Nuclear power and non-proliferation

An account is given of how the United States has dealt with the problem of nuclear proliferation in the period since 1974. It describes how nuclear policy has been made at the highest levels of the American Government and contains a critical assessment of those policies. It places the chronicle of how policy is shaped within the context of interagency and legislative politics, as well as within the larger context of international conflicts concerning access to and control of nuclear power. The proliferation problem is located historically. The Ford administration's rethinking of prevailing attitudes and programs and the more drastic reforms of the Carter administration are discussed. (author)