American Machiavelli: Samuel P. Huntington the Author of Grand Strategy

<p>Samuel P. Huntington was one of the most influential political scientists of the 20th century, authoring a series of influential “concepts” and “paradigms” that have had tremendous impact on both scholarship and political practice. Historians have made great efforts to chart the anomalous, continental ideological influences and political motivations of Huntington’s close friends and Harvard colleagues Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski, yet Huntington has not yet received an attempt at intellectual biography, a project necessary to understand this cohort best understood as “a trio” of grand strategists. Relying on newly available archival materials, this dissertation situates Huntington’s major academic writings within a life of driven political action, especially in connection with presidential campaigns and the Democratic Party. Starting with his youth and his academic mentors and teachers, it scaffolds Huntington’s topical focus according to the contingencies of American politics and comprehensively-expressed views on the purpose and shortcomings of political ideology in the Cold War. With this more complete biographical context, the thesis also responds to the increasingly common attribution of Huntington’s influence on the ideological soup of Donald Trump and contemporary American nationalism.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Grantor

The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• Fine, Todd

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Richard Wolin

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• K.C. Johnson
• David Waldstreicher

• Intellectual History
• Political History
• United States History
• Cold War
• Samuel P. Huntington
• Grand Strategy
• Harvard University
• Carter Administration

Repository record dc:identifier

https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6172

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:academicworks.cuny.edu:gc_etds-7304