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

ChangingtheParadigms 59

a profoundlyantihistoricalmyth,basedonthepremisethatthewise
FoundingFathershadonceandforall laiddowntheroadonwhich
Americanforeignpolicyshouldtravel. Abstractedfromanyhistorical
context,a "literal"readingofWashington'sFarewellAddresswasusedto
argueagainstanyAmericanallianceswithforeignpowersunderanycir-
cumstanceswhatever.TheMonroeDoctrinewassimilarlyreadasman-
datingas a first principleofstatecraftthatthe UnitedStateswould
prohibitanyforeignpowerfrommeddlingintheWesternHemisphere,
whilekeepingitsownnoseoutoftheEast.
Thismythpresenteditselfastheeternalandunchangingcreedofthe
AmerIcanpeople through thegenerations. Itwasthe foreign policy
equivalentoftheBillofRights:theonetruefaith,handeddownfromon
high.TheUnitedStatesprosperedwhenwehonoredit;whenwestrayed
from its precepts,andworshippedfalseidols,we suffered.Woodrow
WilsonbrokethesacredlawsthatGeorgeWashingtonandJamesMon-
roehadbroughtdownfromSinaiandledthecountryintoa European
war;asa resulttheUnitedStatesfoughtanexpensiveandbrutalwarfor
thebenefitofbloodstainedandtreacherousempireslikeBritain,whose
cruel,unprincipledeliteswereonlytoohappytoexploitthenaiVeteof
theirAmerican"allies."
Likeallpowerful myths,themythofvirtuousisolationcontained
morethana kerneloftruth;likeallmyths,italsocontainedotherthings.
Asa historicalreactiontoWorldWarI, growinginlargepartfromdis-
appointmentwiththepostwarconductoftheWesternPowers,thecri-
tiqueoftheAllieswasnotwithoutmerit.Britain,forexample,forso
longthegreatapostleoffiscalregularityandtheenemyofrepudiation-
a countryforthesakeofwhosebondholderstwogenerationsofAmerican
farmersweresubjectedtopainfulandunpopulartight-moneypoliciesso
thatUnitedStatesdebtsfromtheCivilWarcouldbepaid,ingold,to
theuttermostfarthing-foundtheresourcestomaintaina largenavy,
harassGandhi'sfreedommovement,andbombKurdishrebels inIraq
butpleadedpovertywhen itcame torepaying its wardebtsto the
Americantaxpayer.After 1919 thebeliefgrewrapidlythattheWestern
Allies,incahootswiththeNewYorkbankerswholoanedbillionstothe
belligerentsandforwhomanAllieddefeatwouldhavemeantruin,had
snookeredtheUnitedStatesintowhatturnedouttobesimplya savage
conflictbetweentwobandsofimperialistrobbers.
Theseviews,thoughhardlya fullandfairaccountofWorldWarI,
werenotwhollyimplausibleontheirface,andcommandedwidespread