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The Historical Meaning of the American Doctrine of Isolation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Albert K. Weinberg
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Extract

The classic definition of American isolation is that it is not a theory but a predicament. In all seriousness, isolation is not a theory of American foreign policy. Isolation is a theory about a theory of American foreign policy. Because this interpretation is a poor theory, misrepresentative even if taken only semi-literally, it has placed the discussion of American foreign policy in a sad predicament of obf uscation, not without its influence upon national decisions.

In relation to the two extremes of isolation and internationalism, America's present course is, in the words of Secretary Hull, a “middle course.” Washington's advice to have “as little political connection as possible,” which is definitive of early policy, is shown by its context to mean merely the avoidance of permanent alliances beyond the existing French treaty.

Type
International Affairs
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , June 1940 , pp. 539 - 547
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1940

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References

1 New York Times, Sept. 21, 1937.

2 Moore, J. B., Digest of International Law, VI, p. 23.Google Scholar

3 Ibid., p. 348.

4 Works of John Adams, ed. Adams, C. F. (Boston, 1851), II p. 506.Google Scholar This passage containing the word “entangle” was written in later years, but in alleged reproduction of Adams' observations in the Continental Congress in 1775 and 1776. The earliest official use of the term is apparently in the resolution of the Continental Congress, in June, 1783, withdrawing its previous proposal for America's membership in the League of Neutrals. Wharton, Francis, Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, VI, p. 482.Google Scholar

5 Richardson, , Messages and Papers of the Presidents, I, pp. 213–216.Google Scholar

6 “American Foreign Policy in a Nationalistic World,” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 12, p. xi (January, 1934, Suppl.).

7 Debates in Congress, 1826, Vol. II, pt. 2, p. 2018.

8 Ibid., p. 2323.

9 New York Times, Oct. 3, 1935.

10 U.S. Dept. of State, Publication 1225, p. 7.

11 Congressional message of January 4, 1939.

12 President Franklin D. Roosevelt, radio address of September 3, 1939.

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