| Shortly after taking office, President Richard M. Nixon ordered a review of U.S. policy on chemical and biological warfare. At the conclusion of that review, Nixon, on November 25, 1969, declared that the United States unilaterally renounced the first use of lethal and incapacitating chemical weapons, and he ended the U.S. biological weapons program with the exception of defensive research. Thus, with regard to biological weapons, Nixon stopped all offensive research, development, production, and stockpiling.; This dissertation examines the factors---including those related to the diplomatic community, the intelligence community, scientist-activist organizations, and national and international politics---that led to Nixon's decision to renounce biological weapons, and shows the flaws in the presidential decision-making process that caused President Nixon to make a decision based, at least in part, on questionable information. |
