Try wrapping it this way.
Recall the average leftist of the 1980s, and their views on the Sandinistas, other Marxist incursions into Central and South America, Cuba, unilateral disarmament, nuclear weapons, and the rest of the arms race with the Soviet Union.
Now imagine what Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson's opinions would be of those same things.
A good example of a Democrat of the old school is Zell Miller.
Getting it yet?