• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

FOOTNOTES TO HISTORY Content made available by Georgetown University Press and Digital Georgetown Father E.A. Walsh, S.J. in his favorite environment—a map and an audience. Content made available by Georgetown University Press and Digital Georgetown FOOTNOTES TO HISTORY: SELECTED SPEECHES AND WRITINGS OF EDMUND A. WALSH, S.J. FOUNDER OF THE SCHOOL OF FOREIGN SERVICE Edited with Commentary by Anna Watkins Introduction by Walter I. Giles Published for the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service 70th Anniversary 1919-1989 Georgetown University Press Washington, D.C. Content made available by Georgetown University Press and Digital Georgetown Excerpts from Total Power by Edmund A. Walsh, SJ. copyright 1948 by Edmund A. Walsh. Reprinted by permission of Doubleday & Company, Inc. Excerpt from The Fall of the Russian Empire by Edmund A. Walsh, S J., Ph.D. copyright 1927,1928 by Edmund A. Walsh. Reprinted by permission of Little, Brown and Company. Copyright © 1990 by Georgetown University Press Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Walsh, Edmund A. (Edmund Aloysius), 1885-1956. Footnotes to history. "Published for the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, 70th anniversary, 1919-1989." Includes bibliographical references. 1. World politics-1945- . 2. International relations. 3. Geopolitics. 4. First strike (Nuclear strategy) I. Watkins, Anna. II. Georgetown University. School of Foreign Service. HI. Title. D843.W332 1989 327'.09'045 89-25904 ISBN 0-87840-506-2 Content made available by Georgetown University Press and Digital Georgetown Contents Preface vii Introduction 1 PART I: RUSSIA 19 1. Sic Transit Gloria Mundi 21 2. Soviet Russia and the Peace of Europe 41 3. Communism and the Soviet Threat to Democracy 57 PART II: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 71 4. See Life Steadily and See It Whole 73 5. The Future of Pan-American Relations 83 PART III: GEOPOLITICS 93 6. Germany's Master Geopolitician 95 7. Russian Geopolitics and the United States 129 PART IV: Is IT IMMORAL TO STRIKE FIRST? 141 8. Is It Immoral to Strike First If Attack Is Imminent? 143 PART V: IN HONOR OF GREAT MEN 151 9. A Sermon from a Stained Glass Window 153 10. William Gaston of North Carolina 159 ChronologContenty omadef Fathe availabler Walsh' by Georgetowns Life University Press 173 and Digital Georgetown Content made available by Georgetown University Press and Digital Georgetown Preface In 1986, when engaged in research for one of my papers as a graduate student at Georgetown University, I came across the treasure of Father Walsh's papers stored in the Special Collections Division of Lauinger Library. A cursory review of these manuscripts piqued my curiosity; further examination revealed Father Walsh's wide range of interests and his engaging literary style replete with anecdotes and quotations from many fields. Father Walsh's ideas and views were well known in his time, when he was recognized as a world authority on Russian affairs and expert on geopolitics. Despite their grounding in his own times, his speeches and writings retain remarkable freshness, and some of the topics he discussed still occupy our minds today. I became convinced that this buried treasure should be unearthed so that others could benefit from his writings, and have an opportunity to reminisce about this outstanding scholar. The seventieth anniversary of the School of Foreign Service in 1989 seemed a fitting occasion for the publication of his writings. Dr. Peter F. Krogh, dean of the School, agreed to my proposal to publish a selection of Father Walsh's speeches and written works. In selecting for this publication from an abundance of material—42 boxes with 200 folders on a wide range of issues—I was guided by topical diversity. I intended to reflect Father Walsh's main areas of interest as they seem to have developed over his lifetime. The two last lectures were included for their special significance to all connected with Georgetown. Professor Walter I. Giles contributed to the final selection of topics. Content made available by Georgetown University Press and Digital Georgetown viii Footnotes to History As to the editorial method, in general, the texts are as Father Walsh wrote them, with the addition of passages from sources he indicated in his manuscripts. In some instances, sentences or paragraphs were excised to avoid repitition or rearranged to achieve clarity. In other cases, factual inconsis- tencies were corrected and the punctuation was changed. Furthermore, adaptations were needed to change the spoken word to written language. In many places, Father Walsh refers to "Russia" instead of using the postrevolutionary "Soviet Union," but the reader can readily see where to make the mental substitution. The introductory notes on each selection grew out of the editor's own researches for this volume. I am profoundly grateful to Professors Dorothy M. Brown, John B. Breslin, SJ. and Francis X. Winters, SJ. for their encouragement, support, and practical assistance, particularly in the early stages of the project, and their continuous interest in its development. I also wish to thank Margery Boichel, editor of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, for her valuable suggestions regarding the presentation of the text. My special thanks go to the staff of the Special Collections Division and of the Reference Department of Lauinger Library for their unstinting assistance in providing back- ground material as well as factual information. I also acknowledge the permission of Little, Brown and Company and Doubleday & Company, Inc., to use copyrighted material from Father Walsh's books, The Fall of the Russian Empire and Total Power. Anna Watkins Content made available by Georgetown University Press and Digital Georgetown Introduction The publication of this anthology during the seventieth year of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service represents, in the opinion of the writer,7 a most appropriate memorial to the founder of this internationally renowned educational institution. During the first three decades of the School's existence—almost half of its entire life—it reflected, in a manner rarely experienced in our own times, the genius and creativity of one of the most gifted and indeed charis- matic personalities of the Society of Jesus in the twentieth century: Edmund A. Walsh. It was not surprising that after the death of Father Walsh in 1956, the University renamed the School in honor of its founder. Seldom has the cliche—"a legend in his own time"—been truer than it was of Edmund Walsh. Although a number of Jesuits have left their mark on Georgetown University during the first half of this century, none of them achieved the national eminence of his rich and varied career. Scholar, writer, teacher, educator, political commentator and advocate, Vatican diplomat, American government official—all of these roles were discharged by Father Walsh at one time or another during a life filled with an extraordinary diversity of personal achievement and public service. For thousands of graduates of Georgetown University, the name "Father Walsh" has been long synonymous with their Alma Mater, and especially with the School of Foreign Service. It is hoped, therefore, that this volume of selected writ- ings, lectures, and public addresses of Father Walsh will serve to recall the impressive career of this remarkable man and bring into somewhat clearer focus the impact he had on the Content made available by Georgetown University Press and Digital Georgetown 2 Introduction world, the nation, Washington, and on Georgetown over many years. Moreover, it is the belief of Dean Peter F. Krogh, who encouraged the editor of this volume and made possible its publication during this anniversary, that the book itself will be another deserved tribute to the memory of the remarkable founder of this celebrated institution. Before commenting on the individual selections of this anthology, I believe the reader's interest in these materials will be enhanced by an understanding of the historical and educational roles which fully occupied Father Walsh's life. A detailed biographical chronology of the principal develop- ments in Father Walsh's career has been compiled by the editor of this volume, Mrs. Anna Watkins, and is found on page 173 of the book. My introduction, accordingly, will sketch the context of Edmund Walsh's career and appraise his accomplishments chiefly from the perspective of the events which shaped the history of Walsh's own times. And thus the various writings and addresses selected for this volume may be considered historical footnotes documenting in part the career of this remarkable priest. When Edmund Walsh died at the age of seventy-one, The Washington Post of November 3, 1956 editorialized that the capital had lost "one of its most influential figures." Father Walsh, observed the Post, "was a man of prodigious energy, of great intellectual vigor, of handsome and impressive appearance, a prolific writer and a most accomplished lecturer and public speaker." The influence exerted by Father Walsh, to which the Post editorial alluded, derives in part, if not entirely, from two major roles this Jesuit priest played throughout his life. First, as a student of the Russian Revolution, and an analyst of the Soviet political system which followed it, Father Walsh became a national figure in educating the American public and its political leaders to the threat posed by international communism to the democracies of the West, a threat spearheaded by the Soviet Union. Second, Father Walsh achieved national recognition as a pioneering and innovative educator. His founding of the School of Foreign Service in 1919, and his subsequent Content made available by Georgetown University Press and Digital Georgetown Introduction 3 development and direction of that School for more than thirty years, enhanced his reputation, not simply as a promi- nent educator, but also as an influential player in the Washington political world.

Load more

  187

Copy Link