Paving the Way for Reagan

Dr. Jurdem successfully makes an argument that relies on an impressive array of primary sources as well as a good use of oral history to develop his arguments. Paving the Way for Reagan will make a lasting contribution to our understanding of the evolution of the modern conservative movement, particularly the one represented by Ronald Reagan and his contemporaries.

~Kyle Longley, author of eight books including LBJ's 1968: Power, Politics, and the Presidency in America's Year of Upheaval

In this perceptive and meticulously documented study, Laurence R. Jurdem shows how three insurgent conservative periodicals developed a trenchant critique of American foreign policy during the Vietnam War era and its dispiriting aftermath—and thereby helped to lay the foundations for the 'Reagan Revolution' of 1980. His book casts valuable light on the ideological and geopolitical worldview behind President Reagan's daring reorientation of foreign policy. Jurdem also illuminates the fruitful and occasionally tense interaction between Reagan and his supporters in conservative media. The volume is a welcome addition to scholarship on Reagan's career and on the conservative movement that catapulted him to the White House.

~George H. Nash, historian and author of The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945

Laurence Jurdem has read widely and researched deeply into the intellectual history of modern American conservatism. In Paving the Way for Reagan, he deftly shows how writers for Human Events, National Review, and Commentary, in reaction to the failures of the Vietnam War and détente, helped refashion American foreign policy and provide the ideological groundwork for the Republican Party's more hawkish policies under Ronald Reagan. In doing so, these three very different magazines had a profound impact on the unfolding of the final years of the Cold War. Jurdem's book deserves a place on the growing bookshelf of works about American conservative thought and politics.

~Vincent J. Cannato, University of Massachusetts Boston

Ideas matter! Paving the Way for Reagan shows how the conservative critique of postwar bipartisan foreign policy paid off in the Reagan administration by ending the Cold War. Great read.

~Donald T. Critchlow, author of Republican Character: From Nixon to Reagan

Most great moments in history have been decades in the making. Ronald Reagan's Cold War triumph was no exception. If he seized the moment by telling Gorbachev to 'tear down this wall' it was only after years of reflection and experience shaped by the writing of major conservative figures like William F. Buckley Jr., James Burnham, and so many others. Laurence Jurdem has done an outstanding job of documenting a unique, symbiotic relationship that not only made history, but changed it for the better.

~Aram Bakshian, contributing editor to The National Interest and The American Conservative, and Ronald Reagan's director of presidential speechwriting (1981–1983)

Laurence Jurdem has done an outstanding job of documenting a unique, symbiotic relationship that not only made history, but changed it for the better.

~Washington Times

[An] evenhanded and comprehensive study. What Jurdem proves without a doubt is the critical role Human Events, National Review, and Commentary played on the worldview of Ronald Reagan. Jurdem's book is filled with evidence of why small intellectual magazines matter.

~Washington Free Beacon

Jurdem's work is essential reading for those whose studies consider the rise of conservative reaction during the tenures of the four preceding presidents. The book also offers a reminder of what Nash recognized: the effort to find intellectualism in the minds of politicians is a slippery slope.

~Craig Allen, Journal of American History