Pub Date : 2018-10-15DOI: 10.7591/CORNELL/9781501726132.003.0007
W. Walker
This chapter charts the decline of the American Century in the mid-to-late 1960s. Ties with European allies were cordial, notably with West Germany. Also, U.S.-Soviet relations improved, as seen at the 1967 Glassboro summit meeting. Decline, however, overshadowed such gains. In the Middle East, black Africa, and Southwest Asia, the Johnson administration had trouble asserting leadership. And in the Americas, Washington often supported military regimes, thereby diminishing the chances for democracy. Also, Ho Chi Minh largely thwarted U.S. goals in Vietnam. The 1968 Tet Offensive, the gold crisis in March of that year, and reports by the Interagency Youth Committee on anti-American dissent around the world showed the eroding credibility of the United States and the American Century’s fading appeal.
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Pub Date : 2018-10-15DOI: 10.7591/cornell/9781501726132.003.0005
W. Walker
This chapter argues that Washington maintained its position of global leadership in the second half of the 1950s, keeping alive prospects for growth of the American Century. Challenges were many, including the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957, the lure of trade with the People’s Republic of China, and instability in the Middle East and Indochina. In the Western Hemisphere, the rise of Fidel Castro in Cuba shook American prestige. Responses resulted in an arms race with the USSR and a greater U.S. strategic presence from Indochina to Pakistan and Lebanon. Importantly, economic aid to the Third World via the World Bank, Development Loan Fund, and Inter-American Development Bank drew on the tenets of modernization theory.
{"title":"Sustaining Leadership","authors":"W. Walker","doi":"10.7591/cornell/9781501726132.003.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7591/cornell/9781501726132.003.0005","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter argues that Washington maintained its position of global leadership in the second half of the 1950s, keeping alive prospects for growth of the American Century. Challenges were many, including the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957, the lure of trade with the People’s Republic of China, and instability in the Middle East and Indochina. In the Western Hemisphere, the rise of Fidel Castro in Cuba shook American prestige. Responses resulted in an arms race with the USSR and a greater U.S. strategic presence from Indochina to Pakistan and Lebanon. Importantly, economic aid to the Third World via the World Bank, Development Loan Fund, and Inter-American Development Bank drew on the tenets of modernization theory.","PeriodicalId":294203,"journal":{"name":"The Rise and Decline of the American Century","volume":"186 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123389684","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-10-15DOI: 10.7591/cornell/9781501726132.003.0002
W. Walker
This chapter describes how the United States forged the American Century while pursuing hegemony from 1945 through 1949. More than consultation with friends and allies was necessary after the onset of the Cold War. To demonstrate the nation’s credibility, the Department of State, through the efforts of George Marshall, George Kennan, and Dean Acheson, fashioned programs for military aid and economic assistance, namely, the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan. The former prefigured the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, whereas the Marshall Plan, thanks to the work of the Economic Cooperation Administration, became a model for economic reconstruction in strategically vital places in Western Europe and beyond, most notably Japan.
{"title":"Pursuing Hegemony","authors":"W. Walker","doi":"10.7591/cornell/9781501726132.003.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7591/cornell/9781501726132.003.0002","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter describes how the United States forged the American Century while pursuing hegemony from 1945 through 1949. More than consultation with friends and allies was necessary after the onset of the Cold War. To demonstrate the nation’s credibility, the Department of State, through the efforts of George Marshall, George Kennan, and Dean Acheson, fashioned programs for military aid and economic assistance, namely, the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan. The former prefigured the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, whereas the Marshall Plan, thanks to the work of the Economic Cooperation Administration, became a model for economic reconstruction in strategically vital places in Western Europe and beyond, most notably Japan.","PeriodicalId":294203,"journal":{"name":"The Rise and Decline of the American Century","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126601361","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-10-15DOI: 10.7591/CORNELL/9781501726132.003.0001
W. Walker
The introduction shows how Henry R. Luce in his 1941 essay, “The American Century,” gave concrete form to the security ethos: the belief that, for its own safety, the United States should provide political and economic leadership and act as the indispensable Good Samaritan around the world. For Luce, longstanding fear of foreigners was unacceptable. The United States should heed a providential calling to serve as a beacon of hope for peoples everywhere. In practical terms, especially after 1945 as the Cold War took hold, U.S. officials acted to create a broadly-based free-world society in which modernization was possible. Success in this undertaking depended on whether they could establish credibility with those Washington presumed to lead.
本书的引言展示了亨利·r·卢斯(Henry R. Luce)在他1941年的文章《美国的世纪》(The American Century)中是如何为安全理念提供具体形式的:这种理念认为,为了自身的安全,美国应该在政治和经济上发挥领导作用,在世界各地扮演不可或缺的好事者的角色。对卢斯来说,长期以来对外国人的恐惧是不可接受的。美国应该听从上帝的召唤,成为世界各地人民希望的灯塔。实际上,特别是在1945年冷战开始后,美国官员采取行动创建了一个基础广泛的自由世界社会,使现代化成为可能。这项事业的成功取决于他们能否与华盛顿假定的领导者建立信誉。
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