Exceptionalist-In-Chief: Presidents, American Exceptionalism, and U.S. Foreign Policy Since 1897 John A
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University of Connecticut OpenCommons@UConn Honors Scholar Theses Honors Scholar Program Spring 5-12-2013 Exceptionalist-in-Chief: Presidents, American Exceptionalism, and U.S. Foreign Policy Since 1897 John A. Dearborn University of Connecticut - Storrs, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://opencommons.uconn.edu/srhonors_theses Part of the American Politics Commons, and the Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons Recommended Citation Dearborn, John A., "Exceptionalist-in-Chief: Presidents, American Exceptionalism, and U.S. Foreign Policy Since 1897" (2013). Honors Scholar Theses. 300. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/srhonors_theses/300 EXCEPTIONALIST-IN-CHIEF Presidents, American Exceptionalism, and U.S. Foreign Policy Since 1897 John A. Dearborn University of Connecticut Honors Program Department of Political Science 2013 Senior Thesis Advisor: Professor Ronald Schurin Secondary Advisor: Professor Jeremy Pressman Exceptionalist -in-Chief Dearborn 1 Abstract “American exceptionalism” has been an important part of presidential foreign policy, especially since the end of the nineteenth century when the United States emerged as a global power. I argue that presidents’ beliefs, rhetoric, and actions during their administrations reveal their attitudes toward exceptionalism. In this work, I propose four types of Presidential American Exceptionalism that presidents’ foreign policies since 1897 can be categorized into: messianic Americanism, messianic internationalism, realist exemplarism, and pragmatic moralism. I define these categories and explain them using case studies of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Furthermore, I offer a more general overview of presidents during the last 116 years and explain how these four types of exceptionalism have interacted with each other. Finally, I examine the importance of context and discuss other findings related to party identification and “muscle-flexing wars.” Acknowledgements I am deeply indebted to my primary advisor at UConn, Professor Ronald Schurin, for his thoughts, feedback, and overall tremendous help at every stage of this process. Our discussions helped clarify many of the ideas put forth in this work. I also want to thank the Honors political science thesis advisor, Professor Jeremy Pressman, for his help and feedback as well. Finally, this paper has benefited from the thoughts of Professor M. Elizabeth Sanders at Cornell University and Professor Gary Donato, my mentor as part of the Presidential Fellows Program at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress. Exceptionalist -in-Chief Dearborn 2 Table of Contents Part One: Presidential American Exceptionalism 1. Introduction: The Relationship Between American Exceptionalism and the U.S. Presidency 3 2. Research Design and a Proposed Typology of Presidential American Exceptionalism 18 Part Two: Case Studies 3. Theodore Roosevelt’s Messianic Americanism 29 4. George W. Bush’s Messianic Americanism 42 5. Woodrow Wilson’s Messianic Internationalism 59 6. Franklin Roosevelt’s Messianic Internationalism 72 7. Richard Nixon’s Realist Exemplarism 97 8. Jimmy Carter’s Pragmatic Moralism 118 9. Barack Obama’s Pragmatic Moralism 131 Part Three: The Big, Exceptional Picture 10. An Overview of Presidents Since 1897: Beliefs, Context, and Interactions 152 11. Discussion and Conclusion 216 References 229 Exceptionalist -in-Chief Dearborn 3 1. Introduction: The Relationship Between American Exceptionalism and the U.S. Presidency Research Question The concept of “American exceptionalism” is fundamentally a part of the United States Presidency; in fact, the President of the United States often plays the role of Exceptionalist-in-Chief. While power is “every president’s North Star” and primary consideration (Howell 2013, 143), a belief in an exceptional America is also like the constantly present moon. It may wax or wane to some extent from president to president, but generally it is always there influencing how presidents think about the U.S. role in the world. Presidents want to lead an exceptional nation. I define American exceptionalism as the idea that the United States has a unique history of liberty and democracy and that, as a result, America must succeed as the premier benevolent world power. Thus, according to this idea, the U.S. has a mission to spread its ideals of freedom. 1 My purpose in this work is to explore how presidents since 1897 have differed in their beliefs and actions based upon exceptionalism. I seek to develop a typology of Presidential American Exceptionalism for the time period in which the U.S. rose to become a global power. This topic is significant to the field of political science and the public; it offers a new framework for conceptualizing presidential foreign policy and fills a gap in the 1 This definition, based on literature I review subsequently, focuses specifically on these two elements – American uniqueness and mission – in order to avoid ambiguity regarding the term “American exceptionalism.” I limit my focus in this paper to these two aspects of the term in determining presidential attitudes toward exceptionalism. Exceptionalist -in-Chief Dearborn 4 literature on this subject. My method focuses on analyzing presidential rhetoric and action, and I use Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama as case studies. Ultimately, I hope to show that, despite different times and circumstances, presidents have revealed attitudes toward exceptionalism that can be broken down into a few categories. My research question is essentially twofold. First, are there different types of American exceptionalism that presidents have shown belief in and acted upon? And second, can a typology of Presidential American Exceptionalism be developed? I argue that the short answer to both of these questions is yes. More specifically, I plan to demonstrate that presidents since 1897 have revealed attitudes consistent with four distinct types of American exceptionalism. My proposed categories of exceptionalism are messianic Americanism , messianic internationalism , realist exemplarism , and pragmatic moralism . Defining American Exceptionalism The idea of “American exceptionalism” originates in a speech given aboard the Arbella by Puritan John Winthrop (1630) during the journey to the New World in the seventeenth century. Winthrop spoke of God having given the Puritans on their way to America “a special commission” and said that the Puritans were “entered into covenant with Him for this work.” He went further, saying that “we shall be as a city upon a hill” and “the eyes of all people are upon us.” In this speech, Winthrop laid out the belief that America would be a model land with a specific destiny. This particular speech is essentially the starting point for studying presidents and exceptionalism; it has been Exceptionalist -in-Chief Dearborn 5 referenced many times by U.S. Presidents in their efforts to articulate their own views of America’s role in the world. Subsequently, there have been two main aspects of American exceptionalism, upon which I base my earlier stated definition. The first is a focus on what makes the United States unique. Visiting and studying the U.S. in the nineteenth century, Alexis de Tocqueville (2004 [1840]) considered America’s “situation” as “entirely exceptional,” stating “there is reason to believe that no other democratic people will ever enjoy anything like it” (517-518). Unlike Winthrop’s earlier pronouncement of uniqueness, Tocqueville stayed away from proclaiming American superiority, rather emphasizing in his conclusions that the society was “different.” This is consistent with Louis Hartz’s (1955) description of exceptionalism; he attributed “Americanism” to a liberal consensus based on the ideas of John Locke and the lack of a feudal past in the U.S. (3-5). Indeed, from its inception, the U.S. had become the premier symbol of “Western liberalism” (Hartz 1955, 36; Viotti 2010, 114). This unique U.S. ideology is considered the basic reason for the existence of the U.S.; the “American Creed” consists of “liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism, and laissez-faire,” which Americans generally adhere to (Lipset 1996, 19). The second aspect of American exceptionalism is a sense that this distinctiveness makes the U.S. a model nation and gives the U.S. a unique destiny and mission in the world. Although Tocqueville (2004 [1840]) mostly emphasized America’s differences from Europe, he did offer his belief that American democracy could act for “good,” feeling “assured” that “in order to be virtuous and prosperous, democratic nations have only to want to be so” (833). Indeed, the U.S. has defined its role in international affairs Exceptionalist -in-Chief Dearborn 6 as being for “good,” not just defending national interests (Lipset 1996, 20; Bell 1975, 197). Exceptionalism is “a highly subjective national self-image,” including the belief that the U.S. is “the model republic for the rest of the world to emulate” (Viotti 2010, 111-112). According to this idea, democracy should be spread, allowing for “broad political, economic, and social freedoms” (Viotti 2010, 114). Put simply by Robert Lieber (2012), “If one accepts that there is something unique about the society and its founding values, there is likely to be greater optimism about its resilience