Undated: Hawks and doves

Writing in the December 8, 1962, issue of The Saturday Evening Post, Stewart Alsop and Charles Bartlett recount the meetings and decision-making in Washington during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The article helps popularize the political/military labels "hawks" and "doves" with the following passage:

"The hawks favored an air strike to eliminate the Cuban missile bases, either with or without warning. ... The doves opposed the air strike and favored a blockade."

"Hawk" was a shortened version of "war hawk," which dates to at least 1792.

The article also quotes Secretary of State Dean Rusk as saying, "We're eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked."

* Saturday Evening Post article (PDF): @

* "War Hawks, Uncle Sam, and The White House: Tracing the Use of Three Phrases in Early American Newspapers" (Donald R. Hickey, Wayne State University, via Readex): @

* "Safire's Political Dictionary" (William Safire, first published in 1968; search for "doves" and "war hawks"): @

* "Of Hawks, Doves -- and Now, Owls" (Graham Allison, Joseph S. Nye and Albert Carnesale, The New York Times, 1985): @  

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