Intellectual Triad of Early Cold War

Public intellectual debate in the early 1950s was not a single liberal consensus but a three‑way contest among left‑liberals (progressive anti‑militarists), hawkish liberals (advocates of rollback and firm use of force), and emerging conservative hawks (sovereignty‑focused anti‑Communists). These competing journals and editors (The Nation, New Leader, The Freeman/American Mercury) structured elite debate and helped produce later realignments such as neoconservatism. — Recognizing this triad shifts how we interpret Cold War origins, the genealogy of neoconservatism, and how elite intellectual splits translate into party realignment and foreign‑policy doctrine.