Review: United States: The Terrors of Ideological Politics
| DOI | 10.1177/002070207402900426 |
| Author | Kenneth McNaught |
| Published date | 01 December 1974 |
| Date | 01 December 1974 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
676
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
is
clear,
to
begin with,
that
since
the
late
1930s
Jews
have
remained
the
most
knowledgable
about international
affairs
and
generally the
most
enthusiastic about
American involvement
abroad.
Secondly, a
remarkable shift
has
occurred
among
Catholics
since
the
late
1930s.
Once
the
least
informed
and
least
'internationalist'
of
the
religious
groups,
they
had
by
the
late
196os
become
somewhat
better
informed
than Protestants
and
no
less
internationally
minded.
Thirdly,
by
the
mid-196os
white
Protestants
constituted
the
'most
internationally
con-
servative
ethno-religious
group
in
the
country,'
in
contrast
to
Catho-
lics
and
Jews,
who
were
significantly
more
inclined
to
opt
for
'dovish'
(the
description
is
mine,
not
Hero's)
policy
preferences
such
as
co-
operation with
the
communist
world,
greater
involvement
in the
United Nations,
and
more
non-military
foreign
aid.
Fourthly, there
appears
to
be
no
consistent
relationship
between
domestic
policy
preferences,
whether 'liberal'
or
'conservative,'
and
foreign
policy
preferences.
Lastly,
public
stances
on
foreign
affairs
adopted
by
Christian
church
organizations
have
had
some
effect
on
the
clergy
but
relatively
little
effect
on
most
of
the
laity.
Sober
in
tone
and
carefully
argued,
this
is
an instructive
study
which
tells
us
a good deal
about
a
relatively
neglected subject
and
which
demonstrates
the
usefulness for scholarly
purposes
of
opinion
data
on
a
wide
range
of
issues
compiled
over
a
long
period
of
time
by
a
variety
of
polling
organizations.
It
is
a
product
of
mature
scholarship
and
is
informed
by
Hero's
conviction
that
the
Christian
churches
can
and
should
do more
to
provide
an
ethical
dimension
for
public
think-
ing
and
discussion
relating
to foreign
affairs.
R.D.
Accinelli/University
of
Toronto
THE
TERRORS
OF
IDEOLOGICAL
POLITICS
Liberal
Historians
in
a
Conservative
Mood
Marian
J.
Morton
Cleveland:
Press
of
Case
Western
Reserve
University
[Toronto:
Burns
&
MacEachern],
1972,
Xii,
192pp,
$7.25
This
is
yet
another
discussion
of the
agonies of
post-World
War
ii
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