How has the Vietnam War affected America's response to international conflicts? Have American Presidents been less likely to sanction a US military response to international conflicts in the post-Vietnam era? Has their ability to deploy US forces been weakened in any way by the Vietnam experience? This study seeks answers to these questions by examining how American Presidents responded to some of the major international conflicts of the post-Vietnam era, between 1982 and 1995. It looks at how they sought to lead America's responses to these conflicts and how far they were able to enact, and publicly 'sell', their chosen deployment decisions in the face of opposition from within the American public-political arena, especially from Congress.