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

192 SPECIALPROVIDENCE

EconomyofInterests

In1806,PresidentThomasJeffersonwrotea congratulatoryletterto
AlexanderI onhisaccessiontotheRussianthrone."Itwillbeamongthe
latestandmostsoothingcomfortsofmylife,"wrotetheauthorofthe
DeclarationofIndependencetothemostautocraticruleronearth,"to
haveseenadvancedtothegovernmentofsoextensivea portionofthe
earth,andatsoearlya periodofhislife,a sovereignwhoserulingpassion
istheadvancementofthehappinessandprosperityofhispeople;andnot
ofhisownpeopleonly,butwhocanextendhiseyeandhisgoodwilltoa
distantandinfantnation,unoffendinginitscourse,unambitiousinits
views."22
Flowery compliments to an autocrat? Uriah Heepish comments
aboutthehumblerankoftheUnitedStatesinthefamilyofnations?
"[U}noffendingin[our}course,unambitiousin[our}views"?
ThisisnotthetoneofWilliamB.Traviscryingout"Give'emhell!"
fromtherampartsoftheAlamo;thisisnotthe"Ihavenotyetbegunto
fight"spiritofJohnPaulJonesorthespiritthatmovedGen.AnthonyC.
McAuliffetoreply"Nuts!"totheGermandemandthathesurrenderhis
outnumberedandsurroundedforcesintheBattleoftheBulge.
Itis, however,theclassicaland unmistakabletoneofJeffersonian
diplomacy.Speaksoftly,andcarrythesmallestpossiblestick;Jeffersoni-
ansbelievethatisthebestmethodforavoidingunnecessarywar.Define
yourinterestsasnarrowlyaspossible,andyouwillhavethefewestpossi-
blegroundsforquarrelswithothers.
Hamiltonians argue that American commercial interests provide
justificationfor interventionsabroad. Jeffersonians disagree. "No,it
wouldn'tbemuchthrilltodieforDuPontinBrazil,"repliedtheunwill-
ingyoungsoldierina 1941 antiwarversionof"BillyBoy,"assungbythe
AlmanacSingers,aninfluentialfolkensemble.^23
Ina speechthatwaswidelyquotedbyJeffersonianopponentsofthe
VietnamWar(andwasmorerecentlyreprisedbyGoreVidal),a Jeffer-
sonianwhohadsomehowsurmountedthehandicapofbeing named
SmedleyButlertoreachtherankofgeneralintheMarineCorpssummed
upa careerofmilitaryinterventionintheinterest,ashesawit,ofAmeri-
canbusiness."Ispentmostofmytimebeinga high-classmusclemanfor
BigBusiness,forWallStreetandforthebankers....Inshort,I wasa
racketeer,a gangsterforcapitalism I helpedmakeMexico...safefor
Americanoilinterestsin 1914 madeHaitiandCubaa decentplace
fortheNationalCityBankboystocollectrevenuein."24