Special Providence_ American Foreign Policy and How It Changed World - Walter Russell Mead

TheSerpentandtheDove 125

RooseveltandHenryCabotLodge.ThewarwithSpainandtheoccupa-
tionofthePhilippineswasthemostdramaticsignofa newlyenergetic
policy.ButtheSpanish-AmericanWarwasnotalone.Inanactdifficult
toreconcilewiththeMonroeDoctrineoranyconceptofisolation,the
UnitedStatesparticipatedwithfive Europeannationsina campaign
againsttheBoxerrebelsinChina.UnderRoosevelttheUnitedStatesnot
onlyhelpedRussiaandJapannegotiatea peacesettlementtoendtheir
war, itparticipatedinwhatJohnQuincyAdamswouldhavecalleda
congressofEuropeanpowerstosettlea disputebetweenGermanyand
FranceovertheirrespectiverightsinNorthAfrica.
ForHamiltonians,theUnitedStateshadbeenirrevocablycommitted
toa globalforeignpolicythroughoutitshistory.TheFirstWorldWar
stirredHamiltonianideasofinterventionandsolidaritywithBritainthat
hadbeenprominentunderWashington.Hamiltonianopinionfavored
interventionagainstFranceandforEnglandinthe1790S;itsviewshad
notchangedin1914.FromthemomenttheBritishdeclaredwaronGer-
many, Hamiltonianopinionfavored interventionontheBritishside.
WhileWilsonurgedstrictneutrality,thesonsofHamiltonianbankers
andindustrialistsrushedtoFranceandCanada,nottofleethedraftbut
tovolunteerfordutyagainstGermanyinsuchspecialcombatunitsas
theLafayetteEscadrille.
BetweentheDeclarationofIndependenceandAmericanentryinto
WorldWarI, 141 yearsintervened.DuringmuchofthattimeHamil-
tonianideasaboutforeignpolicyhelpedguidetheUnitedStates.Under
Hamiltonianleadership,theUnitedStateshaddefineditsinterestsin
globalterms,articulatedthemonthebasisofitsnationalinterestsrealis-
ticallydefinedandadvancedthemthrougha diplomacythatwasneither
isolationist,unrealisticallyidealistic,nor amateurish.Nodiplomacyis
alwayssuccessful;nonationevergetseverythingitwants,andnostates-
manavoidstheoccasionalblunder. Butbyanymeaningfulstandard,
Americanforeign policy was extraordinarily successful until World
WarI,andtheintellectualandpoliticalfoundationslaiddowninthose
daysstillserveuswelltoday.

AtlasShrugs

ThefalloftheBritishEmpirewasthemostimportanteventininter-
nationalpoliticsinthetwentiethcentury,andinthewholehistoryof
Americanforeignpolicy.Thegreatinternationalconflictsofthetwenti-