Analysis Of H & S And Chapter 19 Of Mccormick

In this week’s readings chapter 5 of H&S and chapter 19 of McCormick, the topic of both the various events of the cold war and the influences in the political arena are discussed. In particular both books talk about the various issues with the events of the hostages in Iran and the invading of Afghanistan by the Russians. The thing I found interesting was the concept of the hawks, doves, and presidential supporters. Not only is there relationship with foreign policies a major factor in the cold war era but also reflects the president of the time based on who is in power at the time. The book, McCormick, goes into great detail dividing these three groups up and how they play a role in foreign politics. Hawks are considered those who advocate an aggressive foreign policy based on military power, also known as hard power. The opposite of Hawks is the Doves …show more content…
Finally there are the presidential supporters these are different than the two as in there loyalties, and opinions directly reflect those of the president they serve under. Due to this they are more concerned with the president’s domestic popularity and issues rather than international conflicts. Overall, while the Hawk and Dove concept seems more of a stable relationship, with the two swinging into power and influence back and forth like a pendulum, the presidential supporters, seem to not only cause conflict between the two causing a stalemate but also has caused significant problems in some of our nation’s foreign policies. Reflecting on this we can see how these political influences affected certain policies based on the president at the time. In particular the Iran Hostage Crisis shows all three of these influences the most. During this event there was a rather significant rift between all three groups. Reflecting on how complicated and major this crisis was it is easy to see why this rift happen and why taking a certain path of action was a difficult thing for President Carter to due. Yet, that