Kaufman, Robert G. (Robert Kaufman, Robert Gordon Kaufman)

PERSONAL:

Education: Columbia University, B.A., M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.; Georgetown University Law School, J.D.

ADDRESSES:

Office—School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Hwy., Malibu, CA 90263-7490; fax: 310-506-7494. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, political scientist, foreign policy expert, biographer, and educator. Pepperdine University, School of Public Policy, Malibu, CA, professor of public policy. Taught at Colgate University, the Naval War College, and the University of Vermont. Heritage Foundation, adjunct scholar.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Emil and Katherine Sick Award for best book on the history of the Pacific Northwest, 2000, for Henry M. Jackson: A Life in Politics; Bradley Scholar.

WRITINGS:

Arms Control during the Pre-Nuclear Era: The United States and Naval Limitation between the Two World Wars, Columbia University Press (New York, NY), 1990.

Henry M. Jackson: A Life in Politics, University of Washington Press (Seattle, WA), 2000.

In Defense of the Bush Doctrine, University Press of Kentucky (Lexington, KY), 2007.

Contributor to journals, newspapers, and periodicals, including Weekly Standard, Policy Review, Baltimore Sun, Washington Times, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and Philadelphia Inquirer.

SIDELIGHTS:

Writer and educator Robert G. Kaufman is a professor of public policy at Pepperdine University. As an academic and political scientist, Kaufman focuses his research and writing on U.S. foreign policy, national security, and international relations. Kaufman's work explores various areas of American politics and their relationship to each other and to the larger society.

Kaufman's first major book of U.S. military and political policy analysis was Arms Control during the Pre-Nuclear Era: The United States and Naval Limitation between the Two World Wars. "The naval limitation diplomacy of 1921-1936 has been the only concerted, sustained, comprehensive effort to put a lid on arma- ments, and Kaufman's book is the only systematic … examination of that effort," commented Waldo Heinrichs in the Journal of Interdisciplinary History. Kaufman looks carefully at issues and policies of the years between World Wars I and II and assesses how they influenced later arms control policies during the Cold War-era. Heinrichs noted that Kaufman delves deeply into both primary and secondary sources on three international conferences that resulted in the diplomatic stance toward arms limitation in the interwar years. The Washington Conference of 1921-22 placed limits on battleships and aircraft carriers. The London Conference of 1930 extended these limits to cruisers. Finally, the 1935-36 London conference ended the limitations. Kaufman notes that the United States often deliberately restrained their naval development to levels below the limits established by the treaties, while the Japanese built to the allowed limits and beyond. When the treaties were dissolved in the mid-1930s, the Americans launched into an accelerated program of naval expansion and construction, which Kaufman concludes made the Japanese all the more determined to destroy the American naval capacity at Pearl Harbor before their own sea supremacy was overcome. "Kaufman's realist critique exposes important weaknesses and failures of the limitation effort," Heinrichs concluded.

In Henry M. Jackson: A Life in Politics, Kaufman presents a biography of Henry "Scoop" Jackson, a prominent, well-liked, and deeply respected career politician. "As Kaufman rightly demonstrates, Scoop Jackson was exceptionally effective as a politician," commented Andrew Marshall in the National Interest. Jackson entered government service as a member of the U.S. Senate in 1950, and throughout his career he developed such a reputation for fairness, honesty, and intellectual concern that even his opponents were willing to admit great admiration and respect for him. A long-term element of Jackson's career was opposition to Communism in Russia and the Soviet Union, and he played a pivotal role in the Reagan administration's risky and sometimes misunderstood efforts against the Communists. "The contribution made by Jackson is illuminated in this skillfully written and thoroughly researched biography," noted reviewer Arch Puddington in Commentary. In addition to Jackson's role in ending the Cold War, Kaufman explores his early life and political career; his unsuccessful bids in the 1970s for the U.S. presidency; and his many political triumphs. Kaufman attributes Jackson's failure in presidential politics to a leftward shift in Democratic politics and a style of campaigning that did not translate well into the media of the day. "As Kaufman makes clear, Jackson may have been one of the most principled and upright men ever to walk across the stage of American politics, but he was also one of the least charismatic," Puddington remarked.

"Kaufman has produced a fascinating and informative recounting," of Jackson's career and accomplishments, "one that lauds Jackson as an outstanding hero of the Cold War," Marshall remarked. "It is sympathetic yet evenhanded in its portrayal of the political context within which Jackson lived." Jackson "was a complex man, and his many facets come through clearly in this well-written and thoroughly researched study," stated Library Journal contributor Thomas J. Baldino. "Scoop Jackson was the best this nation had to offer," Marshall concluded.

Kaufman takes on a more controversial subject with In Defense of the Bush Doctrine, in which, stated Lee P. Ruddin on the History News Network Web site, he provides a "theoretical and historical source in defense" of President George W. Bush's multifaceted policies on issues such as terrorism, national defense, war, foreign relations, and more. "To say that the Bush Doctrine has been criticized is an understatement," remarked Mackubin Thomas Owens in the National Review.. "It has been an object of scorn across the political spectrum, blamed for everything from the Iraq War to anti-Americanism in Europe. But now Robert Kaufman, professor of public policy at Pepperdine University, has stepped into the breach to defend the Bush Doctrine—and to defend it quite ably," Owens reported. Kaufman identifies two main threads in the Bush doctrine: one, that the events of September 11, 2001, clearly demonstrate that there are regimes ready and willing to harm the United States in unconventional ways, and that military power and preemptive force can be necessary to stopping these threats; two, the cause of this violent antagonism toward the United States is found in the culture of the Middle East and can only be stemmed through democratic regime change. These concepts, according to Kaufman, support and justify the Patriot Act, America's foreign policy, and the Iraq War, among many other things.

Other critics continue to find Kaufman's support of the Bush doctrine questionable. "Considering that even most neoconservatives have long since abandoned any attempt to argue that the Iraq War was well managed, it is genuinely surprising to come across a reasonably thoughtful author—and Kaufman is one—still willing to defend Bush absolutely to the hilt," commented National Interest reviewer Colin Dueck. Dueck pointed out that many Bush administration claims have been shown to be untrue, or based on unrealistically optimistic expectations about the outcome of the Iraq invasion and other events. Perhaps most damaging to Bush supporters, the "Bush Doctrine as implemented in Iraq has not actually contributed to that end. On the contrary, thus far the Iraq War has had a negative impact overall on American national security," Dueck judged. Even some supporters recognize the limits. Owens concluded, "The Bush Doctrine too will fail, if it is not applied with prudence and blessed with a certain amount of good fortune."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, October, 1991, Donald J. Lisio, review of Arms Control during the Pre-Nuclear Era: The United States and Naval Limitation between the Two World Wars, p. 1323.

American Political Science Review, March, 1991, David S. Sorenson, review of Arms Control during the Pre-Nuclear Era, p. 338.

Biography, winter, 2001, Lars-Erik Nelson, review of Henry M. Jackson: A Life in Politics, p. 333.

Booklist, November 1, 2000, Mary Carroll, review of Henry M. Jackson, p. 498.

Choice, March, 2001, R.N. Seidel, review of Henry M. Jackson, p. 1330.

Commentary, December, 2000, Arch Puddington, review of Henry M. Jackson, p. 72.

Foreign Affairs, March, 2001, review of Henry M. Jackson, p. 176.

History: The Journal of the Historical Association, October, 1995, Mark J. White, review of Arms Control during the Pre-Nuclear Era, p. 452.

International History Review, August, 1992, review of Arms Control during the Pre-Nuclear Era, p. 584.

Journal of American History, June, 1991, Ernest Andrade, review of Arms Control during the Pre-Nuclear Era, p. 371.

Journal of Interdisciplinary History, fall, 1996, Waldo Heinrichs, review of Arms Control during the Pre-Nuclear Era, p. 356.

Library Journal, September 15, 2000, Thomas J. Baldino, review of Henry M. Jackson, p. 87; April 1, 2007, Bob Nardini, review of In Defense of the Bush Doctrine, p. 104.

National Interest, winter, 2000, Andrew Marshall, "Holding the Bridge," review of Henry M. Jackson, p. 107; May-June, 2007, Colin Dueck, "Doctrinal Faith," review of In Defense of the Bush Doctrine, p. 82.

National Review, June 11, 2007, Mackubin Thomas Owens, "In the Tradition," review of In Defense of the Bush Doctrine, p. 42.

Pacific Historical Review, November, 2001, Leroy Ashby, review of Henry M. Jackson, p. 673.

Pacific Northwest Quarterly, spring, 2001, Floyd J. McKay, review of Henry M. Jackson, p. 106.

Reference & Research Book News, June, 1990, review of Arms Control during the Pre-Nuclear Era, p. 22; February, 2001, review of Henry M. Jackson, p. 49.

Western Historical Quarterly, spring, 2002, Michelle Nickerson, review of Henry M. Jackson, p. 89.

Western Legal History, June 22, 2000, Kent D. Richards, review of Henry M. Jackson, p. 274.

ONLINE

History News Network,http://historynewsnetwork.org/ (June 9, 2007), Lee P. Ruddin, review of In Defense of the Bush Doctrine.

Pepperdine University School of Public Policy Web site,http://publicpolicy.pepperdine.edu/ (January 19, 2008), biography of Robert G. Kaufman.

Pepperdine University Web site,http://www.pepperdine.edu/ (January 19, 2008), "Public Policy Professor Robert G. Kaufman Defends Bush Doctrine in New Book," review of In Defense of the Bush Doctrine.

Sixtieth Annual Conference of World Affairs, University of Colorado at Boulder Web site,http://www.colorado.edu/cwa/ (January 19, 2008), biography of Robert G. Kaufman.