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.The influence of neoconservatives Neoconservatism is a very odd term for the collection of views held by thoseassociated with it.Irving Kristol, the intellectual godfather of neoconser-vatism, describes those associated with the term as a rather heterogeneousgroup.What is true is that we all came out of the same pot, which is the NewYork socialist milieu (Goldberg 1996: 159).Most but not all were Jewish, ifnonobservant.Some were Catholic elite intellectuals.Most were of EasternEuropean stock, bearing old grudges against Russia and newer ones against theSoviet Union.Many had been active in the civil rights movement.The intellec-tual processes that had led them away from socialism varied.Kristol turnedfrom liberalism in the 1950s to become a polemical critic of domestic liberalcauses and a fervent anti-communist, defending American power and interven-tions.Kristol co-founded the first neoconservative journal, The Public Interest, in1965 as a non-sectarian publication.Norman Podhoretz, long-time editor ofCommentary, broke from the civil rights movement in the early 1960s andincreasingly attacked the lack of principled rigor he perceived in the liberalismof that decade (Dorrien 1993).Events in 1967 the Six Day War and the New York City teachersstrike5 energized neoconservatives.Most neoconservatives had not beenZionists before 1967 (Hertzberg 1984: 153).But now events were confirm-ing their somewhat Manichean views: the Soviets instigated the war againstIsrael, oppressed their Jewish citizens and were the principal source ofdanger in a dangerous world; and Third World radicalism (including Amer-ican Black Nationalism) constituted an attack on democratic values.6 Pod-horetz, never lacking for self-confidence and published but not controlled bythe AJC, began to be accepted by many in the American political elite as aspokesman for American Jews.Now the loudest and angriest Jewish publicvoices were all demanding unconditional support of Israel: the Orthodox,the secular Zionists and neoconservatives.Given the frisson of fear and uncer-tainty that the 1967 war sent through the community, the survivalist form of Judaism, privileging defense of the Jewish people and their state andhostility to their enemies, began to supplant universalist or traditionalAmerican Judaism and its values of tolerance and social justice, at least inthe audible public discourse.The neoconservatives were both agents andbeneficiaries of that trend. 44 Pro-Israel policy networks and CongressNeoconservatives were influential far out of proportion to their modestnumbers.In addition to Commentary and The National Interest, they estab-lished several other high quality journals and regularly appeared in leadingpolicy journals they did not edit.They controlled or strongly influencedmany policy centers, including the Manhattan Institute and the AmericanEnterprise Institute, which in turn had substantial influence on formulationof policy.In the 1970s, they fought what they called the culture ofappeasement through organizations such as the Committee on the PresentDanger, which attacked Carter s human rights moralism and asserted thatthe United States was losing the Cold War (Dorrien 1993: 10).RonaldReagan belonged to the Committee, as did several of his later appointees.7That membership, and the fact that Reagan regularly read Commentary, aretwo of many measures of the close fit between the neoconservative agendaand Reagan s.Neoconservatives, almost all still associated with the Democratic Party in1972, were repulsed by the anti-war and liberal views of presidential candi-date George McGovern, and tried to purge the party of McGovern s influ-ence.The candidacy of Ronald Reagan saw the conversion of manyneoconservatives to Republican registration; his election saw the appoint-ment of many of them to federal office.8 However, repeated predictions thatthe movement would lead to massive defections of Jews to the RepublicanParty were not borne out.Although Reagan would receive 39 percent of theJewish vote in 1980, more than any Republican since Eisenhower, it wasstill less than a majority.Defections from Carter went to independent JohnAnderson, who received 15 percent of the vote.In 1984, Reagan received 33percent of the Jewish vote (Goldberg 1996: 34) [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.The influence of neoconservatives Neoconservatism is a very odd term for the collection of views held by thoseassociated with it.Irving Kristol, the intellectual godfather of neoconser-vatism, describes those associated with the term as a rather heterogeneousgroup.What is true is that we all came out of the same pot, which is the NewYork socialist milieu (Goldberg 1996: 159).Most but not all were Jewish, ifnonobservant.Some were Catholic elite intellectuals.Most were of EasternEuropean stock, bearing old grudges against Russia and newer ones against theSoviet Union.Many had been active in the civil rights movement.The intellec-tual processes that had led them away from socialism varied.Kristol turnedfrom liberalism in the 1950s to become a polemical critic of domestic liberalcauses and a fervent anti-communist, defending American power and interven-tions.Kristol co-founded the first neoconservative journal, The Public Interest, in1965 as a non-sectarian publication.Norman Podhoretz, long-time editor ofCommentary, broke from the civil rights movement in the early 1960s andincreasingly attacked the lack of principled rigor he perceived in the liberalismof that decade (Dorrien 1993).Events in 1967 the Six Day War and the New York City teachersstrike5 energized neoconservatives.Most neoconservatives had not beenZionists before 1967 (Hertzberg 1984: 153).But now events were confirm-ing their somewhat Manichean views: the Soviets instigated the war againstIsrael, oppressed their Jewish citizens and were the principal source ofdanger in a dangerous world; and Third World radicalism (including Amer-ican Black Nationalism) constituted an attack on democratic values.6 Pod-horetz, never lacking for self-confidence and published but not controlled bythe AJC, began to be accepted by many in the American political elite as aspokesman for American Jews.Now the loudest and angriest Jewish publicvoices were all demanding unconditional support of Israel: the Orthodox,the secular Zionists and neoconservatives.Given the frisson of fear and uncer-tainty that the 1967 war sent through the community, the survivalist form of Judaism, privileging defense of the Jewish people and their state andhostility to their enemies, began to supplant universalist or traditionalAmerican Judaism and its values of tolerance and social justice, at least inthe audible public discourse.The neoconservatives were both agents andbeneficiaries of that trend. 44 Pro-Israel policy networks and CongressNeoconservatives were influential far out of proportion to their modestnumbers.In addition to Commentary and The National Interest, they estab-lished several other high quality journals and regularly appeared in leadingpolicy journals they did not edit.They controlled or strongly influencedmany policy centers, including the Manhattan Institute and the AmericanEnterprise Institute, which in turn had substantial influence on formulationof policy.In the 1970s, they fought what they called the culture ofappeasement through organizations such as the Committee on the PresentDanger, which attacked Carter s human rights moralism and asserted thatthe United States was losing the Cold War (Dorrien 1993: 10).RonaldReagan belonged to the Committee, as did several of his later appointees.7That membership, and the fact that Reagan regularly read Commentary, aretwo of many measures of the close fit between the neoconservative agendaand Reagan s.Neoconservatives, almost all still associated with the Democratic Party in1972, were repulsed by the anti-war and liberal views of presidential candi-date George McGovern, and tried to purge the party of McGovern s influ-ence.The candidacy of Ronald Reagan saw the conversion of manyneoconservatives to Republican registration; his election saw the appoint-ment of many of them to federal office.8 However, repeated predictions thatthe movement would lead to massive defections of Jews to the RepublicanParty were not borne out.Although Reagan would receive 39 percent of theJewish vote in 1980, more than any Republican since Eisenhower, it wasstill less than a majority.Defections from Carter went to independent JohnAnderson, who received 15 percent of the vote.In 1984, Reagan received 33percent of the Jewish vote (Goldberg 1996: 34) [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]