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Old Realities and New Myths*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2011

Morton A. Kaplan
Morton A. Kaplan
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
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Extract

Senator Fulbright's recent excursion into the analysis of1 foreign policy has been hailed as a breath of fresh air that sweeps away the cobwebs of cant and misunderstanding. The history of postwar foreign policy explains why such a study is needed. The inspiring successes and inventive genius of the first Truman Administration—an era unparalleled in American history for resourceful and courageous adaptation to changing circumstances—have been succeeded by disarray and confusion in American foreign policy. Both the early postwar stereotypes and the grand design of policy are breaking down. Thus the Senator's objective—an objective of unmasking old myths and clarifying new realities—is necessary and salutary.

Type
Review Articles
Information
World Politics , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , January 1965 , pp. 334 - 367
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 1965

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References

1 “An Introduction to the Strategy of Statecraft,” World Politics, IV (July 1952), 570.Google Scholar

2 Fulbright, J. William, Prospects for the West (Cambridge, Mass., 1963), 8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 Kennan, George, “Polycentrism and Western Policy,” Foreign Affairs, XIII (January 1964), 178; quoted in Old Myths and New Realities, 13.Google Scholar

4 From Jenmin ]ih Pao, November 19, 1963, as translated and published by the BBC Monitoring Service in Summary of World Broadcasts: Part III, The Far East, 2nd Series (November 20, 1963), C9–C11.

5 For a cogent analysis which indicates the implausibility of this hypothesis, see Kassof, Allen, “The Administered Society: Totalitarianism Without Terror,” World Politics, XVI (July 1964), 558–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6 Reston, James, New York Times (August 6, 1964), 8Google Scholar: “One view was that the retaliation should be done by the South Vietnamese to minimize the risk.”

7 Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate, Hearings on the Nomination of Christian A. Herter to be Secretary of State, 86th Congress, ist Session, 1959, 9–10.

8 Kennedy, J. F., “The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty: A Step Toward Peace,” Department of State Bulletin, XLIX (August 12, 1963), 236.Google Scholar

9 Prospects for the West, 60–61.

10 Subsequently published in revised form under the title, “Problems of Coalition and Deterrence,” in Knorr, Klaus, ed., NATO and American Security (Princeton 1959), 127–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

11 Allport, Gordon W., “The Role of Expectancy,” in Cantril, Hadley, ed., Tensions That Cause Wars (Urbana, I11., 1950), 43Google Scholar and 48; quoted in Old Myths and New Realities, 144–45 (italics in original).

12 It could be argued that Bismarck's seizure of Alsace-Lorraine did indirectly have the last-named consequence. This does not affect the principle of the discussion, for the issue of the series is too remote to fall within the terms of the generalization.