During the past fifty years, the United States has been involved in multiple wars. Alex Roberto Hybel's extensively documented book uses some of today's leading foreign policy decision-making models to analyze John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon's distinct responses to the challenges emanating from Vietnam; George H.W. Bush's decision to defend Kuwait from the Iraqi occupation; George W. Bush's orders to invade Afghanistan and Iraq shortly after September 11, 2001; and Barack Obama's handling of perilous challenges in the nation's intervention in Afghanistan as he assumed the presidency. Throughout the book, Hybel meticulously explores each president's foreign policy decision-making process from the initial definition of the challenge to the moment the policy is formulated. Hybel pays special attention to each president's analytical process; the extent to which he relied on the counsel of his advisors; the mindsets that influenced his thinking and those of Washington's insiders; and the cognitive obstacles, if present, that afflicted his overall foreign policy decision-making process. Hybel concludes each analysis by identifying the model or models that best explains each president's approach to foreign policy decision-making and by assessing the quality of each president's approach to foreign policy formulation. His analyses provide in depth insights into to the way US leaders created foreign policies during unsettling periods.

Introduction : alternative theoretical perspectives -- John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and the Vietnam War -- Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and the retreat from Vietnam -- George H.W. Bush and the Gulf War -- George W. Bush and the Afghan and Iraq wars -- Barack Obama and the Afghan war -- Intuition, rationality, mindsets, and foreign policy decision-making models.