Hawk in the Cold War Twilight

Chapter 3 considers Jeane Kirkpatrick’s influence during the early 1980s as the first woman ambassador from the United States to the United Nations. Kirkpatrick built a reputation as an outspoken diplomat with a visceral belief in America’s greatness. She supported a muscular but prudent defense of US interests well before her cabinet appointment. As the only woman in President Ronald Reagan’s initial cabinet, Kirkpatrick helped to ensure that the foreign policy directions of his first presidency reflected her views. Critical of left feminism prior to her time in executive office, Kirkpatrick served a Republican administration that won office thanks to support from an electorate that held similar views.