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At what point, if at all, does the American public matter in the construction of U.S. foreign policy? To help us think about this question, consider three foreign policy problems that occurred during President Jimmy Carter’s term in office. First, Carter faced the question of whether or not to turn over control of the Panama Canal to the Panamanians. Under the leadership of General Omar Torrijos, the Panamanians had long demanded the abrogation of the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, which gave the United States control of the canal in 1903. President Carter was eager to comply with this demand since he believed that U.S. ownership of the canal had become a flash point of antiAmerican sentiment in Latin America. The American public, however, was opposed to Carter’s position. In May 1977, 78 percent of the public felt that the United States should continue its ownership and control of the Panama Canal.1 But despite this widespread sentiment, the issue did not seem particularly important to the American public. The very same month that 78 percent of Americans expressed their support for continued U.S. control of the canal, there were exactly zero minutes of television coverage on the issue. Moreover , 62 percent of Americans admitted that they knew very little or nothing at all about the Panama Canal controversy.2 ● 1 foreign policy in the shadows and the spotlight 1. Survey by the Opinion Research Corporation, May 4–7, 1977, from LexisNexis, Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut (accessed April 2, 2004). “Do you favor the United States continuing its ownership and control of the Panama Canal, or do you favor turning ownership and control of the Panama Canal over to the Republic of Panama?” 2. Survey by the Opinion Research Corporation, May 4–7, 1977, from LexisNexis, Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut (accessed April 9, 2004). “As you may know, the Panama Canal is the waterway in Central America that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The United States secured full ownership and control of the Canal Zone by way of a treaty signed with the Republic of Panama in 1903. How much, if anything, have you heard or read about the possibility of negotiations on a new Panama Canal Treaty—a great deal, a fair amount, very little, or nothing at all?” President Carter faced a second, more serious problem when radical Islamic students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, on November 4, 1979, and held sixty-six Americans hostage. In response, the Carter administration engaged in vigorous international diplomacy, froze Iranian assets in the United States, and refused to purchase Iranian oil. These steps, however, were not enough to free the hostages. The question then turned to whether the United States would attempt to rescue the hostages in a manner similar to that of the 1976 Israeli raid on Entebbe. By December 1979, the American public was split on the question of a rescue: 46 percent of the public believed it should be attempted while 49 percent felt it should not be an option.3 Although Americans were divided on a rescue attempt, they were united in their attention to and concern about the hostage crisis: 99 percent4 of Americans said they had heard about the crisis; 92 percent5 remarked that they were following the situation closely; and 80 percent6 felt that the taking of American hostages in Iran was the most serious crisis the United States had faced since the end of the Vietnam War. Already dealing with the Iranian hostage crisis, President Carter encountered a third foreign policy problem when Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan in late December 1979. The United States was concerned that the Soviets would continue their offensive into Iran and would eventually gain control of the Middle East and its oil. The Soviet invasion was highly salient: 90 percent of Americans said they were attentive to the situation.7 Moreover, the 14 paying attention to foreign affairs 3. Survey by the Roper Organization, December 1–8, 1979, from LexisNexis, Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut (accessed April 12, 2004). “If Iran won’t release the hostages, another approach that has been suggested is to have a U.S. military strike force invade Teheran to try to rescue them. Some say we should do this. Others say we shouldn’t because the hostages would be killed before we could get to them. Still others say...

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