9781422282823

C H A P T E R 1 From War to Cold War

O n February 17, 1941, the publisher Henry R. Luce intervened in the passionate debate in the United States between isolationists and interventionists with an article in Life magazine, entitled “The American Century.” With Hitler on the march in Europe and Japan attacking its East Asian neighbors, freedom and democracy, according to Luce, were in mortal danger, not just across the world, but in America as well. It was high time and in the United States’ interest, he wrote, that the country take up a leadership role. The “world crisis” of 1941 posed real dangers, and Luce sought to paint an op- timistic picture of what the United States could contribute to peace and stability while promoting “American principles” around the world. Luce would turn out to be prophetic, because for much of the remaining twentieth century, his country indeed played a leading role in international politics. In fact, during the 1990s the French foreign minister referred to the United States as a “hyperpower.” To an extent not matched even by the British Empire it replaced as a global leader, the United States shaped the international order of the post–World War II era. Because the U.S.–led order, unlike its communist alternative, also survived the Cold War, the influence of the United States on global governance in the current era of globalization remains paramount. The twentieth century, Luce argued, must be the American Century. A Central Role for the United States That the United States came to play this role had more to do with the vision and political skill of its president at the time of the Second World War, Franklin D. Roosevelt, than with Luce’s influence. Perhaps even more important was America’s economic power, which far exceeded that of any other power in the world. Still, by the time Luce published his article, the president was busy trying to convince the Amer- ican public of how American prosperity, and ultimately also American freedoms, depended on freedom and democracy elsewhere.

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CHAPTER 1