Umm, no - it was not all that popular with the troops or the officer corps when introduced. It was popular with the political leadership (elected, appointed or commissioned).
There were a goodly amount of internal complaints about the beret when introduced, but command directives are not generally open to debate. Complaints from the force about the beret led to numerous changes in uniform policy within individual commands and posts; exceptions to when the beret was required, etc. In many ways, that made the situation worse, because Joe might be perfectly fine with his headgear on one post and completely unsat in another, doing the exact same work for the same types of unit.
It does seem the Army has a real problem with its attire. The green blouse that soldier wore for years reminded me of a cheap copy of a Wehrmacht uniform. I don't know if anyone else had that opinion, but I could never see a soldier wearing a green blouse without wanting to yell “Sieg Heil” - just to see what would happen.
And the head gear, what a joke. Remember the pillbox hats from Korea? Or who can forget the funny looking baseball caps of the Vietnam years, an item of headgear that was (from what I was told) loathed by all soldiers below the rank of general. And the current model: a lopsided copy of the Marine Corps issue.
Who knows what the Army will try next: maybe a reissue of the WWI piscutter; or maybe to emphasize tradition, a reissue of Civil War headgear.