Symbolic Politics and Foreign Affairs: Past and Present

Abstract

he emergence of the United States as the premier power after World War II stimulated curiosity about the history of American foreign policy. Eager to ensure that the country did not repeat past blunders overseas, scholars probed for answers to why America had fought a seemingly pointless war with Spain, committed itself to Utopian goals in World War I, retreated into political isolationism in the twenties, denied obvious international dangers in the thirties, and held unrealizable hopes of international cooperation during the forties. Historians explained these misdeeds in a variety of ways: as resulting from a reverence for the rule of law, an excess of Protestant evangelism, a tradition of free security ignoring the importance of power, an imperial drive to make the world safe for Capitalism and American power, a preoccupation with domestic politics, and the use of external events to promote internal control.