Committee to Maintain a Prudent Defence Policy
 Committee to Maintain a Prudent Defence Policy(Lobby)    | |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1969 |
| Founder | •  Paul Nitze•  Dean Acheson•  Albert Wohlstetter•  Paul Wolfowitz• Peter Wilson •  Richard Perle•  Henry Jackson |
| Group active from 1969 which lobbied Congress in favour of continued spending on anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems. | |
The Committee to Maintain a Prudent Defence Policy (CMPDP) was a group active in 1969, which lobbied Congress in favour of continued spending on anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems.[1][2][3]
Overview
The committee was founded by Dean Acheson and Paul Nitze to fend off liberal opposition to the ABM, the most expensive item in a defense budget facing growing scrutiny as a result of the unpopularity of the Vietnam War.[4]
Albert Wohlstetter recruited a number of graduate students to work in the Committee's office; including two of his own students at the University of Chicago, Paul Wolfowitz and Peter Wilson, and Richard Perle from Princeton. As part of their work they drafted material for Henry Jackson, the leading ABM supporter in he Senate.
In late summer 1969, the Senate approved the system by 51 votes to 50, the closest vote on a major national defense program since 1941.[5]
References
- ↑ James Mann, Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet, Penguin, 2004, p.31.
- ↑ http://www.namebase.org/xcol/Committee-Maintain-Prudent-defense-policy.html COMMITTEE MAINTAIN PRUDENT DEFENSE POLICY] (dead link)
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20110929042741/http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=committee_to_maintain_a_prudent_defense_policy_1 Profile: Committee to Maintain a Prudent Defense Policy (CMPDP)
- ↑ James Mann, Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet, Penguin, 2004, pp.31-32.
- ↑ James Mann, Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush's War Cabinet, Penguin, 2004, p.32.
