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Review

Lesson 25 The Era of Retrenchment: Presidents Ford and Carter 1974-1980

Learning Objectives

• • • Understand the Navy under President Ford and the political and economic factors that contributed to the Carter Administration viewpoint of the Navy’s role in Military Strategy and foreign relations.

Know the evolution of strategic thinking and the defense policy during of the Carter Administration and the internal political factors that influenced these policies.

Comprehend the policy goals that preceded the Reagan defense buildup and the internal political situation that enabled it.

Remember our Themes!

• The Navy as an Instrument of Foreign Policy • Interaction between Congress and the Navy • Interservice Relations • Technology • Leadership • Strategy and Tactics • Evolution of Naval Doctrine

The Navy Under President Gerald Ford (1974-1976)

The Navy Under President Gerald Ford

• Vietnam: Frustration –Congress would not fund $1 billion for SVN that had been previously promised • USSR: – “Peaceful coexistence” interpreted as rivalry for dominance through client states in Third World, notably Africa (Angola, Ethiopia, Somalia, Zaire) – Nuclear arms race intensifies • USSR develops triple-MIRV ICBM, SS-20; Backfire bomber • US develops Trident SSBN; total of 8,500 warheads (nearly 3,000 increase in five years) • SALT-II dead in water

MAYAGUEZ Incident: 12 May 1975

• Cambodian communist forces seize 40 man American commercial vessel.

• Diplomacy fails to gain release • Pres. Ford sends in USAF, USN, USMC (largest deployment since Vietnam) • Recapture: 15 Marines killed; 50 wounded

Economic Inflation: Technology Costs

Pre - Vietnam Forrestal = $350 million Post - Vietnam Nimitz = $2 billion F-4 Phantom = $3 million Destroyer = $50 million F-14 Tomcat = $23 million Spruance = $350 million By 1975, the Navy’s 200 th anniversary, the Navy had less than 500 ships.

President Jimmy Carter 1977-1981

Decline of the U.S. Navy Under Carter (1977-1981)

• •

Background

: He inherited a congressional and popular antimilitary attitude as well as a reduced Navy composed of older ships.

Diplomacy

: He believed containment could be achieved through diplomacy and did not think the Soviets were a world threat.

– Salt I – Salt II

The Carter Naval Policy

• • • • • The President did not support naval expansion.

His five-year building programs were extremely austere.

He de emphasized the “presence” mission of the Navy.

He limited the conceptual basis for the Navy’s size to plan for SLOC protection and support of the major U.S. commitments to Europe.

The Iranian crisis (1978-1981) forced Carter to send warships to the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean

Iran Hostage Crisis

The Carter Naval Policy

• • • – – 1979, Anti-American Ayatollah Khomeini comes to power in Iran De-stabilizes the region for U.S.

Since 1953 Iran was American friendly: imported in excess of 10.5 million dollars of arms – Iran Hostage Crisis 1980, failed rescue attempt with hostages in Iran – – Soviet invasion of Afghanistan U.S. supports anti-Soviet fighters with high-tech arms • Conflict lasts 10 years Soviets Withdraw, leaving Afghanistan in hands of warlords, (ultimately, anti-U.S. Taliban)

Carter Doctrine

• “Let our position be absolutely clear: An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an attack on the vital interests of the U.S.” – State of the Union, 1979

Consequences: Ford/Carter

• Carter policy of Soviets being European Continental Threat only badly damaged the Navy’s ability to handle crisis in Middle East.

– American Embassy in Tehran – Stability in Middle East – Iran/Iraq War • Regan easily elected in 1980 – Carter’s dealing w/ hostagesin Iran – Soviet threat

The Navy itself

• Internal Cultural Wars – Naval Aviation – Nuclear Power – Change in a pluralistic organization • Center of Strategy – Primacy of the Carrier – Atrophy of surface warfare – SSMs – 6 Day’s War of 1967