The CDM was formed in December 1972, after the landslide victory of Republican Richard Nixon over Democrat George McGovern in the 1972 presidential election,[1] by inspiration from Henry M. Jackson,[2][3] junior United States senator from Washington.
Jackson was a Cold War liberal, an anti-Communist, a supporter of high military spending and a hard line against the Soviet Union, especially on human rights' issues, but also a strong supporter of the welfare state, social programs and labor unions.
[6] The CDM also attracted members from the Social Democrats, USA (SDUSA), the moderate wing of the Socialist Party of America (SPA),[7][8][9] and, chiefly, the SPA's youth wing, the Young People's Socialist League (YPSL).
[10][11][12] Leading CDM members included Les Aspin, Daniel Bell, Lloyd Bentsen, Peter Berger, David Boren, Midge Decter, Tom Foley, Nathan Glazer, Ernest Hollings, Hubert Humphrey, Samuel Huntington, Daniel Inouye, Max Kampelman, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Charles Krauthammer, Irving Kristol, Seymour Martin Lipset, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Joshua Muravchik, Michael Novak, Sam Nunn, Richard Perle, Richard Pipes, Norman Podhoretz, Bill Richardson, Chuck Robb, Eugene Rostow, Ben Wattenberg, Paul Wolfowitz, James Woolsey and Jim Wright.
[17] Some, including Aspin, Bentsen, Nunn, Richardson, Robb and Woolsey, participated in the Democratic Leadership Council and/or Bill Clinton's administration, while several others, including Kirkpatrick, Krauthammer, Kristol, Muravchik, Novak, Perle, Pipes, Podhoretz and Wolfowitz, eventually became Republicans and/or served under Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.