Stranded in Right Field

In 1980, Jeane Kirkpatrick, a scholar whose specialty was Peronist Argentina, presented a full-blown theory, published in Commentary magazine, attributing the fall of the Nicaraguan and Iranian autocrats to the Carter administration’s “lack of realism.” She derided the idea that “deep historical forces,” finally beyond the control of American policymakers, were at work. By failing to support Somoza and the shah, Carter had contributed to the rise of hostile regimes.

Carter’s policy fostered instability, Kirkpatrick wrote. She dismissed the “pervasive and mistaken assumption that one can easily locate and impose democratic alternatives” in the Third World and the “equally...