Hard Line

The Republican Party and U.S. Foreign Policy since World War II

Colin Dueck

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN:
  9780691141824
  9780691141817
• eBook ISBN:
  9781400836758
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Republican foreign policy and the conservative leaders who shaped it

Hard Line traces the history of Republican Party foreign policy since World War II by focusing on the conservative leaders who shaped it. Colin Dueck closely examines the political careers and foreign-policy legacies of Robert Taft, Dwight Eisenhower, Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush. He shows how Republicans shifted away from isolationism in the years leading up to World War II and oscillated between realism and idealism during and after the cold war. Yet despite these changes, Dueck argues, conservative foreign policy has been characterized by a hawkish and intense American nationalism, and presidential leadership has been the driving force behind it.

What does the future hold for Republican foreign policy? Hard Line demonstrates that the answer depends on who becomes the next Republican president. Dueck challenges the popular notion that Republican foreign policy today is beholden to economic interests or neoconservative intellectuals. He shows how Republican presidents have been granted remarkably wide leeway to define their party's foreign policy in the past, and how the future of conservative foreign policy will depend on whether the next Republican president exercises the prudence, pragmatism, and care needed to implement hawkish foreign policies skillfully and successfully. Hard Line reveals how most Republican presidents since World War II have done just that, and how their accomplishments can help guide future conservative presidents.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Content
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Conservative Traditions in U.S. Foreign Policy
• Chapter One: Republicans, Conservatives, and U.S. Foreign Policy
• Chapter Two: Robert TaftTh e Conservative as Anti- Interventionist
• Chapter Three: Dwight EisenhowerTh e Conservative as Balancer
• Chapter Four: Barry GoldwaterTh e Conservative as Hawk
• Chapter Five: Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger
• Chapter Six: Ronald Reagan
• Chapter Seven: George H. W. BushTh e Conservative as Realist
• Chapter Eight: George W. BushTh e Nationalist as Interventionist
• Conclusion: Republicans and U.S. Foreign Policy in theAge of Obama
• Notes
• Index