Francis J. Gavin
International Security publishes Professor Gavin’s article on nuclear proliferation
“Blasts from the Past: Proliferation Lessons from the 1960s,” is the title of Professor Francis J. Gavin’s most recent article, which was published in the current issue of International Security. Considered America’s leading journal of security affairs, International Security is edited at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and is published by The MIT Press.
In the article, Gavin provides an analysis of contemporary security issues surrounding nuclear proliferation and discusses the conceptual and historical foundations of U.S. nonproliferation policy. He argues that George W. Bush and his administration have rejected crucial lessons from the past in their efforts to meet the goal of halting nuclear proliferation – particularly by so-called rogue regimes.
According to Gavin, the United States confronted “a far more terrifying threat” than any posed by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq or current “rogue” regime when China detonated its first atomic device in October 1964. His article explores the intense debate that took place within President Lyndon Johnson’s administration over how to respond to the immediate threat posed by a nuclear-armed China as well as nuclear proliferation more generally.
Gavin focuses on the work of the Gilpatric committee, a little-known but highly respected group of “wise men” chosen by Johnson to examine these issues. The committee’s controversial recommendations would help to transform U.S. nonproliferation policy and pave the way for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, negotiated in cooperation with the Soviet Union.
Gavin joined the LBJ School faculty in the fall of 2000. A historian by training, his teaching and research interests focus on U.S. foreign policy, national security affairs, nuclear strategy and arms control, presidential policymaking and the history of international monetary relations. He currently codirects the UT Global Challenges Initiative International Security Speaker Series.
Gavins publications include numerous scholarly articles, book reviews and editorials. His book, Gold, Dollars, and Power: The Politics of International Monetary Relations, 1958-1971, was published in 2004 by the University of North Carolina Press in its New Cold War History series. His current research project is entitled, “Strategy and Arms Control Reconsidered: Missile Defense, Nuclear Proliferation, and U.S. National Security Policy during the 1960’s.”
Related links
UT Global Challenges Initiative presents International Security Speaker Series
Nuclear Proliferation
Rogue States and Lessons from the Past
by Francis J. Gavin
Professor Francis J. Gavin Receives Harrington Fellowship
LBJ School Professor Frank Gavin Probes the 1960s to Illuminate Current U.S. Foreign Policy Dilemmas
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22 March 2005
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