Committee to Maintain a Prudent Defense Policy
The Committee to Maintain a Prudent Defence Policy (CMPDP) was a group active in 1969, which lobbied Congress in favour of continued support for anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems.[1]
The committee was founded by Dean Acheson and Paul Nitze to fend off liberal opposition to the ABM, the most expensive item in a defense budget facing growing scrutiny as a result of the unpopularity of the Vietnam War.[2]
Albert Wohlstetter recruited a number of graduate students to work in the Committee's office; including two of his own students at the University of Chicago, Paul Wolfowitz and Peter Wilson, and Richard Perle from Princeton. As part of their work they drafted material for Henry Jackson, the leading ABM supporter in he Senate. In late summer 1969, the Senate approved the system by 51 votes to 50, the closest vote on a major national defense program since 1941.[3]
External Resources
- NameBase COMMITTEE MAINTAIN PRUDENT DEFENSE POLICY
- HistoryCommons Profile: Committee to Maintain a Prudent Defense Policy (CMPDP)
