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

154 SPECIALPROVIDENCE

WarIIislargelya resultofthemissionarymovement.Missionarykids,
fluentfromchildhoodinforeignlanguagesandathomeinforeigncul-
tures, wereinvaluableassetsforAmericanforces duringthewar,and
afteritforoccupationanddiplomaticmissionsandaskeystaffersinthe
vast internationalexpansion ofAmericanbusiness. According toone
recentsurvey,roughly 50 percentof"foreigncultureexperts"during
WorldWarIIweremissionaryoffspring.'3Thiswasparticularlycrucial
atatimewhentheEuropeanempireswerecollapsingacross thethird
world,whichispreciselywheretheAmericanmissionswerelocated.
Theprocessbywhichthe"backwash"froma missionarymovement
changesthehomeculrureisstillunderwaytoday.Catholicmissionsand
missionaryordersinCentralandLatinAmericahavedonemuchtosen-
sitizeAmericansocietytothevaluesandconcernsofthosesocieties.The
energeticandphenomenallysuccessfulmissionworkoftheLatter-day
SaintshasmadeUtahoneofthemostcosmopolitanstatesintheUnion.
Thisgeographicallyisolatedstateisincreasinglyinvolvedintradeand
otherinternationalrelationships,thankstotheexchangesandcontacts
broughtaboutbytheMormonmissionaryeffort.WithyoungMormons
expectedtoservetwoyearsinthemissionfield,andwithmanyforeign
convertscomingtoSaltLake Citytostudyinitshallowedhalls and
sacredcloisters,Utahissurprisinglyrichindynamicyoungpeoplewho
arefluentina foreignlanguage-andwhohavefriendsandconnections
abroad.TheJune9,1978,decisionbyMormonspiritualauthoritiesto
admitblackmentothefullMormonpriesthoodclearlyreflectedmis-
sionaryexperience, and it parallels the steps by whichmany other
Americanchurchcommunitieshavemovedbeyondtheracismembed-
dedinpopularculture.
FinallythepresenceofAmericanandotherWesternmissionaries
abroadinspireda "missionaryreflux," acceleratingthepenetrationof
Americansocietybynon-WesternandIslamicreligiousideas.Mission-
aryendeavorstotranslatethesacredwritingsofotherfaithsintoEnglish
mayhavebeenforpurposesofarmingWesternersforreligiouscontro-
versywiththeheathens,buttheideasofthosetextsquicklyfounda place
inAmericanthought.EmersonandThoreaureadHinduscriptures,and
theirthought,andthedevelopmentofAmericanintellectuallife,was
deeplyinfluencedbytheseideas.
MorerecentlytheUnitedStateshasincreasinglybecomethesceneof
consciousmissionaryeffortsbysuchtraditionallynonmissionaryfaithsas
HinduismandBuddhism,aswell asbyMuslims. Theseefforts,plus