The New Republican?
As if locked in a time warp, TV talkshow producers still look to the New Republic to find representatives of the left. Decades ago, the New Republic and The Nation were indeed the two leading intellectual journals of the left. But after the New Republic was purchased in 1974 by Martin Peretz, it moved sharply to the right, becoming conservative on foreign policy, and centrist or moderately liberal on domestic issues.
The New Republic‘s departure from the left can be seen in its position on Nicaragua. For most of the US left, the Contra war was the defining foreign policy issue of the ’80s, in the same way that the Vietnam War determined friends and enemies in the 1960s. The New Republic spent the last decade cheering on Reagan’s Nicaragua policy.
Editorials made “The Case for the Contras” (3/24/86), dubbing them “freedom fighters” who “deserve our help.” When the Iran/Contra scandal surfaced, the magazine talked of “restoring public confidence in Ronald Reagan’s leadership” (12/22/86) and continued searching for ways to “Save the Contras” (2/15/88). Senior editors Charles Krauthammer, Fred Barnes and Morton Kondracke adopted the Contras as their pet cause, with Kondracke specializing in McCarthyite attacks on groups critical of Central America policy.
Unlike the left, the New Republic has supported US interventionism across the globe, endorsing the Grenada invasion, the bombing of Libya and the Panama invasion. The magazine called the US naval presence in the Persian Gulf a “Just War” (11/9/87). Krauthammer, who approvingly coined the phrase “Reagan Doctrine,” penned countless articles endorsing military intervention, and dismissed international law as “The Curse of Legalism” (11/6/89). Though the New Republic editorial board declined to support Star Wars, Reagan’s overall nuclear strategy was approved and the nuclear freeze and disarmament movements criticized.
Martin Peretz
Owner/editor-in-chief Martin Peretz is best known for his anti-Palestinian, “Israel right or wrong” posture. Indeed, many credit Peretz’ fanaticism on the Middle East with driving the magazine toward a general hawkishness on foreign policy.
In domestic politics, the New Republic attacks Jesse Jackson more harshly than it attacked the Reagan or Bush administrations. The New Republic‘s preferred candidate in 1988 was Sen. Al Gore, the furthest right of the Democratic candidates. (The magazine later endorsed Dukakis.) After the election, the New Republic continued its anti-Jackson campaign in Ben Wattenberg’s “The Curse of Jesse” (12/5/88) and Hendrik Hertzberg’s “Hit the Road, Jack” (4/3/89).
While the New Republic may not be renamed the New Republican anytime soon, it is absurd to imagine that the magazine and its editors represent the American left.
