RESURRECTING : A CHRISTIAN CRITIQUE OF

Matt Gobush

On January 8, 1918—one hun- dred years ago—President mounted the rostrum of the House of Representatives, America’s in- ner sanctum of , to deliver one of the most conse- quential speeches in history. The setting was somber; the audience, anxious; the speaker, stern. An ocean away, American soldiers were preparing to fight, kill, and possibly die on Europe’s western front. Wilson had led the country into the Great War and mobilized its armed forces nine months be- fore with a stirring speech to Congress pledging to make the world “safe for democracy” and secure “ultimate peace.”1 Now, as American troops finally de- scended into the trenches and awaited the enemy’s imminent onslaught, Wilson returned to this august chamber to renew his pledge and sanctify their certain sacrifice. The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, 28th June 1919, by William Orpen, 1919. Imperial War Museum London. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Fittingly, he would do so not form the Council on Foreign he proposed what one senator with the soaring rhetoric of his Relations, Wilson outlined in later called “the one great new earlier call to arms, but with a his address a fourteen-point idea of the 20th century in the subdued speech detailing his program for settling territorial field of international relations”: vision of a post-war peace, how- disputes and answering na- an international association for ever distant it might have then appeared. On this occasion, tional aspirations from Alsace- , the League Wilson chose to play the profes- Lorraine to Austria-Hungary, of Nations. sor, not the preacher. Drawing Belgium to Bulgaria. He framed upon the recommendations it with policies of open diplo- Despite its professorial sobriety, of “,” a secretive macy, free trade, arms control, Wilson’s ad- circle of experts convened by and national self-determina- dress nevertheless held spiritual the president that would later tion. And, in his final point, power. In a sense, it baptized US

70 foreign policy, infusing it with foreign policy to bear a pres- realism, is fundamentally ide- renewed moral clarity. It recast ident’s name—Wilsonianism. alistic, optimistic, liberal, and a European war of realpolitik as Despite its personal associa- universal. a global clash of ideas, with the tion—or perhaps because of it— seizing the mantle the term is difficult to define. It Wilson ended his seminal of liberalism to resist both im- is typically equated with liber- speech with a bold assertion: perialism and communism. And al internationalism, although “The moral climax of this, the it reconceived the very practice neoconservatives have also culminating and final war for of international politics as an claimed its mantle. Embraced human liberty, has come.” evangelistic enterprise, aim- by presidents of both parties, Tragically, this prophecy proved ing to elevate the better angels from Roosevelt to Reagan, false; the Great War would be of mankind’s nature. Each of Wilsonianism defies political but the first of the century’s his fourteen points sought to label. Compounding the confu- world wars. History mocked achieve one noble ideal: “the sion is Wilsonianism’s evolution Wilson’s prediction of “ulti- principle of justice to all peo- over the past century in re- mate peace.” The catastrophic ples and nationalities, and their sponse to changing realities. Its collapse of the interwar world right to live on equal terms of enduring essence can nonethe- order could be ascribed to a liberty and safety with anoth- less be traced to the Fourteen host of factors, including the er, whether they be strong or Points address, in which the punitive terms of the Versailles weak.” As Americans prepared president proposed that polit- Treaty, the eventual rejection by to fight in the world war, their ical and economic liberalism, the US Senate of the , and even Wilson’s own commander in chief reminded combined with universal mul- negotiating intransigence. But them of the world they were tilateralism, form “the program 2 no small measure of responsi- fighting for. of the world’s peace.” bility lay with a crucial weak- The Allies would withstand the ness in Wilsonianism itself: the This assertion rests on as- Central powers’ spring offen- moral tension between liberal- sumptions regarding the mor- sive and, with vital American ism and universalism. To make al behavior of nations. It as- assistance, turn the tide. By the world safe for democracy, sumes that a nation’s internal November 1918, the war was Wilson envisioned a League governance structure shapes won and the work of winning of Nations that encompassed its external relations, that so- the peace had begun. Wilson’s all sovereign, self-determined called “regime types” are rel- Fourteen Points, endorsed by nations, regardless of their in- evant to international politics. all parties in the war, became ternal constitutional character. It assumes that freedom fosters the basis for peace negotiations He entrusted democratic and peaceful relations, a concept held in Paris. The president autocratic nations alike with journeyed to Europe—the first informing what political scien- collective security, relying on sitting president to do so—to tists later framed as “democratic a process of “common counsel” advocate for his agenda and was peace theory.” And it assumes guided, as he declared in a con- greeted by adoring multitudes international organizations are gressional address a month lat- hailing “Wilson the Just” and capable not simply of aggregat- er, by a “spirit of unselfish and “Savior of Humanity.” Future ing interests of sovereign states, unbiased justice” among mem- president Herbert Hoover, on but also engendering a sense of ber states. Tellingly, the term hand for the triumphant ar- community, enabling members “democracy” is absent entirely rival, observed that “no such to transcend parochial inter- from the president’s Fourteen evangel of peace had appeared ests. This creed most clearly Points. To achieve universal since Christ preached the distinguishes Wilsonianism participation, Wilsonianism Sermon on the Mount.” Less en- from realism, which holds that tolerates moral equivalency. thused, French premier George nations behave similarly re- Clemenceau grumbled, “The gardless of regime type, that There is, however, a caveat. At good Lord Himself required material rather than moral the Paris Peace Conference, only ten points.” sources of power govern in- Wilson assured an American ternational relations, and that delegation skeptical of his de- Wilson’s Fourteen Points served ordered competition in the form signs that he was “playing for as a platform for peacemaking of a balance of power is the best a hundred years hence.” If as well as a springboard for guarantor of peace and stability. so, having now reached this the first and only school of US Wilsonianism, in contrast to centennial horizon, a deeper

71 assessment of the moral ten- of promoting democracy and Be.3 Braiding their research sion inherent in Wilson’s worl- international community nec- provides an understanding of dview is due, in part because essary. Underpinning Niebuhr’s Wilson’s mind and spirit, and our world today bears ominous constructive critique was a dual how Wilsonianism incorporates resemblances to Wilson’s on doctrine: the persistence of sin both. As former senator Daniel the eve of . Now, and its corrupting impact on Patrick Moynihan observes, as then, autocracies such as all human relations, and an “Wilson’s vision of a world or- Russia and are increas- abiding hope for humanity to der was a religious vision: of ingly energized and militarized; achieve proximate justice, if not the natural goodness of man , including our own, ultimate peace. prevailing through the Holy seem embattled and besieged, Ghost of Reason.” from within and without. Civil A Christian realist appraisal wars, particularly in the Middle of Wilsonianism rightly be- The role of reason in Wilson’s East, threaten to become cruci- gins with its namesake. As worldview is most pronounced bles of great power confronta- Providence contributing edi- in his academic career, as Smith tion, not unlike proxy wars in tor Walter Russell Mead notes, reveals. The only president to the Balkans that sparked the although the Wilsonian tradi- earn a doctorate, Wilson dis- first global conflagration. The tion is rooted in the American tinguished himself as one of Trump administration’s recent- Christian missionary movement America’s leading political sci- ly released National Security predating the man himself, entists at Princeton University. Strategy echoes the antebellum President Wilson was undoubt- His research centered, as he militancy and materialism of a edly the nascent tradition’s most put it, on “my chief ambition: century ago. President Trump prominent and powerful ad- the historical explanation of portrays multilateral institu- vocate. The contours of clas- the modern democratic state.” tions not as forums for coop- sic Wilsonianism reflect the Wilson was an intellectual ex- eration, but as cockpits for the character of Wilson himself. ponent of the Enlightenment “competition for influence.” Winston Churchill observed and a proponent of the pow- Moreover, he sees America’s that the fate of the world at the er of reason to shape history. role in promoting democracy height of the Great War rested Although a descendent of high- and as one of on “the workings of this man’s landers, his patterns of thought mere “encouragement.” Priority mind and spirit to the exclusion aligned not as much with skep- appears to be placed squarely of almost every other factor.” tical Scottish Enlightenment on the pursuit of national ma- But “in all his strength and in all philosopher David Hume as terial interests in a competitive, his weakness, in his nobility and with Immanuel Kant, the lu- zero-sum international envi- in his foibles, he was…an un- minary of the German variant ronment darkened by war and known, an unmeasured.” Never of the intellectual movement. rumors of war. have so many owed so much to Indeed, contemporary philos- so singular a statesman—but of opher William Galston asserts Given his grasp of the theoret- him have known so little. that Wilson was “the most ical and theological influences Kantian of presidents.” on Wilson’s thought, Reinhold Deconstructing the enigmat- Niebuhr and his Christian re- ic president has proven peril- Kant professed ethical rational- alist school offer particular- ous. The father of psychoanal- ism, relying on “the moral law ly penetrating insight into ysis, Sigmund Freud, made an within.” He defended the equal- Wilsonianism’s moral tension. attempt which was roundly ity and dignity of every indi- Niebuhr sympathized with criticized. Two contemporary vidual, who, employing reason, Wilson, despite his being “the scholars have fared better: assumes the role of a kind of president that most disappoint- Princeton’s Tony Smith, who moral lawmaker. Binding moral ed him.” Niebuhr’s nuanced distills Wilson’s academic re- legislation, Kant argues, ratio- criticism is constructive. But it cord and intellectual allegiances nally conforms to the so-called is barbed nonetheless. Niebuhr in his 2017 book Why Wilson categorical imperative: “Act as found the president’s idealism Matters; and the Institute for if the maxims of your action self-righteous and his univer- the Study of Christianity and were to become…a universal salism utopian. The contrari- Culture’s Malcolm Magee, who law of nature.” Like the Golden an theologian also viewed the discerns the president’s reli- Rule, Kant’s categorical imper- alternative of amoral realism gious convictions in his 2008 ative demands individuals treat self-defeating, and the cause book What the World Should others as they would want to be

72 Niebuhr criticizes this Kantian core of Wilsonianism for un- derestimating the human’s ca- pacity for moral misdoing. He illuminates this failing in an obscure footnote in his magnum opus, The Nature and Destiny of Man, in which he credits Kant for recognizing “man’s in- clination to corrupt the imper- atives of morality so that they become a screen for the expres- sion of self-love.” Nevertheless, Niebuhr argues, this “doctrine of radical evil…stands in com- plete contradiction” to Kant’s ethical rationalism and evi- dences the “influence of pietistic Christian thought upon him, an influence which did not, however, change the general Photograph of the “” at the Versailles Peace Conference. Source: Bon- hams, via Wikimedia Commons. system of ethics and could not have done so without completely shattering it.”5 The Christian treated. He applied it to interna- of unselfish and unbiased jus- doctrine of sin contradicts the tional politics in his landmark tice” Wilson relied on nations requisite cosmopolitan ethic of 1795 essay “Perpetual Peace.” In to adopt to assure “permanent universal amity. Pitting Kant this tract, he posits that a repub- peace.” against Kant, Niebuhr dispels lican civil constitution in each the dream of perpetual peace state and an international law Consistent with his distinctive that Wilsonianism shares. founded on a federation of free mode of philosophizing, Kant’s states would prevent war. Kant’s vision for perpetual peace is An understanding of proposed federation effectively likely meant as a guide rather Wilsonianism’s theological universalizes the supposed pac- than a goal, and therefore not as roots, captured in the presi- ifist tendency of republics: “For utopian as it might appear. Kant dent’s own religious convic- if fortune directs that a power- tions, further reveals his worl- acknowledged the limits of re- ful and enlightened people can dview’s moral tension. Wilson shaping the “crooked timber of make itself a republic, which was not only one of the most must by its nature be inclined humanity.” Nevertheless, Kant’s learned presidents, but also to perpetual peace, this gives a view reflects an idealized faith one of the most devout. His fulcrum to the federation.” in reason, one that Wilson, the earliest known essay, written accomplished academic, shared forty years before his Fourteen To these two preconditions for and later projected on the world Points speech, implores read- perpetual peace Kant added a stage. As Galston observes, ers to join “Christ’s army” and third: “universal hospitality.” By “Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen wield the “sword of the spirit” to this he meant not simply diplo- Points were a faithful transcrip- glorify God, foreshadowing the matic immunity, but “the right tion of the letter and spirit of crusading language he would of a stranger not to be treated Kant’s Perpetual Peace.” Smith later adopt as commander in as an enemy.” Kant asserted chief. The font of Wilson’s al- shares this conclusion. “The that pure reason dictated such most militant belief system was brilliance [of Wilsonianism] a cosmopolitan ethic of uni- undoubtedly his father, a promi- versal amity, and would enable arises”, he insists, “from radi- nent Presbyterian minister who “the human race [to] gradually ance of its promise—Immanuel preached from Southern pul- be brought closer and closer Kant’s ‘perpetual peace,’ a con- pits during the Civil War. The to a constitution establishing viction shared by a variety younger Wilson became a com- world citizenship.” This concept of American presidents from mitted disciple of the reformed is not dissimilar to the “spirit Woodrow Wilson’s time on.”4 Protestant denomination and

73 its charismatic Abraham, John Calvin. Economist John Maynard Keynes, a keen ob- server of Wilson during the Paris peace negotiations, argued the president’s “Presbyterian temperament” profoundly shaped his worldview. Wilson “would do nothing that was con- trary to his great profession of faith,” reported Keynes.

This influence is readily seen in Wilson’s repeated use of the word “covenant” in his agen- da-setting speech a century ago, a term saturated with religious significance. Unlike “democra- cy’s” zero appearances, “cov- enant” is utilized six times in the Fourteen Points to hallow the League of Nations, among other uses. As Magee contends, “to Wilson, the word ‘covenant’ was the starting place for the in- tegration of the sacred and secu- lar.” His reformed Presbyterian faith preached this synthesis, upholding Calvin’s vision of Official Presidential Portrait of Woodrow Wilson, by Frank Graham Cootes, Christian statesmen leading 1936. Source: White House Historical Association. communities of the faithful pat- terned after the biblical cove- independence of all Members to apply Christian ethics to nants that codified God’s will. of the League.” Implicit in this the domestic economic, social, provision is Wilson’s belief that cultural, and racial challenges Wilson placed supreme faith this forum of “common counsel” of the day. The Lord’s Prayer in the power of moral suasion would foster enlightened and served as the movement’s red embedded in multinational as- disinterested peacekeeping by letter: “Thy kingdom come, Thy sociations constituted by sacred appealing to shared national will be done on earth as it is in covenant. He envisioned his interests in upholding interna- heaven” (Matt. 6:10). Wilson’s beloved League forming such tional order. He predicted that Presbyterians were at the fore- a holy pact and establishing a the federation would “operate front of the Social Gospel, pro- “presbytery of nations,” head- as the organized moral force claiming in 1910 that its goals quartered, perhaps not coin- of men throughout the world, were “the proclamation of the cidentally, in Geneva, Calvin’s and that whenever wrong and gospel for the salvation of hu- base of operations. It would aggression are planned or con- mankind…the promotion of instill moral accountability, templated, this searching light social righteousness, and the compelling member nations to of conscience will be turned exhibition of the Kingdom of prevent war. This imperative upon them.” Heaven to the world.” was most apparent in Article 10, the crux of the League of Wilson’s faith in moral force was The Great War steered the Nations Covenant that Wilson also captured by the contempo- movement toward foreign af- claimed “strikes at the taproot raneous Social Gospel move- fairs and Wilson’s post-war vi- of war.” This provision called ment, of which the president sion for world peace. Writing for all nations to “respect and was a kindred spirit. Launched just two months before the preserve as against external in the late nineteenth century president’s Fourteen Points ad- aggression the territorial in- by progressive Protestant cler- dress, Social Gospel evangelist tegrity and existing political gy, the Social Gospel sought Walter Rauschenbusch urged

74 polices mystically foreshadow- sanctified in covenantal terms, it threatens. It is essentially ing Wilson’s. “Before the War can sustain a “spirit of unself- universal, inclusive, and inter- the social gospel dealt with so- ish and unbiased justice,” in nalizing, focusing on countering cial classes; to-day [sic] it is be- Wilson’s words, and thus uphold aggression originating among ing translated into international a “permanent peace.” its members. In contrast, collec- terms,” Rauschenbush sermon- tive defense is typically limited, izes. “All whose Christianity However, Niebuhr the Christian exclusive, and externalizing, has not been ditched by the realist was also critical of alter- restricting membership to sim- catastrophe”, he continues, “are native realist views that “do not ilarly situated or constituted demanding a christianizing of fully appreciate that a proper nations and united against for- international relations…for regard for moral aspirations is eign threats. The North Atlantic disarmament and permanent a source of political prestige… Treaty Organization (NATO) peace, for the rights of small [which] is itself an indispens- epitomizes this latter multilat- nations against imperialistic able source of power.” He as- eral security association. The and colonizing powers, for free- serts that the Christian “ought transatlantic alliance is explic- dom of the seas and of trade to know that the creation of itly founded to “safeguard the routes, for orderly settlement some form of world commu- freedom, common heritage and of grievances.”6 nity…is the most compelling civilisation of their peoples” and command of our day.”8 Niebuhr “on the principles of democra- Niebuhr’s Christian real- was a friend and frequent corre- cy, individual liberty and the ist critique of Wilsonianism’s spondent of the reigning realist rule of law,” and is “resolved to Presbyterian and Social Gospel of his time, American diplomat unite their efforts for collective foundations hinges on their George Kennan, who reciprocat- defence.” Collective defense, misguided belief in the poten- ed their friendship by famously unlike collective security, aligns tial of humanity to overcome calling Niebuhr “the father of us the interests and values of its self-interest and sin through a all.” They both opposed Wilson’s member states, and is therefore universal collective replicating idealism, but Kennan’s alterna- more effective practically and the Kingdom of God. Based on tive—a “return to the policy of sustainable morally. their “view [of] history from making the national interest the the standpoint of the moral touchstone of our diplomacy”— History supports this judgment. and social imperatives which a was, in Niebuhr’s view, “the Although it has succeeded in rational analysis of a situation wrong solution.” “The cure for a other respects, the UN has fall- generates,” Niebuhr asserts that pretentious idealism,” the theo- en short in meeting its uni- Christian idealists “require a logian writes, “is not egotism. It versal mandate to “save suc- ‘federation of the world’” that is a concern for both self and…a ceeding generations from the “disregards the problem of ‘decent respect for the opinions scourge of war.” In contrast, power.” In his groundbreaking of mankind.’”9 NATO has proven largely ef- work Moral Man and Immoral fective not only in protecting its Society, Niebuhr grapples with The generation following Wilson members from external threats, the paradox dooming schemes answered in a conflicted way but also in consolidating and for universal collective secu- Niebuhr’s Christian command even expanding its member rity. “The moral obtuseness of to create a world communi- democracies. Critically, NATO human collectives makes a mo- ty. The post-war world order is a genuinely multilateral col- rality of pure disinterestedness emerged as a hybrid one, fea- lective defense arrangement, impossible,” he writes.7 This turing the or- treating member states equi- obtuseness reflects the dilemma ganized for collective security, tably and their mutual security characterizing any relationship similar to the League of Nations, indivisibly. This structure was in which a representative is as well as regional alliances “an interesting choice” by the bound to faithfully serve the based on collective defense. United States, the dominant interests of his constituents. The subtle difference in ter- ally, as scholar Stewart Patrick “Everything which falls under minology captures a profound observes.10 Rather than negoti- the heading of unselfishness is practical and moral distinction. ating bilateral security agree- inappropriate to the action of a Collective security is ideally ments, or simply extending the state,” Niebuhr continues. “No inclusive of all nations, regard- Monroe Doctrine’s prohibition one has a right to be unselfish less of regime type, motivated on external interference east- with other people’s interests.” by enlightened self-interest to ward, the United States elected No human collective, however actively prevent war wherever not to “maximize its sovereign

75 of mankind’s sinful nature but ever hopeful of its redemptive potential, is compelled to con- clude such a pursuit of perpetu- al peace quixotic. The world can be made safe for democracy only if democracies unite in collec- tive defense. Thus transfigured could Wilson’s transcendent vision of a liberal peace be res- urrected.

Matt Gobush served on the National Security Council in the Clinton White House and as chair of the Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on The Four Military Representatives of the Supreme War Council, Versailles, their International Peace and Justice. Co’s, Secretaries, and Interpreters in Session, by Herbert A. Olivier, 1919. Imperial He currently works in the pri- War Museum London. Source: Wikimedia Commons. vate sector and lives in Dallas, autonomy” so as to encourage still would be a “complete po- Texas. He is the most recently the consolidation and integra- litical federation of the West” appointed contributing editor tion of Western Europe’s fragile that met free Europe’s greater of Providence. democracies. This magnanimity recovery needs. His was a vision Endnotes strengthened America’s moral of collective defense of even 11 1 Woodrow Wilson, “Address to Joint authority. “By exercising re- greater moral depth. Session of Congress” (Washington, DC, straint, treating partners as April 2, 1917). moral equals, and guaranteeing In a speech delivered before his 2 Woodrow Wilson, “Address to Joint the security as well as economic famed Fourteen Points address Session of Congress” (Washington, DC, stability of the free world, the a century ago, Wilson insisted January 8, 1917). United States [through NATO] that “a steadfast concert for 3 Malcolm D. Magee, What the World Should Be: Woodrow Wilson and the helped legitimate its own pow- peace can never be maintained Crafting of a Faith-Based Foreign Policy er and leadership,” Patrick ar- except by a partnership of dem- (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2008). gues. Tellingly, the term “collec- ocratic nations.” Furthermore, 4 Tony Smith, Why Wilson Matters: The tive defence” is rendered in its he asserted that “no autocratic Origin of American Liberal Internationalism and Its Crisis Today (Princeton and Oxford: British rather than its American government can be trusted to Princeton University Press, 2017). spelling in the official text of keep faith within it or observe 5 Reinhold Niebuhr, The Nature the alliance’s charter, a show its covenants.” Here was the and Destiny of Man, vol. 1 (New York: of respect from the would-be moral clarity later lost in his Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1941), 120. hegemon. Fourteen Points, in the collec- See footnote 12. tive security of his League of 6 Walter Rauschenbusch, A Theology for the Social Gospel (New York: MacMillan For Niebuhr’s part, present at Nations, and in his eponymous Co., 1917), 4. NATO’s creation, the alliance school of US foreign policy. 7 Reinhold Niebuhr, Moral Man and was a “capstone” of US foreign Liberal internationalism’s sig- Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and policy, cementing the axiom nal contribution to the under- Politics (New York: Charles Scribner’s that “the frontiers of our inter- standing of human nature and Sons, 1932). See chapter 10. ests and responsibilities lie far relations—that a nation’s char- 8 Reinhold Niebuhr, “Plans for World Reorganization,” Christianity and Crisis, beyond our geographic bound- acter and behavior are linked October 19, 1942, 3-6. aries.” Although he lamented inextricably—failed to fully 9 Reinhold Niebuhr, The Irony of its “undue emphasis upon mil- manifest in Wilson’s program American History (Chicago: University itary cooperation,” missing the for peace. His Fourteen Points of Chicago Press, 1952), 148. essential political and moral were predicated on the moral 10 Stewart Patrick, The Sovereignty challenge communism repre- equivalency of democratic and Wars: Reconciling America with the World (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, sented, he commended NATO as autocratic nations reconciled 2018). pp. 80-81. “necessary” to allay European through common counsel and 11 Reinhold Niebuhr, “The North Atlantic fears of a future American re- an ethic of universal amity. A Pact,” Christianity and Crisis, May 30, version to isolationism. Better Christian realist, ever mindful 1949, 65-66.

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