INR 4083
The breakdown of the Cold War Consensus,
the emergence of “neo-conservatism”
and the Iraq War
Doonesbury (2011) on the Iraq War
Neo-cons inside the George W. Bush
Administration
Deputy Secretary of
Defense Paul Wolfowitz
Douglas Feith, Undersecretary
of Defense for Policy
Neo-cons inside the George W. Bush
Administration
Richard Perle, Chaired the
Elliott Abrams, Special
Assistant to the President
Defense Policy Board Advisory
Committee
Neo-Con cheerleaders for the Iraq war
outside the government
William Kristol, editor of the
Weekly Standard
Norman Podhoretz, former
editor of Commentary Magazine
Joshua Muravchik in the Washington
Post, November 19, 2006
 “We neocons were a small group of political
thinkers who broke with fellow liberals during the
war in Vietnam. Most liberals came to believe
that the United States had gotten into Vietnam
out of what President Jimmy Carter later called
an ‘inordinate fear of communism.’ By contrast,
neocons held to the conviction that communism
was a monstrous evil and a potent danger. For
our obstinacy, we were drummed out of the
liberal camp and dubbed ‘neoconservatives’—a
malicious gibe to which we eventually
acquiesced.”
 “Neoconservatism grew
out of a split in the
1930s between
Stalinists and the
followers of Trotsky.”
 The neoconservative
mindset has been
“shaped by the Jewish
immigrant experience,
by the Holocaust, and
by the twentieth century
struggle against
totalitarianism.”
Democratic hawks: Woodrow Wilson
(1856-1924)
 Introduced new
principle of recognition.
 Famously declared in
1917 that “the world
must be made safe for
democracy.”
 Sent U.S. forces to
Mexico (twice), Haiti,
Nicaragua, Dominican
Republic, and Russia.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt in
Yalta
The “Isolationism” of the 1930s
 In the 1930s, as Japan, Italy, and Germany
armed and used force, the American public
had little appetite for military interventions in
Europe or Asia.
 Neutrality Acts of 1935-37
 “Before WWII, isolationism had been a major
tendency, perhaps the major tendency, on
the right” (Foer article)
 In the late 1930s, the “isolationist” forces
came together in a group called “America
First” (see Foer)
Republican doves: Charles Lindbergh—a
leading “America First” spokesman
Republican doves: Sen. Robert Taft
(R-Ohio)—see Foer article
Democratic hawks: President
Harry Truman
 Articulated the
“Truman Doctrine” in
March 1947.
 Presided over the
U.S. intervention in
Korea
 Presided over the
quadrupling of the
US defense budget
in 1950-51.
“Cold War Liberalism”—key political figures
LBJ and Hubert Humphrey (L); Humphrey with MLK (R-top);
JFK; Henry (Scoop) Jackson
“Cold war liberalism”—New York
intellectuals
Arthur Schlesinger (L); Irving Kristol (C); Norman Podhoretz (R)
In the late 1930s alcove 1 at the CCNY cafeteria
was the second home of Trotskyites like I. Kristol
Leon Trotsky with American
supporters in Mexico, 1940
Liberal anti-Communist publications:
The New Leader
 Founded in 1924 as
an organ of the
Socialist Party of
America.
 Edited by New York
intellectual, former
menshevik, Sol
Levitas 1936-1961
 Became a voice for
liberal antiCommunism and for
civil rights.
Liberal anti-Communist publications:
The Partisan Review
 Founded in 1934 by
the Communist
Party.
 Broke with the party
in 1937 and aligned
itself with Leon
Trotsky.
 Fought the “cultural
Cold War”
Liberal anti-Communist publications:
Commentary
 Launched in 1945 by
the American Jewish
Committee
 Its founding editor, Eliot
Cohen, was a former
Trostkyite.
 Its “true animating
passion was a deep
hatred for communism”
(Midge Decter)
 Edited from 1959 to
1995 by Podhoretz.
Now edited by his son
John.
Norman Podhoretz
The decline of cold war liberalism in the Democratic party
(from left: Eugene McCarthy, George McGovern, Jimmy
Carter)
Alienated “cold war liberals” drift toward the Republican
party, assuming the label “neo-conservatives”
Jeanne Kirkpatrick (top);
E. Abrams
Perle (top); Wolfowitz
In the meantime, on the Republican Right, . . . from
“Taftite” isolationism to militant anticommunist globalism
(see Foer article)
 William F. Buckley,
1925-2008
 Founder of the
National Review
 Re-invented
conservatism in
America (see Foer)
Sen. Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957)
 “Tribune of revenge”
 “Helped ease the
isolationists into
their new hawkish
identity” (Foer)
Under Reagan’s umbrella, the neo-cons join old
conservatives (“paleo-cons”) – Pat Buchanan, Reagan’s
communications director
Caspar Weinberger 
 The Reagan administration reversed détente,
continued a massive buildup begun by the late Carter
administration, and issued the “Reagan Doctrine”
(“Freedom . . . is the universal right of all God’s
children”—state of the union address, 1985).
 Alas, “the military wanted no more involvements such
as Vietnam” (LaFeber, p. 709). This sentiment was
articulated by the (Caspar) Weinberger doctrine
(1984), alluded to by Snyder, p. 303.
 Result: intervention in the third world gets done
mostly through proxies (Contras, Mujahedeen)
In the 1990s, the Republican Party
became splintered on foreign policy
 The realists (e.g., Scowcroft, James Baker)
 The neo-cons: lost their mission with the end
of the Cold War; were in disarray until ~1997
 Isolationists I: many of the new members
swept into Congress by the 1994 Gingrich
revolution bragged about not having a
passport.
 Isolationists II: Pat Buchanan
In the 1992 Republican primaries, Pat Buchanan
challenged President Bush, garnering 38% of the New
Hampshire vote
 “When we hear phrases like ‘New World Order,’ we
release the safety catches on our revolvers”
(Buchanan, quoted by Foer)
The return of the neo-cons
 The founding of the Project for New American
Century, 1997—”a non-profit educational
organization dedicated to a few fundamental
propositions: that American leadership is good
both for America and for the world; and that such
leadership requires military strength, diplomatic
energy and commitment to moral principle.” See
http://www.newamericancentury.org/index.html
 The George W. Bush admin. was initially said to
be dominated by “realists.”
 But then came 9/11
 But before we pin the blame for the Iraq War
on the neoconservatives alone, let us not
forget that:


War advocates included Republican officials
who have not shared the background of the
neocons (e.g., Cheney, Rumsfeld).
Many Democrats supported the war, including
29 of 50 Democratic senators (including
Clinton, Biden, Feinstein).