Shortly after Ronald Reagan was elected president, I began work on this book, armed with only a few general ideas. As I tested them I was led to abandon some and adopt others.
I have rehearsed the ideas in this book almost endlessly with my friends. I’m sure that they will recognize the bits and pieces of conversations that appear here. I am delighted to be able to acknowledge the friendship and insights of Josiah Lee Auspitz, Ben Gerson, Hendrik Hertzberg, Christopher Hitchens, John Judis, Robert Kuttner, Robert Reich, William Schneider, Hillel Schwartz, Derek Shearer, Larry Smith, and Ralph Whitehead. I am also grateful for the friendship of Anthony Lewis and Margaret Marshall. Her wise counsel helped make this book possible.
At critical moments, this project would not have gone forward without support from those who believed in its potential merit. Martin Peretz, Charles Merrill, Philip M. Stern, Dr. Howard Hiatt, and Thomas Vallely helped fund the research. I am also indebted to the assistance of Richard Parker, the Bydale Foundation, Mark Green and the Democracy Project, and the Sabre Foundation’s Project in Public Philosophy. I am especially grateful for the generous support offered by Richard Dennis, and for the friendship of Charles Wolff.
The book would have been very thin without the cooperation of many sources in the worlds of government, business, academics, philanthropy, and politics. I am thankful that they confided their views and information.
I am grateful to The New York Times Magazine for permission to reprint in different form articles that first appeared there. The Times editor I worked with was Robert Stock.
I have also adapted material that was initially published in the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, where Michael Janeway presided. Michael Larkin and Al Larkin were also helpful editors there.
Material that first appeared in the Washington Post has been rewritten for this book. I am grateful to the Post for permission to reprint. Henry Allen and Robert Kaiser were particularly helpful editors. Maralee Schwartz assisted with the research.
I have been lucky to have had Hugh O’Neill as my editor at Times Books. His criticism and suggestions have been unfailingly incisive and helpful, immeasurably improving the manuscript. I’m also grateful for the careful copy editing of David Wade Smith. I thank my literary agent, Kathy Robbins, for placing me at this particular publishing house.
Above all, I am grateful to my family. My wife, Jackie, offered consistently intelligent advice. Our sons, Max and Paul, make the future real for us.
My sister, Marcia, and her husband, Dennis Fields, were supportive and encouraging. My grandmother, Minnie F. Stone, helped, too. We all miss her and cherish her memory.
Finally, my parents, Hymen and Claire Blumenthal, to whom this book is dedicated, have always given their confidence and love.
Brookline, Massachusetts
Washington, D.C.
May 1986