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

130 SPECIALPROVIDENCE

independentstatesunderAmericanhegemony.Itwasa policythatso
neatlycombinedthevaluesofMachiavelliandSaintFrancisthatone
couldscarcelydiscernthedividinglinebetweenthereptileandthebird
ofpeace.
TheHamiltonians'grandfathershadbeencontenttobefreeridersas
longasBritishhegemonywasstable.As theBritishsystembeganto
weaken,theirfatherssupportedit.TheHamiltoniansofthemiddleof
thetwentiethcenturyreplacedit,andastheydidso, theymadetwo
majorchangesinlongstandingAmericanforeign policy. Onechange
concernedsecuritypolicy;theother,economics.
Insecuritymatters,HamiltoniansbecamecommittedtoAmerican
allianceswithforeigncountries. This causedno greatintellectualor
moralproblemsforHamiltonians;theyhadalwaystakenWashington's
FarewellAddressas pragmaticcounselratherthanholywrit.Hamil-
tonianopinionhadinanycasealwaysbeenkeenlyawareofthetacit
alliancewithBritain,datingbackto1823,andhadunderstoodinboth
1914 and 1939 thatthetacitalliancehadtobecomeovert.
Norhad Hamiltoniansopposed a military alliancewith Britain
andevenFranceafterWorldWar1.Thestoryoftheinterventionist-
isolationistcontroversyhas becomesoconfusedinhistoricalmemory
thatmostAmericanshaveonlya verydistortedideaofwhatthefight
overtheratificationoftheTreatyofVersailleswasreallyabout.Hamil-
tonianopinion, embracedbysuchdedicatedopponentsofWilsonas
HenryCabotLodge (a self-described Hamiltonianand authorofan
admiringbiographyofthemaster),was willing toaccept thetreaty
withmodificationsthatsatisfiedcongressionalscruplesonvariouspoints
andthat,whiledivestingtheLeagueofNationsofthesupranational
authoritythatWilsonwanted,wouldhaveleftitroughlyasstrongasthe
UnitedNationsistoday.ThedebatebetweenLodgeandWilsonwasnot
overwhethertheUnitedStatesshouldjointheLeagueofNationsbut
whatthatleagueshouldbelike.Thethirdgroupinthatdebate,ledby
SenatorBorah,werethegenuineisolationists,buttheyweresmallin
numberand,ifWilsonandtheHamiltonianscouldhaveagreedona
compromise,theUnitedStateswouldhavejoinedtheLeagueandrati-
fiedtheVersaillestreatybya comfortablemajority.
AfterWorldWarII,Hamiltonianopinionwouldsupporta world-
wideweb ofsecuritytreaties, bothcollective andbilateral,withthe
objectbothofcontainingtheSovietUnionandofreplacingtheBritish
Empirewitha globalsecuritystructureincorporatingthenewlyinde-
pendentnationsoftheformerEuropeanempires.