While the clash between what has been called the modern and undeveloped worlds has led to America's military involvement in the Middle East and other places, few people realize the tension between the modern and the traditional within the United States. Beginning in the 1920's, professional intellectuals and academics began influencing the nation's public policy on matters as diverse as education, economics, and public health. In this thoughtful work, David A. Horowitz analyzes the tension between the so-called New Class of knowledge professionals and their critics, who accused them of being out of touch with the common sense of everyday people, strangers to the American Way, even Communists. America's Political Class Under Fire is organized over nine periods of 20th-century history, providing a window into everything from the Scopes evolution trial and McCarthyism to affirmative action and the Clinton health care fiasco. Along the way, the book explores the New Left, populist conservatism, and the mid-90's reaction to political liberalism, which saw Newt Gingrich rise to the top post in the House of Representatives. In telling these stories, Horowitz seeks to encourage a more balanced and fair-minded assessment of the consequences of expertise and applied intellect to democratic existence in the United States.

Introduction: America's Controversy with New Class Guardians1. Secular Liberalism on Trial in the Turbulent 1920s2. Shadow Government: The Brains Trust Under Fire, 1932-19363. The Welfare State and Its Discontents, 1936-19414. Planners versus Enterprisers: The Free World at Home During World War II5. Pledging Allegiance: The Political Class and Cold War Loyalty, 1946-19526. Hidden Persuasions: The Disputed Agenda of 1950s Policy Elites7. Zero Sum Governance: Social Interventionists and Race Politics, 1954-19688. Class War: The Liberal Establishment Besieged, 1968-19809. Far from Paradise: Social Guardians in the Postmodern Era, 1980-2000Conclusion: The Guardian Class and American DemocracyNotesBibliography of Archival Sources and Public Documents