diminish its efficacy provides a look at an issue of importance to all.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This supportive, comprehensive study of the CIA traces the changing status of the agency from its 1947 beginnings to the present. Jeffreys-Jones, history lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, reveals how the CIA and its successive directors have been enmeshed in presidential politics and foreign policy, experiencing a "golden age" in the Eisenhower era and relatively hard times during the Johnson and Nixon administrations. The periodic congressional crusades aimed at unveiling "the truth" about the CIA are closely analyzed, the author arguing that such probes not only serve to keep the agency in check but in the long run strengthen it. Good congressional relations and mutual respect are, in Jeffreys-Jones's view, crucial to the proper functioning of U.S. intelligence. President Reagan, "a keen supporter" of the CIA, is shown here to have been virtually deaf to its advice. Jeffreys-Jones concludes: "The various people who say that the CIA has been the world's best postwar foreign-intelligence agency are not wide of the mark." History Book Club alternate.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This book is a useful introduction to the diversity of the anti-Vietnam War movement. Jeffreys-Jones (American history, Univ. of Edinburgh) examines the war's effects on four components of the Democratic Party coalitionAstudents, African Americans, women, and laborAand their evolution from prowar conformists to alienated antiwar protesters. Initially, each group had political and material reasons to support Vietnam policy. But when the war began to threaten the lives, economic status, and social progress of students, blacks, and women, many ceased to support it. Full employment and the presidential courtship of union leaders made labor slower to recognize Vietnam's cost in lost sons and jobs. Jones argues that labor's support for LBJ and later Nixon's policies prolonged the war. This thorough survey reminds readers that the antiwar movement was more than a student rebellion. Recommended for larger public and academic libraries.ADuncan Stewart, State Historical Society of Iowa Lib., Iowa City
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 348 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (January 23, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300050178
• ISBN-13: 978-0300050172
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,729,412 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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