The Rise of Neoconservatism : Intellectuals and Foreign Affairs, 1945-1994

A small group of neoconservativesDaniel Patrick Moynihan, Norman Podhoretz, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and othershas had an influence on American politics that far outweighs their numbers. This book is the first discussion of their impact on foreign policy. John Ehrman tells how the neoconservative movement evolved out of the broad anticommunist coalition that dominated American liberalism from the late 1940s to the late 1960s. The neoconservatives continued to advance hardline anticommunism, gradually broke with what they viewed as liberalism's and the Democratic Party's dangerous turn to the left during the 1970s, and regained their influence as part of Reagan's conservative coalition during the 1980s. John Ehrman traces the neoconservatives' shift from cold-war liberalism to conservatism, focusing on the careers and thinking of the most intellectually and politically important membersespecially Moynihan, whose political and intellectual careers are here analyzed for the first time. Ehrman shows how the neoconservatives who held office under President Reagan tried to reinforce the administration's anticommunist outlook while also moving it toward a policy of actively assisting foreign governments and groups trying to develop democratic institutions of their own. Ehrman corrects many misconceptions about neoconservatives, illustrates the differences among them, and traces the consistencies in their foreign policy thinking. He also examines their successes and failures in translating their concepts into political action, and analyzes their place in both modern American liberalism and the conservative movement.

this Is The First Book To Analyze The History Of Neoconservatism And Trace Its Influence On Foreign Policy, Using New Information From Interviews And Archives. Ehrman Focuses On Key Individuals-daniel Patrick Moynihan, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Norman Podhoretz, And Elliott Abrams, Showing The Development Of Their Ideas And Their Place In American Conservatism Today

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ehrman, Who Teaches History At George Washington University, Offers A Lucid Account Of The Postwar Rise Of Neoconservatives And Their Eventual Migration From Liberal Democrats To Republicans, Despite Little Ideological Shift. He Begins By Tracing The Progressive-liberal Feud That Led Anti-communist Liberals Such As Reinhold Niebuhr And Arthur Schlesinger To Affirm The ``vital Center.'' The Country's Late-1960s Political Convulsions Led (especially Jewish) Liberals To Fight The New Left And Third Worldism In Journals Such As Commentary. The Author Devotes A Substantial Chapter To Daniel Patrick Moynihan, The First Neocon To Move From Academia To Politics And An Unabashed Defender Of Liberal Democracy. Neocons Such As Jeane Kirkpatrick Moved Right During The Carter Presidency; They Made Certain Gains Under Reagan, Such As Establishing The National Endowment For Democracy, But Split Over Aid To The Nicaraguan Contras And Over Soviet Liberalization. Ehrman Suggests There Is Now No Consistent Neoconservative Policy; Still, He Says, Their New Tendency Toward Realism And A Narrow Sense Of U.s. Interests Jibes Well With An American Public Perennially Wary Of Commitments Abroad. For Informed Readers. (apr.)

The Rise of Neoconservatism Contents Preface to the Paperback Edition Preface Acknowledgments 1— The Liberal Foreign Policy Consensus and After, 1948–1976 2— Liberalism's Split: The Neoconservatives Emerge, 1968–1975 3— The Intellectual in Politics: Daniel Patrick Moynihan, 1975–1978 4— Searching for Truman, 1976–1980 5— Coping with Success, 1980–1985 6— After the Cold War, 1985–1992 Epilogue: The Early Clinton Administration, 1993–1994 Notes Preface Chapter One— The Liberal Foreign Policy Consensus and After, 1948–1976 Chapter Two— Liberalism's Split Chapter Three— The Intellectual in Politics Chapter Four— Searching for Truman, 1976–1980 Chapter Five— Coping with Success, 1980–1985 Chapter 6— After the Cold War, 1985–1992 Epilogue Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z Annotation A small group of neoconservatives--Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Norman Podhoretz, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and others--has had an influence on American politics that far outweighs its numbers. This book is the first discussion of their impact on foreign policy. John Ehrman traces the neoconservatives' shift from Cold War liberalism to conservatism, focusing on the careers and thinking of the most and politically important members--especially Moynihan Neoconservatism evolved in the USA from the anti-communist coalition that dominated liberalism from the late 1940s to the late 1960s. In this book Ehrman discusses how big an influence the group has had on American politics, foreign policy in particular, through the decades since then. John Ehrman. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 207-236) And Index.