Beckner, Lauren Renee2014-03-142014-03-142012-09-07etd-09202012-225955http://hdl.handle.net/10919/35130Decision-making during crises is an important task that many elected officials face during their time in office. This thesis seeks to identify principles that make up a sound policy decision-making process and may lead to more positive outcomes. The analysis here is a comparative case study of three national security crises that faced the John F. Kennedy administration: the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam conflict. Each case is examined for the presence of indicators of groupthink. I hypothesize that the relative absence of groupthink is related to a positive outcome. That hypothesis is examined by reviewing each case; the cases that contained higher levels of the indicators of groupthink tended to have a poorer quality process than those with less evidence of groupthink.In CopyrightDecision-makingKennedy administrationCrisisNational securityBay of PigsCuban Missile CrisisVietnamThesishttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-09202012-225955/