Springtime for Neocons

• Published in: The National interest Vol. 134; no. 134; pp. 5 - 10
• Main Author: Heilbrunn, Jacob
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington Center for the National Interest 01.11.2014; The National Interest, Inc; The National Interest Inc
• Subjects: American history; Cheney, Dick; Civil wars; Foreign policy; Hirsh, Michael; Historians; Hofstadter, Richard; Iraq War-2003; Legislative Bodies; Liberalism; National interest; National interests; Neoconservatism; New York; Obama, Barack; Peace; Peacetime; Political Parties; Presidents; Public Relations; Republicanism; The Realist; Total war; Vice Presidents; Vietnam; Vietnam War; War; War conflict; Warfare; Works; World wars; United States; United States > US; Vietnam
• ISSN: 0884-9382; 1938-1573

In May 1968, Richard Hofstadter published an essay about the Vietnam War in the New York Times Magazine. It was called "Uncle Sam Has Cried 'Uncle!' Before." What Hofstadter did not anticipate, however, is that perhaps the most fervent response to defeat in Vietnam would come from a militant faction within the liberal movement, the one that came to be known as neoconservatism. It was a neologism coined as a term of derision by Michael Harrington, but it would ultimately be embraced by its adherents. The desire to restore a perceived American dominance helped lead to the birth of the neocons. Today, the neocons and liberal hawks are once more on the march. Writing in Politico Michael Hirsh observed that former vice president Dick Cheney's advice is actively solicited by many Republicans in Congress, perhaps more than it has been in years. Perhaps no one has inadvertently done more to revive the fortunes of the neocons and liberal hawks than Pres Obama.