64 SPECIALPROVIDENCEa heritage,onceusefulandbeloved,nowinappropriateandburdensome.
"WhenI wasa child,I spakeasa child,I understoodasa child,Ithought
asa child,"SaintPaultoldtheCorinthians."ButwhenI becamea man,"
hecontinued,"Iputawaychildishthings."6TheColdWarriorsurged
theirfellowAmericanstodothesamething.
Itworked. Theearly ColdWarriors buried themythofvirtuous
isolation-or,more accurately, theyembalmed itand laid itto rest
underneaththenewmythoftheU.S.comingofage.Theirviewis,ina
simplifiedform,therespectablehistoryofAmericanforeignpolicythat
manyofusdimlyrememberfromourhighschoolandcollegedays.It
representsa visionsofamiliarthatpeopletakeitforgranted.Itisthe
intellectualbackgroundtomuchofthepunditrythatonehearsandreads
inthecontemporarymedia.Itisthebasisforthethinkingofmuchofthe
Americanforeignpolicyestablishment.Unfortunatelyitisa poorfoun-
dationforthechoicesthatthenationmustmakeinthecomingyears.
Likemosthistoricalmyths,theColdWarmythis a mixtureofhelp-
fulandharmfulideas.Muchofwhatitsays islucidanalysisthatremains
essentialtoany reasonedapproachtoAmericanforeign policy today.
After 1945 theUnitedStatesclearlydidneedtotakea moreactiverole
ininternationalpoliticsthaniteverhadbefore.HistoricallytheUnited
Stateshadbeena freeriderintheBritishworldsystem.From 1945 it
wouldassumetheprivilegesandshoulderthecostsofglobalhegemony
onitsown.SomeofthemosthallowedconceptsintheAmericanforeign
policytraditionhadtobediscardedorrevised.Permanentneutralitywas
nolongeranoption.Itwasindeedtoolatetostartplanningfornational
securitywhenanenemynationhadalreadyupsettheEuropeanbalance
ofpower.IntradepolicytheUnitedStateswould,inthepost-Britishera,
havetoopenitsmarketstothegoodsofothernationsifitsoughtmarket
accessinreturn.
Ontheseandmanyotherpoints,theColdWarmythwasa useful
basisfornationaldiscussionandnationalpolicy.But,likeeveryhistori-
calmyth,itsusefulnesshadlimits.Now,attheendoftheColdWar,the
ColdWarmythhasbecomea positiveobstacletoreasoneddiscussion
aboutthefutureforeignpolicyoftheUnitedStates.Weneedtorecon-
nectwiththenationalforeignpolicytraditionthattheColdWarriors
relegatedtothebackground.
OnonelevelthemythoftheColdWarwasa historicaltravesty.The
UnitedStateswasnotahermitkingdombeforetheColdWar.Andit
wasn't,astheColdWarmythseemedtoimply,EmperorHirohitowho