Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- The Authors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- “The American Century”
- 1 Making the World Safe for Democracy in the American Century
- 2 “Empire by Invitation” in the American Century
- 3 America and the Twentieth Century: Continuity and Change
- 4 The Idea of the National Interest
- 5 The Tension between Democracy and Capitalism during the American Century
- 6 The American Century: From Sarajevo to Sarajevo
- 7 East Asia in Henry Luce's “American Century”
- 8 The American Century and the Third World
- 9 Race from Power: U.S. Foreign Policy and the General Crisis of “White Supremacy”
- 10 Immigrants and Frontiersmen: Two Traditions in American Foreign Policy
- 11 Partisan Politics and Foreign Policy in the American Century
- 12 Philanthropy and Diplomacy in the American Century
- 13 A Century of NGOs
- 14 Consuming Women: Images of Americanization in the “American Century”
- 15 The Empire of the Fun, or Talkin' Soviet Union Blues: The Sound of Freedom and U.S. Cultural Hegemony in Europe
- 16 American Empire and Cultural Imperialism: A View from the Receiving End
- Index
1 - Making the World Safe for Democracy in the American Century
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- The Authors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- “The American Century”
- 1 Making the World Safe for Democracy in the American Century
- 2 “Empire by Invitation” in the American Century
- 3 America and the Twentieth Century: Continuity and Change
- 4 The Idea of the National Interest
- 5 The Tension between Democracy and Capitalism during the American Century
- 6 The American Century: From Sarajevo to Sarajevo
- 7 East Asia in Henry Luce's “American Century”
- 8 The American Century and the Third World
- 9 Race from Power: U.S. Foreign Policy and the General Crisis of “White Supremacy”
- 10 Immigrants and Frontiersmen: Two Traditions in American Foreign Policy
- 11 Partisan Politics and Foreign Policy in the American Century
- 12 Philanthropy and Diplomacy in the American Century
- 13 A Century of NGOs
- 14 Consuming Women: Images of Americanization in the “American Century”
- 15 The Empire of the Fun, or Talkin' Soviet Union Blues: The Sound of Freedom and U.S. Cultural Hegemony in Europe
- 16 American Empire and Cultural Imperialism: A View from the Receiving End
- Index
Summary
How can we not be somewhat bothered today by Henry Luce's confident assertion on the eve of America's entry into World War II that the expansion of American power and the consolidation of an “American Century” were sure to contribute to the well-being of all humanity? We know the problems the United States faces domestically in race relations, income distribution, and the power of special interests in Washington. In foreign affairs, we are unsure what to do currently in the face of Islamic fundamentalism, Chinese power, or the ongoing crisis in Russia, aware that our efforts to bring peace to places as presumably open to our influence as Haiti and Cambodia have accomplished precious little. Nor should we forget Vietnam, the actions of the Central Intelligence Agency in Central America, the ease with which we abandoned large parts of Africa to their fate after they served our purposes in the Cold War. And how can we be blind to Luce's failure to recognize American self-interest, camouflaging it as a higher purpose, as if America were the servant of the international collective good – surely a disingenuous pose given the wealth, prestige, and power we now enjoy at the pinnacle of world affairs.
In a word, Luce may have had the good taste to avoid the hyperbole Woodrow Wilson demonstrated when he suggested that the United States was an instrument of the Almighty here below, but his appeal sounds very much like Abraham Lincoln's confident assertion that this country is “the last best hope of earth.”
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Ambiguous LegacyU.S. Foreign Relations in the 'American Century', pp. 30 - 51Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999