Democrats: Hawks or Doves?

Jimmy Carter — the ultimate "dove" — was actually

the first U.S. President to commit troops to protect the Persian Gulf.
Carter was also the one responsible for freeing the hostages in the
1979 Iranian Hostage crisis. Yet, Regan successfully took credit.
Thus, reinforcing public perception of Carter's military impotence.

In her insightful post yesterday, Let Justice Rain Down, Loui Itoh said: "Ever since the Vietnam War, Democrats have been viewed as
weak when it came to foreign policy."

While I agree that this has been the perception,
I'd like to point out that Jimmy Carter — the ultimate "dove" — was actually
the first U.S. President to commit troops to protect the Persian Gulf.
Carter was also the one responsible for freeing the hostages in the
1979 Iranian Hostage crisis. Yet, Regan successfully took credit.
Thus, reinforcing public perception of Carter's military impotence.

According to Michael A. Palmer, Guardians of the Gulf, "The period from 1968 to 1980 was, indeed, a tale of two doctrines."

The Nixon Doctrine: The Twin Pillars

Focused on America's relationship with the Persian Gulf and
fueled by American ire with the Vietnam War, the Nixon doctrine was
declared in the 1970 State of the Union: "Neither the defense nor the development of other nations can be exclusively or primarily an American undertaking."
So, Nixon and Kissenger searched for a regional power to take over for
the British (who had just pulled out of the region). They found Iran.
Iran and Saudi Arabia became the "Twin Pillars" of America's policy for
protecting western interest in the Gulf.

Nixon cut an
unprecedented deal with the Shah of Iran (a brutal dictator). America
resourced Iran's military build-up in the region. This policy sparked
a regional arms race in the Gulf.

Palmer remarks on the effectiveness of the Nixon Doctrine:

Such
a regional imbalance created instability, not stability. And that
instability made a Persian Gulf arms race, primarily an Iraqi arms
buildup, inevitable. In that sense, Operation Desert Storm [and by
extension the Iraq war] was to a significant extent, an American
effort to destroy military arsenal that the United States' own policies
had helped to create in the 1970's. (Palmer, 93)

The Carter Doctrine: Military Force

Then
came Carter who made human rights a primary part of his foreign policy
(for the first time in U.S. history). Yet, Carter's value for human
rights did not preclude him from the use of force. When Carter
discerned the instability of the Gulf, he took decisive action and
created a new kind of U.S. military force to engage the Gulf – The
Rapid Deployment Force.

When the Shah fell, the Soviets
invaded Afghanistan, and the American hostages were taken, Carter took
decisive military action each time. He deployed multiple military
forces into the region throughut 1979. This was the first time the
U.S. military had ever entered the Persian Gulf.

In his January 23, 1980, State of the Union, Carter declared his doctrine:

Let
our position be absolutely clear: An attempt by any outside force to
gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault
on the vial interests of the United States of America, and such an
assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military
force. (Palmer, 106)

With this
doctrine, "the dove" was the first to commit U.S. military forces to
defend against any Soviet move in the region and any threat against
western oil interests.

Carter's Achilles Heal

After
months of failed diplomatic attempts to release the hostages, Carter
deployed a miltary rescue mission, code named Operation "Eagle Claw."
It failed, in essence, because the military planners didn't forsee the
affects of a desert sand storm on low-flying helicopters.

When Operation Eagle Claw failed, it was back to the diplomatic drawing board.

In
a Columiba Univ. class on U.S. Foreign Policy-making, Prof. Gary Sick,
principle White House aide for Iran during the Iranian hostage crisis,
said: "In September [1980] we made settlement with Iran to get the
hostages but within days Iraq invaded Iran. Everything came to a halt
in October. … Then days after the November election, the Algerians
came in to say the Iranians had empowered them to mitigate." Soon the
hostages were released.

Reagan and the Republicans took credit and a twelve year Republican hegemony over the U.S. executive office ensued.

Loui's
reflections are significant. It is true that the public perceives the
Democrats as doves — weak on military force. But that is not the
reality of our heritage.