Rise of the Vulcans : the history of Bush's war cabinet / James Mann.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mann, Jim, 1946-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bush, George W. (George Walker), 1946-.

Friends and associates.

United States--Foreign relations--2001-2009.

United States.

International relations.

United States--Military policy.

Military policy.

United States--Politics and government--2001-2009.

Politics and government.

Bush, George W. (George Walker), 1946---Friends and associates.

Bush, George W.

Cabinet officers--United States--Biography.

Cabinet officers.

Presidents--United States--Staff--Biography.

Presidents.

Political consultants--United States--Biography.

Political consultants.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xix, 426 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Viking, 2004.

Summary:

When George W. Bush campaigned for the White House, he was such a novice in foreign policy that he couldn't name the president of Pakistan and momentarily suggested he thought the Taliban was a rock-and-roll band. But he relied upon a group called the Vulcans -- an inner circle of advisers with a long, shared experience in government, dating back to the Nixon, Ford, Reagan and first Bush administrations. After returning to power in 2001, the Vulcans were widely expected to restore U.S. foreign policy to what it had been under George H. W. Bush and previous Republican administrations. Instead, the Vulcans put America on an entirely new and different course, adopting a far-reaching set of ideas that changed the world and America's role in it. Rise of the Vulcans is nothing less than a detailed, incisive thirty-five-year history of the top six members of the Vulcans -- Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Armitage, and Condoleezza Rice -- and the era of American dominance they represent. It is the story of the lives, ideas and careers of Bush's war cabinet -- the group of Washington insiders who took charge of America's response to September 11 and led the nation into its wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Separately, each of these stories sheds astonishing light not only on the formative influences that brought these nascent leaders from obscurity to the pinnacle of power, but also on the experiences, conflicts and competitions that prefigured their actions on the present world stage. Taken together, the individuals in this book represent a unique generation in American history -- a generation that might be compared to the "wise men" who shaped American policy after World War II or the "best and brightest" who prosecuted the war in Vietnam. Over the past three decades, since the time of Vietnam, these individuals have gradually led the way in shaping a new vision of an unchallengeable America seeking to dominate the globe through its military power.

Contents:

1 A Rising Politician Amid War and Dirty Tricks 1

2 The Intellectual as Protege 21

3 A Soldier and a Sailor 37

4 Combating the Soviets, Detente and Henry Kissinger 56

5 Enter the Persian Gulf 79

6 Transitions 95

7 Camelot of the Conservatives 112

8 Of Dictatorships and Democracy 127

9 In the Midst of Armageddon 138

10 A Scandal and Its Aftermath 150

11 A New Republican President, a New Foreign Policy Team 165

12 Use of Force 179

13 Death of an Empire, Birth of a Vision 198

14 Vulcans in Exile 216

15 A Vulcan Agenda 234

16 The Campaign 248

17 Who Runs the Pentagon? 261

18 Warnings and Signals 277

19 History Starts Today 294

20 A New Strategy 311

21 Toward War with Iraq 332.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [377]-410) and index.

ISBN:

0670032999

OCLC:

53183361