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Connecticut Senator Thomas J. Dodd Connecticut Cold War Warrior: Senator Thomas J. Dodd, the United States, and the World, 1945-1971 By Derek R. Lipman A Thesis Submitted to the Committee on Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Faculty of Arts and Science TRENT UNIVERSITY Peterborough, Ontario, Canada ©Copyright by Derek Robert Lipman History M.A. Program 2010 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-68238-8 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-68238-8 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'Internet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des ftns commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada II Abstract This thesis assesses the career of United States Senator Thomas J. Dodd, an underestimated figure in twentieth century American history. He played a key role in Congress with respect to American foreign relations in Latin America, Africa, . and Southeast Asia. Dodd's legacy is ambiguous. He matured politically during the New Deal, and was a driving force behind the implementation of reforms in the areas of civil rights and gun control. Dodd's pious Catholicism, leading role at the Nuremberg Trials, and ties to the FBI shaped his visceral anticommunism, making him an intransigent stalwart. Dodd's anticommunist crusade resulted in the undermining of democratic reformers in the "third world", the escalation of the War in Vietnam, and clashes with "dovish" Democrats who challenged the Cold War orthodoxy. This thesis draws on primary sources including the Dodd Papers, declassified State Department documents, newspaper articles, and oral histories. iii Acknowledgements Several people deserve thanks for their invaluable guidance and encouragement throughout the writing of this thesis. I am deeply grateful to my advisor, Dr. David Sheinin, for years of support and the advice he has provided me at every stage of this project. David's engaging lectures and numerous publications on U.S. history and American foreign relations inspired me to pursue graduate studies. This undertaking would not have been possible without him. Likewise, Dr. Graham Taylor took an early interest in this project, and made countless insightful suggestions on each chapter which improved the quality of the work. Dr. Robert Wright's feedback, critical appraisal, and suggestions on style strengthened this essay. Dr. Tim Stapleton's helpful comments on the section dealing with U.S.­ African relations are greatly appreciated. Also, I must acknowledge the caring advice and input from Drs. Van Nguyen-Marshall, Ivana Elbl, Arne Bialuschewski, Marion Boulby, and Antonio Cazorla-Sanchez in the Trent History department. At Trent History, the extraordinary Patricia Heffernan-Frost helped me through a labyrinth of administrative matters. At Bata Library, Ken Field and James Watson helped me locate critical research materials. At the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut, Curator Betsy Pittman aided me in researching the Dodd Papers. This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Barbara and Peter. Any errors, oversights, or omissions contained herein remain my own. iv Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Table of Contents iv Introduction 1 WhyDodd? 7 Objective of this study 13 Chapter One 19 The Catholic Religion and Dodd's Anticommunism 20 The Nuremberg Influence 31 The Munich Influence 44 Chapter Two 47 The New Dealer 47 The liberal Democrat: Dodd's unwavering support for underprivileged Americans, civil rights, and gun control 58 Chapter Three 68 The Eisenhower Years and the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty 72 The Peace Movement and the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty 75 Thomas Dodd and the U.S. Intervention in Guatemala 82 Tom Dodd and the Cuban Revolution 101 Dodd, the Cold War Liberal Democrats, and British Guiana 112 Chapter Four 137 Trouble in the Congo: Tom Dodd and Moise Tshombe 137 Tshombe's Man in the U.S. Senate 138 Congo's Troubled History 140 Dodd's Close Call: Rescued in Africa 157 Chapter Five 176 Vietnam, the Dominican Republic and 176 the Democratic Party Schism 176 The clash with anti-war "subversives" over Vietnam 193 Schism in the Democratic Party 201 Dodd, the Dominican Republic and the end of the Senate's bipartisan 211 Cold War Consensus 211 The Final Campaign 232 Concluding Assessment of Thomas Dodd's Career and Influence 237 Implications for Historiography 249 Bibliography 259 1 Introduction "I'm just a typical American boy from a typical American town, I believe in God and Senator Dodd and keeping old Castro down."] - Phil Ochs, 1965 In his song Draft Dodger Rag, protest singer Phil Ochs deftly captured the public persona of Connecticut Democratic Senator Thomas J. Dodd "a symbol of hawkish stolidity of the Vietnam War" whose name was synonymous in American culture with the anticommunist crusade by which elites charted the nation's course. The inclusion of Senator Dodd in a popular 1960s protest song is evidence of his ubiquitous role as the archetypal Cold War liberal Democrat.3 Although 21st century observers may only be familiar with the controversy surrounding his son, current Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd,4 the elder 1 Aniko Bodroghkozy, Groove Tube: Sixties Television and the Youth Rebellion (Durham N.C.: Duke University Press, 2001), 127. 2 Todd S. Purdum, "Once a Disgraced Senator, Dodd Gets Presidential Salute." New York Times, 16 October 1995, section Bl, available from http://querv.nvtimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CEFDD153FF935A25753ClA963958260; Internet, accessed 20 June, 2007. At times, Connecticut newspaper editorials heralded Dodd as a Senate maverick. In 1959, he departed from Democratic Party orthodoxy (and his friend, Senate majority leader Lyndon Johnson) during the nomination process of General Lewis Strauss for Secretary of Commerce, and voted with the majority of Republicans for his confirmation. In what was a staggering blow to the Eisenhower Administration, Strauss, who had served as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission in the 1950s, was rejected in a 49-46 vote after what Time magazine called one of the "biggest, bitterest confirmation fights in Senate history". See, "The Administration: The Strauss Affair," Time, 15 June, 1959. Democratic opposition to Strauss' confirmation was rooted in his instrumental role in revoking the security clearance of famed nuclear physicist Robert Oppenheimer. During the Strauss controversy, Dodd held that the case against General Strauss was "unclear". 4 For a recent, succinct overview of Christopher Dodd's problems see Mark Hosenball, Suzanne Smolley, and Evan Thomas, "Like Father, Like Son", Newsweek, 8 June 2009, 46. He was elected to the House in 1974, served three terms, and was elected to the Senate in 1980 at age 36. Chris Dodd has pursued a markedly different path in the 2 Dodd was an influential, underestimated figure in U.S. history from before World War II to his death in 1971.5 The trajectory and ultimate tragedy of Dodd's legal and congressional career (House 1953-1957 and Senate 1959-1971) is a case study in the domestic idealism and foreign policy paranoia that drove the agenda of supporters of the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson administrations. As the economist John Kenneth Galbraith pointed out, the confidence that LBJ had in domestic social programs "deserted him when it came to foreign policy.. .The gap was then filled by the generals and by, as they came to be called, the Cold War liberals."6 Dodd was a classic example of those Cold War liberal Democrats who matured politically in the era of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal and supported its extension through the "New Frontier" and the "Great Society" programs in domestic politics, but concomitantly pursued a fanatical anticommunist crusade that often undermined democracy and human rights in much of the world - a foreign policy that had a major, and often negative, Senate compared to his late father, especially in the context of foreign policy. Chris Dodd's views were shaped in part by his work for the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic, where he witnessed the intense anti-Americanism and abject poverty that pervaded the island. Ironically, Chris Dodd saw in the Dominican Republic the adverse effects of the U.S. intervention his father helped legitimize.
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