Security First?: The Traveling U.S. Secretary of State in a Second Presidential Term

Abstract

With the aid of a new data set, this study tracks the travels of the U.S. secretary of state in the Cold War and post–Cold War periods. Drawing from realist arguments, it maintains that U.S. diplomacy eventually bows to U.S. strategic interests, whatever the aspirations and beliefs that U.S. presidents bring to office. The findings, which show a second‐term shift in the secretarial travel schedule favoring countries of security importance to the United States, lend support to realist arguments that states prioritize interests. They also reveal, however, that administrations have acted with significant latitude, especially in a presidential first term.