Hawk and Dove: The Search for an Explanation of Vietnam Policy Preferences

In: Acta politica: AP ; international journal of political science ; official journal of the Dutch Political Science Association (Nederlandse Kring voor Wetenschap der Politiek), Band 7, Heft 3, S. 285-322

Abstract

Data from a survey by the Nat'l Opinion Res Center on US att's to the War in Vietnam in the Spr of 1967 are analyzed in the light of various theories on citizens' images of foreign policy & PO on Vietnam. In order to find causes for PO shifts on Vietnam, various relationships were tested: eg, between foreign policy preferences & soc position, hawk-dove policy preferences as a function of status inconsistency, opinion polarization as a function of level of information about Vietnam, Vietnam policy preferences as a function of orientation to internat'l pol. Multivariate analyses show that approval of current policy, which was seen as a measure of the propensity to follow the lead of nat'l leadership, is the only independent variable that makes a signif contribution to the explanation of preferences in every policy area. J. Galtung's measure of soc position & a McClosky type measure of basic orientation to internat'l pol also are signif'ly involved in the explanation of preferences in 4 of the 5 policy areas. It is concluded that this leaves the understanding of hawk & dove preferences incomplete. One possible explalation is that, as disapproval of the President's handling of the war grew, in response to bad news from Vietnam, support for having troops there dropped. But since att's toward current policy are less related to positions on bombings, enthusiasm for bombing remained despite growing dissatisfaction with the overall policy. 16 Tables. 6 Appendices. M. Maxfield.