http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt6w1038fh No online items Register of the Committee on the Present Danger records Finding aid prepared by Justin Vaisse and Hoover Institution Library and Archives Staff Hoover Institution Library and Archives © 2002, 2011, 2018 434 Galvez Mall Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-6003 [email protected] URL: http://www.hoover.org/library-and-archives Register of the Committee on the 92073 1 Present Danger records Title: Committee on the Present Danger records Date (inclusive): 1976-1992 Collection Number: 92073 Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives Language of Material: English Physical Description: 595 manuscript boxes, 2 card file boxes, 3 oversize boxes, 3 video tape cassettes(197.6 Linear Feet) Abstract: Correspondence, minutes, reports, studies, memoranda, press releases, financial records, clippings, and other printed matter relating to American politics and foreign policy, Soviet-American relations, and American and Soviet defenses and military policy. Creator: Committee on the Present Danger (U.S.) Hoover Institution Library & Archives Access The collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least two business days in advance of intended use. Publication Rights For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives. Acquisition Information Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1992. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Committee on the Present Danger records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives. Historical Note The Committee on the Present Danger was formed in 1976, announcing its arrival soon after the presidential election of that year. Its purpose was the promotion of a strong defense policy for the United States. The creation of the organization was prompted especially by skepticism regarding the arms control negotiations with the Soviet Union pursued by Republican and Democratic administrations during the detente era of the 1970s. This had resulted in the signing of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) in 1972 during the administration of President Richard M. Nixon and the continuation of negotiations toward a SALT II. The founders of the CPD included former senior government officials with experience in defense and security positions. Foremost among them were Paul H. Nitze, a former Deputy Secretary of Defense, and Eugene V. Rostow, a former Under Secretary of State. Membership in the Committee was by invitation only and was largely restricted to public figures. The CPD membership roster came to be a veritable who's who of the defense establishment. The CPD drew its name from an earlier Committee on the Present Danger, which had existed briefly in 1950-1951 to mobilize support for a strong internationalist defense policy during the Korean War. There was, however, no organizational continuity between this organization and that of 1976. A more immediate inspiration was the Citizens Committee for Peace with Freedom in Vietnam, which had existed in the 1960s to support American military policy during the Vietnam War. The director of the Citizens Committee, Charles Tyroler II, was induced to accept a similar position as director of the Committee on the Present Danger. This position involved management of its day-to-day affairs. The Committee did not align itself with any political party but found itself in early opposition to policies of the new Jimmy Carter administration. It unsuccessfully opposed confirmation of Carter's nomination of Paul C. Warnke to be director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Through the publication of a series of pamphlets, press releases and position papers it opposed ratification of SALT II, which came before the U.S. Senate in 1979. The Senate declined to ratify the treaty but did not explicitly reject it. The CPD welcomed the election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980, and prided itself on the number of its members who were appointed to office in the new administration. Reagan himself had accepted membership in the CPD but had not participated in it actively. The CPD without doubt influenced formulation of the defense policies of his administration but came to question whether these had gone far enough. It was disappointed by Reagan's decision to abide by the provisions of SALT II during the period specified by that treaty, and was skeptical of the wisdom of ratifying the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) which was negotiated in 1987. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union and proclaimed end of the Cold War, many of its members concluded that the Committee on the Present Danger had outlived its usefulness. The CPD wound up its operations in 1992. It donated its records along with those of the Citizens Committee for Peace with Freedom in Vietnam to the Hoover Institution Library & Register of the Committee on the 92073 2 Present Danger records Archives in that year. Among the Hoover Institution Library & Archives' other holdings are papers of a number of individual members of the CPD. These include papers of Richard V. Allen, Karl R. Bendetsen, W. Randolph Burgess, W. Glenn Campbell, William J. Casey, Sidney Hook, J. C. Hurewitz, Ernest W. Lefever, Seymour Martin Lipset, Jay Lovestone, Paul Seabury, Edward Teller, Charls E. Walker, Robert E. Ward, Richard J. Whalen and Bertram D. Wolfe. Subjects and Indexing Terms United States -- Foreign relations -- Soviet Union Soviet Union -- Foreign relations -- United States United States -- Foreign relations -- 1945-1989 United States -- Politics and government -- 1945-1989 Soviet Union -- Military policy Soviet Union -- Defenses United States -- Military policy United States -- Defenses United States -- Politics and government -- 1989-1993 United States -- Foreign relations -- 1989-1993 box 1 Founding Documents 1976 Scope and Contents Press releases, bylaws, program, and lists box 1, folder 1 General 1976 Scope and Contents Press releases announcing foundation, lists of founding directors and lists of founding membership invitees. Includes notes and drafts box 1, folder 2 Bylaws and draft organizational meeting minutes 1976 box 1, folder 3 First-year program 1976 Scope and Contents Includes drafts box 1, folder 4 Predecessor Committee on the Present Danger speech by William J. Donovan 1951 Meeting Materials 1976-1992 Scope and Contents Agenda, minutes, notes, memoranda, correspondence, and material distributed at the meetings. Includes preparatory meetings prior to the official establishment of the Committee at its meeting of October 19, 1976. Earlier meetings were designated Planning Group or Rostow Group meetings. Subsequent meetings are Executive Committee meetings unless otherwise stated box 1, folder 5 1976 March 12 box 1, folder 6 1976 April 24 box 1, folder 7 1976 May 14 box 1, folder 8 1976 May 28 box 1, folder 9 1976 June 21 box 1, folder 10 1976 September 9 box 1, folder 11 1976 October 19 (official founding meeting) box 1, folder 12 1976 November 10 box 1, folder 13 1976 December 15 box 1, folder 14 1977 January 13 box 1, folder 15 1977 January 26 box 1, folder 16 1977 February 18 Register of the Committee on the 92073 3 Present Danger records Meeting Materials 1976-1992 1977 November 10-11 (first annual meeting) box 1, folder 17 1977 March 11 box 1, folder 18 1977 April 1 box 1, folder 19 1977 April 22 box 1, folder 20 1977 May 13 box 1, folder 21 1977 June 23 box 1, folder 22 1977 July 14 box 1, folder 23 1977 August 3 Scope and Contents Includes preparatory materials for meeting of CPD representatives with President Jimmy Carter box 1, folder 24 1977 August 4 Scope and Contents Meeting of CPD representatives with President Carter. Includes summary of meeting and letter to Carter box 1, folder 25 1977 August 23 Scope and Contents Includes follow-up on meeting with President Carter box 2, folder 1 1977 September 16 box 2, folder 2 1977 October 10 1977 November 10-11 (first annual meeting) box 2, folder 3 General box 2, folder 4-5 Transcript of proceedings box 2, folder 6 1978 January 18 box 2, folder 7 1978 February 24 box 2, folder 8 1978 March 17 box 2, folder 9 1978 April 21 box 2, folder 10 1978 May 18 box 2, folder 11 1978 July 21 box 2, folder 12 1978 September 15 box 2, folder 13 1978 October 20 Register of the Committee on the 92073 4 Present Danger records Meeting Materials 1976-1992 1978 November 9-10 (second annual meeting) 1978 November 9-10 (second annual meeting) box 2, General folder 14-15 box 3, folder 1 Speech by Eugene V. Rostow November 9 box 3, folder 2-3 Transcript of proceedings November 9 (Conference on National Security) box 3, folder 4-5 Transcript of proceedings November 10 (annual meeting proper) box 3, folder 6 1978 November 22 box 3, folder 7 1979 January 11 (briefing conducted by CPD for military association representatives) 1979 February 16 box 3, folder 8 General box 3, folder 9 Printed articles distributed at meeting 1979 March 9 (briefing conducted by CPD for women's organization representatives) box 3, folder 10 General box 3, folder 11 Presentations by Richard Pipes, Elmo Zumwalt and Paul Nitze 1979 March 23 box 4, folder 1 General box 4, folder 2 Printed articles distributed at meeting box 4, folder 3 1979 April 20 1979 June 20 box 4, folder 4 General box 4, folder 5 Printed articles distributed at meeting box 4, folder 6 1979 July 16 1979 October 12 box 4, folder 7 General box 4, folder 8 Printed articles distributed at meeting 1979 November 8-9 (third annual meeting)