Donald Secrest

Donald Secrest was a professor at OU 1965-90. He was Undergraduate Advisor from 1978 to 1988.

UNDERSTANDING ATTITUDES ABOUT WAR
Modeling Moral Judgments
Donald Secrest, Gregory G. Brunk, Howard Tamashiro
University of Pittsburgh Press (1997)

"The authors examine the ethical beliefs about war of five American elite groups—military officers, journalists, diplomats, members of congress, and Catholic priests. Their major aim is to describe the moral thinking about military force of US decision makers and opinion leaders." (Choice) 

Choice 1997 Outstanding Academic Book. The thesis is a simple one but one that is rarely considered in studies of mass opinion and even rarer in studies of elites....Highly original...offering new data and empirical analysis."—Robert Y. Shapiro (from the publisher)

"In the light of their empirical findings, the authors develop a theoretical framework to explain how elites develop and apply their moral beliefs about war. Given the limited empirical scholarship on the role of moral norms in international affairs, this study provides an important contribution to the literature. Although it relies excessively on technical terms and scholarly jargon, it is well written, clearly organized, and accessible to nonspecialists. The book belongs in all specialized collections on international affairs and large academic libraries." (M. Amstutz–Choice) 

"To say that [the authors] have not written a perfect empirical exploration of normative influences on behavior is not to claim that this book lacks merit. Quite the contrary: no reader of this volume can fail to emerge with less than a significantly deeper appreciation of the normative roots of cognitions about conflict. That is an important achievement." (Michael A. Maggiotto–The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science)