assp rt The Newsletter of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations P Volume 40, Issue 2, September 2009

Inside... The Fight Over Vice-President Cheney’s Records Happy Anniversary to William Appleman Williams’s The Tragedy of American Diplomacy The View From Overseas: Turkish-American Relations Research at the Herbert Hoover Library and Museum

..and much more! Passport The Newsletter of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations

Editorial Office: Mershon Center for International Security Studies 1501 Neil Avenue Columbus OH 43201 [email protected] 614-292-1681 (phone) 614-292-2407 (fax)

Executive Director Peter L. Hahn, The Ohio State University

Editor Mitchell Lerner, The Ohio State University-Newark

Production Editor Julie Rojewski

Editorial Assistant Matt Yates, The Ohio State University

Cover Photo “Vice President delivers remarks to American troops at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007.” White House Photo by David Bohrer, White House Archives, reprinted at: http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/vicepresident/photoessays/2007/Feb/24.html.

Editorial Advisory Board and Terms of Appointment: Andrew Preston, University of Cambridge (2007-2009) W. Taylor Fain, University of North Carolina—Wilmington (2008-2010) Elizabeth Kelly Gray, Towson University (2009-2011)

Passport is published three times per year (April, September, January), by the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, and is distributed to all members of the Society. Submissions should be sent to the attention of the editor, and are acceptable in all formats, although electronic copy by email to [email protected] is preferred. Submis- sions should follow the guidelines articulated in the Chicago Manual of Style. Manuscripts accepted for publication will be edited to conform to Passport style, space limitations, and other requirements. The author is responsible for accuracy and for obtaining all permissions necessary for publication. Manuscripts will not be returned. Interested advertisers can find relevant information on the web at: http://www.shafr.org/newsletter/passportrates.htm, or can contact the editor. The opinions expressed in Passport do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SHAFR or of The Ohio State University.

The editors of Passport wish to acknowledge the generous support of The Ohio State University, The Ohio State University—Newark, and the Mershon Center for International Security Studies.

© 2009 SHAFR

Page 2 Passport September 2009 Passport The Newsletter of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations

Volume 40, Number 2, September 2009

In This Issue

4 The Elusive Vice-Presidential Records of Richard B. Cheney Anne L. Weismann

8 Fifty Years of William Appleman Williams’ Tragedy of America Diplomacy: An Anniversary, a Discussion, and a Celebration H.W. Brands, Robert Buzzanco, Jerald A. Combs, Christopher Fisher, , Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman, Ryan Irwin, Walter LaFeber, Thomas McCormick, Anna K. Nelson, Nicole Phelps, Emily S. Rosenberg, Robert D. Schulzinger, William Stueck, Jeremi Suri, Dustin Walcher, & Vanessa Walker

36 “Evet We Can”: President ’s Visit to and the State of Turkish-American Relations Edward P. Kohn

40 SHAFR At Play: Highlights from the 2009 SHAFR Conference in Falls Church, VA

43 Historical Resources on Foreign Policy at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum Spencer Howard

45 In Memoriam: John E. Taylor

47 In Memoriam: Richard H. Zeitlan

48 SHAFR Council Minutes

55 The Diplomatic Pouch

68 The Last Word

Passport September 2009 Page 3 The Elusive Vice-Presidential Records of Richard B. Cheney

Anne L. Weismann

n the last years of the Bush all documentary materials the vice Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for administration, Vice President president creates or receives “in the District of Columbia granted the Richard Cheney became the course of conducting activities preliminary injunction and required increasinglyI vocal about the status of which relate to or have an effect the defendants to preserve through his office, which he claimed occupied upon the carrying out of the [vice the pendency of the litigation all a curious position neither executive president’s] constitutional, statutory, vice-presidential records, broadly nor legislative. When pressed, the or other official ceremonial duties.”6 defined as those related to or having vice president conceded that his office Under the statutory definition, the an effect upon the carrying out of belonged with the legislative branch, vice president’s legislative duties the vice president’s constitutional, if anywhere, but was really neither of presiding over the Senate and statutory, or other official or fish nor fowl.1 Not simply a matter breaking a tie in Senate votes, ceremonial duties, and without of semantics, the vice president’s imposed by Article I, Section 3 of regard to any limiting definitions formulation was used to justify the Constitution, clearly would defendants deemed appropriate. The his unilateral decision to opt out of be covered by the PRA, while the court entered this relief in the face classification requirements imposed executive order would exclude them of the defendants’ argument that by on executive branch entities, to refuse as non-executive branch activities. preserving documents concerning the National Archives and Records The Bush administration’s the vice president’s functions as Administration (NARA) permission treatment of vice presidential president of the Senate and those to conduct an on-site inspection of records under the PRA formed part functions “specially assigned” to him the procedures and facilities that the of a larger leitmotif of secrecy that by the president “in the discharge of Office of the Vice President (OVP) Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics executive duties and responsibilities,” used to safeguard classified national in Washington (CREW) and other the vice president and OVP were security information, and to ignore public interest groups have been complying fully with the PRA. certain reporting requirements battling for years. From the millions Facially under-inclusive, these two imposed by the Ethics Reform Act of disappearing White House emails7 categories omitted responsibilities of 1989. This pattern of conduct also to abrupt changes in the agency assigned to the vice president by cast serious doubt on Mr. Cheney’s status of the Office of Administration statute as well as responsibilities full compliance with the Presidential (OA), a component of the Executive the vice president takes on at his Records Act (PRA). Office of the President (EOP),8 own initiative.10 The vice president’s Congress enacted the PRA in the Bush White House imposed limited definition of vice-presidential 1978 to “promote the creation of numerous barriers to public access, records subject to the PRA appeared the fullest possible documentary blocking not only its own records also to exclude records generated record” of a presidency and ensure but also those of ’s by the performance of legislative its preservation for “scholars, presidency and the presidency and responsibilities as defined by the vice journalists, researchers and citizens vice-presidency of George H. W. president. for our own and future generations.”2 Bush. In response to Vice President To fill in the gaps in the record Toward that end, the PRA confirms Cheney’s truncated approach to before it, gaps that made it impossible the nation’s ownership and control of his PRA obligations, CREW and for the court to determine whether presidential records (44 U.S.C. § 2202) a consortium of historians and the vice president engaged only in and imposes preservation obligations groups of historians and archivists activities within the two categories on the president and vice president sued the vice president, the OVP, encompassed by defendants’ narrow (id. at §§ 2203[a], 2207). Expansive the EOP, NARA, and the archivist definition, the court authorized in its scope, the PRA excludes from of the United States.9 Under the plaintiffs to take the depositions its reach only “purely personal” caption CREW v. Cheney, Civil No. of NARA official Nancy Smith and records3 that have “no relationship or 08-1548 (CKK) (D.D.C.), the plaintiffs Vice-Presidential Chief of Staff direct effect on the President’s official challenged as contrary to law the David Addington. On the eve of activities.”4 White House defendants’ limitations the first scheduled deposition, the An early signal of Vice President on the scope of vice-presidential vice president filed a petition for Cheney’s limited view of his PRA records subject to the PRA and the mandamus with the U.S. Court of obligations can be found in Section NARA defendants’ exclusion of the Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, arguing 11(a) of Executive Order 13233, issued vice president’s legislative records that the authorized depositions by President Bush on November 1, from the mandatory scope of the would intrude impermissibly into 2001. This little-noticed provision PRA. The plaintiffs also sought a the conduct and opinions of the vice states that the PRA “applies to preliminary injunction that would president and his closest advisors. the executive records of the Vice impose preservation obligations on The district court had further President” (emphasis added).5 The the defendants pending the outcome compounded its error, the vice PRA itself, however, uses much of the litigation. president argued, by refusing to first broader language to define vice- The plaintiffs secured an early consider whether the plaintiffs had presidential records as encompassing victory when Judge Colleen Kollar- viable causes of action against all

Page 4 Passport September 2009 defendants. The D.C. Circuit denied until after a president leaves office. Vice President from using a different the petition in large part, although it Relying on these limitations in the definition for Vice-Presidential concluded the record before it did not PRA as interpreted by the D.C. records.” justify the deposition of such a high- Circuit Court in a series of cases, Prior to the Cheney decision, ranking official as Mr. Addington. As the defendants argued judicial there was considerable doubt and a result, the district court authorized review of all of the plaintiffs’ claims confusion, based on the fairly the plaintiffs to take the deposition was precluded in its entirety. In sweeping language in Armstrong of Vice-Presidential Deputy Chief of support, the defendants cited the I, about whether and to what Staff Claire M. O’Donnell in lieu of D.C. Circuit Court’s conclusion in extent judicial review remained Mr. Addington. Armstrong v. Bush, 924 F. 3d 282 available under the PRA. Armstrong Despite her title, Ms. O’Donnell (D.C. Cir. 1991) (hereafter Armstrong II clarified that issue to some had no personal knowledge about the I), that judicial review of the extent, recognizing that at least vice president’s actual recordkeeping president’s “recordkeeping practices some PRA issues were subject to practices and policies. Instead, and decisions” was foreclosed review, but the exact parameters of she served essentially as an office because such review “would upset that review remained in question. manager in an administrative office the intricate statutory scheme Indeed, even after Armstrong II the of the OVP with responsibility Congress carefully drafted to keep conventional wisdom suggested for securing office space, passes, in equipoise important competing very few challenges to a president’s and parking for OVP staff. Nor political and constitutional concerns” compliance with the PRA were could she explain the origin of (Id. at 290-91). As the Cheney court likely to get past the threshold issue the “specially assigned” language concluded, however, the defendants of whether judicial review was she had used in declarations turned a blind eye to a subsequent available. Judge Kollar-Kotelly’s submitted to the court; as she decision wherein the D.C. Circuit decision in Cheney adds to a growing admitted during her deposition, Court explained that Armstrong I body of case law recognizing the the language was formulated by did “not stand for the unequivocal ability of plaintiffs like CREW and counsel. Ms. O’Donnell had personal proposition that all decisions made others to challenge a president’s (and responsibility for only a small subset pursuant to the PRA are immune vice president’s) attempt to rewrite of OVP records such as trip files for from judicial review” (Armstrong central terms of the PRA.12 the vice president and budget files v. Executive Office of the President, The plaintiffs in Cheney secured related to how the vice president 1 F.3d 1274, 1293 [D.C. Cir. 1993], another important victory when the spent his authorized budget. But hereafter Armstrong II). Armstrong court held they had viable causes of with no opportunity for additional II clarified that while courts are not action for mandamus relief—that is, discovery,11 the plaintiffs were authorized to review a president’s that they could seek judicial review unable to adduce further evidence “creation, management, and disposal of their claims in hopes of securing of the vice president’s interpretation decisions,” they have the power to a writ ordering the defendants of his recordkeeping responsibilities review guidelines outlining what is to perform the duties they were under the PRA. and is not a presidential (and vice- required to perform by law. The On January 19, 2009, one day before presidential) record in the first place court’s conclusion that judicial review the change in administrations, Judge under the PRA (Id. at 1294). Based is available under the PRA did not Kollar-Kotelly entered judgment on the holding in Armstrong II, the address whether the plaintiffs had for the defendants and vacated the district court in Cheney concluded viable claims upon which relief could preliminary injunction, which lifted that judicial review was available be granted. Because the PRA does not from the defendants the continuing to prevent the vice president from itself directly allow suits by private obligation to preserve vice- using a different definition of plaintiffs, the Cheney plaintiffs presidential records broadly defined. vice-presidential records than the needed another statute to supply Although at first glance the court’s definition contained in the PRA, their cause of action. They used the decision appeared to be a victory an action that falls squarely within Mandamus Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1361, to for the defendants, the plaintiffs guidelines as to what is and is not a require the White House defendants also secured important victories vice-presidential record. to comply with their statutory duty on critical threshold legal issues Had the court instead accepted the to treat as subject to the PRA all of that will have a long-lasting impact defendants’ argument, the president the vice president’s records relating beyond the specifics of this case. and vice president would have been to the exercise of his constitutional, As Judge Kollar-Kotelly initially able to circumvent the act altogether statutory, official or ceremonial observed in her opinion, “[t]his case by rewriting its terms, without being duties. In opposition, the defendants concerns matters of significance subject to any judicial oversight argued that the duties the PRA extending beyond its individual or censure. The obligations of the imposes on them are not sufficiently parties, requiring a discussion of how president and vice president under ministerial (i.e., nondiscretionary) to the three branches of government the PRA flow from their creation be subject to mandamus relief. Judge interact to preserve documents that and receipt of “presidential (and vice Kollar-Kotelly disagreed, pointing to form part of our nation’s history.” presidential) records.” By redefining the statutorily imposed definition of Confronting the court were claims the meaning and scope of that term, vice-presidential records contained rooted in the PRA, a statute that the president and vice president in the PRA, which leaves the vice limits the scope of the court’s would have been able to alter those president no discretion to change this review and provides little oversight obligations fundamentally. The definition, and the act’s requirement over how the president and vice court’s ruling in Cheney prevents to preserve such ecords. president meet their recordkeeping this result. As the court reasoned, “it From a legal perspective, this and preservation obligations. Based ‘borders on the absurd’ to believe that ruling is especially significant on a congressional assumption that Congress statutorily defined Vice- because it gives some definition to presidents (and vice presidents) Presidential records and required the kinds of claims a plaintiff can would comply with the act in good the Vice President to implement bring against the president and vice faith, the PRA contains no express steps to preserve them, but denied president related to their compliance role for the archivist or NARA any judicial review to prevent the with the PRA.13 By recognizing that Passport September 2009 Page 5 at least some of the obligations the adopted guidelines excluding vice- archivist and NARA with the PRA imposes on the president and presidential records from the scope of authority to issue regulations further vice president are non-discretionary the PRA. Relying on Ms. O’Donnell’s clarifying the meaning of the act’s and therefore ministerial, the Cheney “understanding” that all of the vice provisions and the obligations it court paved the way for further president’s functions fall within his imposes on the president and vice actions seeking mandamus relief. duties as president of the Senate and president. Doing so would ensure The plaintiffs also prevailed on his “specially assigned” functions, that where those guidelines run a third threshold issue: whether the court entered judgment for the astray, as in Cheney, courts will they had standing to pursue their defendants. Although the court have the authority to provide relief. claims. Rooted in Article III of pointed to the absence of any Congress should also require the the Constitution, the standing contrary evidence and the plaintiffs’ archivist to notify Congress upon requirement prevents courts from failure to adduce their own evidence learning of a planned disposition resolving abstract legal questions as justifying this conclusion, the of presidential or vice-presidential unrelated to an actual dispute court never acknowledged that the records that is inconsistent with the and unlikely to be redressed by a plaintiffs’ inability to produce such PRA’s requirements, regardless of favorable opinion. The defendants proof was the direct consequence whether the archivist’s knowledge challenged the plaintiffs’ standing, of the severely restricted scope of stems from direct communications arguing they had only a speculative discovery the court had authorized. from the president or vice president. or hypothetical interest in seeking The mixed results of the Cheney Further, Congress should make future access to vice-presidential litigation present several challenges it absolutely clear that outside records. The court disagreed, for historians, archivists, and the individuals and entities have finding that because at least one of public at large. On the one hand, standing to file lawsuits based on the the plaintiffs, Stanley Kutler, had the Cheney decision confirms a president’s and vice president’s non- established his past and continuing plaintiff’s ability to challenge compliance with their mandatory interest in seeking PRA records and presidential or vice-presidential duties under the PRA.14 that interest would be impaired guidelines that conflict with their Beyond legislative fixes, NARA if vice presidential records were statutory obligations under the and the archivist need to rethink destroyed, all of the plaintiffs had PRA, a question about which there their role in this statutory scheme standing. was considerable doubt prior to this and affirm their obligations to Had the Cheney plaintiffs not decision. On the other hand, the the American public. The Cheney survived the standing inquiry, Cheney decision confirms NARA’s litigation revealed the degree to virtually no plaintiff could have long-held view that it has virtually which the archivist has taken sued to prevent the destruction of no role to play with respect to a passive role in ensuring the presidential and vice-presidential an incumbent’s handling of his president’s and vice president’s records. The Cheney defendants presidential or vice-presidential fullest compliance with the PRA. advanced an aggressively narrow papers. And the judicially imposed Acceding to the Bush White view of standing that essentially prohibition on challenging a House’s interpretation of their PRA would have required a plaintiff president’s day-to-day compliance obligations, the archivist and NARA to wait to file suit until a former with the PRA creates huge did not even attempt to defend the president’s records were available evidentiary hurdles for a plaintiff lawfulness of their own regulations. for public review, years after the end seeking confirmatory facts about an NARA clearly sees the agency merely of an administration. As a practical unlawful PRA policy. Judge Kollar- as a caretaker of a president’s papers matter, at that late date any effort Kotelly has argued that the answer after a president leaves office. With to seek records a president or vice lies with Congress and its ability the archivist and NARA refusing to president had failed to preserve to rewrite the law. As she pointed lead the charge, it falls to historians, while in office could not succeed. out, “Congress limited the scope of archivists, and good-government The Cheney plaintiffs’ claims judicial review and provided little groups like CREW to press Congress, against NARA and the archivist oversight authority for the President the courts, and the executive branch did not fare as well. Judge Kollar- and Vice President’s document for greater protections to ensure full Kotelly concluded that because the preservation decisions.” and adequate preservation of our archivist and NARA have only a very The Cheney lawsuit exposed some nation’s history. limited role under the PRA during a of the major loopholes in the PRA. As for Mr. Cheney’s vice- president’s and vice president’s term Wary of intruding unconstitutionally presidential records, historians can in office and have no authority to into the daily recordkeeping take some comfort in the broad implement classification guidelines, decisions that a president and vice preservation obligation in place there is no relief available to the president make, Congress left all until the last hours of the Bush plaintiffs for their claims that NARA such decisions entirely up to them. administration, which should have guidelines are contrary to law. Congress went even further in its acted as a brake on any further The court reached this conclusion deference to the president, however, document destruction. Moreover, the notwithstanding its recognition and carved out only the most limited full legacy of the Bush presidency that NARA “may have provided roles for NARA and the archivist; will be revealed not only through the Vice President with document under the statute their only role the president’s and vice president’s preservation guidance that conflicts while a president is in office is to records, but those of their staff, with the requirements in the PRA.” provide their views, upon request of particularly staff emails. This Judge Kollar-Kotelly concluded that the president or vice president, on leaves the remaining litigation the plaintiffs’ only remedy for their the proposed disposal of presidential over the millions of missing White claims against the archivist and or vice-presidential records (See 44 House emails critical to bringing NARA lies with Congress, not the U.S.C. § 2203[c]). Accordingly, it falls transparency and accountability to courts. to Congress to fix these deficiencies the Bush administration. Yet in that The plaintiffs also failed on through legislative changes. case too, historians, archivists, and the ultimate factual question of Specifically, Congress should the public will have to depend on the whether the vice president had amend the PRA to provide the efficacy of the archivist who now has Page 6 Passport September 2009 custody over all of the PRA materials from President Bush’s administration. Anne L. Weismann is Chief Counsel for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

Notes: 1.The 2008 edition of the United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions (commonly known as the “Plum Book”) describes the vice presidency as “a unique office that is neither a part of the executive branch nor a part of the legislative branch, but is attached by the Constitution to the latter.” 2. 124 Cong. Rec. H34894 (daily ed. Oct. 10, 1978) (Statement of Rep. Brademas). The Supreme Court confirmed the legitimacy of these interests in Nixon v. Administrator, 433 U.S. 425, 452 (1977), when it upheld the constitutionality of the predecessor law to the PRA. 3. 44 U.S.C. § 2201(3). 4. 124 Cong. Rec. H34896 (daily ed. Oct. 10, 1978) (Statement of Rep. Preyer); see also H.R. Rep. No. 95-1487, at 11 (1978), reprinted in U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News (St. Paul, MN), 1978, at 5742. 5. On January 21, 2009, President Barack Obama issued an executive order establishing policies and procedures governing the assertion of executive privilege over presidential records and revoking Executive Order 13233. 6. 44 U.S.C. § 2201(2), defining presidential records (emphasis added). Although the PRA does not separately define vice presidential records, it requires records of a vice president to be treated--in the same manner as Presidential records--and directs the vice president to assume the same duties and responsibilities with respect to vice presidential records as the president must assume for presidential records. 44 U.S.C. § 2207. CREW v. Office of Administration, Civil No. deposition testimony was unnecessary. 7. In the spring of 2007, CREW broke 07-0964 (CKK) (D.D.C.), the OA claimed 12. As a decision of a district court, the the story of many millions of emails it was no longer an agency subject to Cheney opinion is not binding precedent. mysteriously missing from White House the FOIA even though it had functioned Nevertheless, it is a persuasive opinion servers over a two-and-one-half-year as a FOIA agency since its inception in that other judges are likely to heed. period. See Without a Trace: The Missing 1974, adopting a comprehensive FOIA 13. Prior to Cheney, plaintiffs had White House E-mails and the Violation of regulatory scheme and processing brought claims under the Administrative the Presidential Records Act, April 12, 2007, hundreds of FOIA requests. Procedure Act (APA). See Armstrong I and available at http://www.citizensforethics. 9. In addition to CREW, the plaintiffs Armstrong II. While the APA provides org/files/041207WithoutATraceFullRepo included historian and law professor an avenue to challenge agency action rt.pdf. CREW and the National Security Stanley I. Kutler, history professor or inaction, it does not apply to either Archive subsequently brought lawsuits Martin J. Sherwin, the American the president or vice president. See, for challenging the Bush administration’s Historical Association, the Organization example, Franklin v. Massachusetts, 505 failure to take any action to restore of American Historians, the Society of U.S. 788, 802-03 (1992) (president not the missing emails or to implement American Archivists, and the Society an agency for purposes of the APA); an effective electronic recordkeeping for Historians of American Foreign and Banks v. Lappin, 539 F.Supp.2d 228, system, which contravened the Relations. 234 (D.D.C. 2008) (vice president not an requirements of the Federal Records Act. 10. For example, Congress assigned to the agency under the FOIA, which uses the CREW v. Executive Office of the President, vice president the responsibility to sit on same agency definition as the APA). Civil No. 07-1707 (HHK) (D.D.C.). the National Security Council through 14. Although the court in Cheney 8. After CREW sued the OA for its the National Security Act of 1947. that found this authority already failure to respond to CREW’s Freedom 11. The district court denied CREW’s exists, legislative clarification of Information Act (FOIA) requests for renewed request to depose David would eliminate the potential for documentation of the missing emails in Addington, concluding that additional further litigation on this issue.

Passport September 2009 Page 7 Fifty Years of William Appleman Williams’ Tragedy of America Diplomacy: An Anniversary, a Discussion, and a Celebration H.W. Brands, Robert Buzzanco, Jerald A.Combs, Christopher Fisher, Lloyd Gardner, Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman, Ryan Irwin, Walter LaFeber, Thomas McCormick, Anna K. Nelson, Nicole Phelps, Emily S. Rosenberg, Robert D. Schulzinger, William Stueck, Jeremi Suri, Dustin Walcher, & Vanessa Walker

Williams, Beard, Kennan—and read Paul Baran and Paul Sweezy wasn’t a radical at all, but a jilted Me at about that same time, along with liberal. Gar Alperovitz, Gabriel Kolko, Harry Williams reintroduced me to H. W. Brands Magdoff and Noam Chomsky— Charles Beard, with whom I already Williams was the only one who had a passing acquaintance. My he Tragedy of American Diplomacy seemed to care that American policy grandfather was a sucker for door- rescued me from believing had run off the rails. The Marxists to-door book salesmen (apparently I was an utter idiot. As an and their near-kin took American such a breed once existed), and undergraduateT at Stanford in the malfeasance as a given, the inevitable alongside the complete works of Sir early 1970s I found myself in classes consequence of American capitalism. Walter Scott sat Beard’s two-volume where everyone knew a lot more Williams paid attention to capitalism, Rise of American Civilization (written about history than I did—or did a but he cared more about American with Mary Beard). I had thumbed better job of faking it. My instructors democracy than the hard left did, through it, unaware that Beard was assigned books that assumed and it pained him that democracy the best-selling American historian far more background in history had been so perverted. The Marxists ever but intrigued by his ability to and greater sophistication than I sneered at Williams’ naivete, but I wrap the minutiae of American life possessed. Reading Christopher was moved when he pleaded with into a grand drama. My reading Lasch’s New Radicalism in America, I Americans to rethink open door of Williams, who acknowledged was expected to know who Mabel imperialism: his debt to Beard, reminded me of Dodge Luhan and Randolph Bourne browsing Beard, and it sent me back were; The Education of Henry Adams Isn’t it time to stop defining to that fat set, as well as to Beard’s demanded that I catch the insider trade as the control of markets for other works, including An Economic ironies of its gloomy author. our surplus products and control Interpretation of the Constitution and Tragedy, which I read in Barton of raw materials for our factories? eventually The Open Door at Home. Bernstein’s class on American foreign Isn’t it time to stop depending The latter made Williams seem a policy, was something quite different. so narrowly—in our thinking little less original to me, but I was It was a hot property at the most as well as in our practice—upon willing to forgive him for that. divisive moment of the , an informal empire for our well- By this time I was out of college and it was quite comprehensible. being and welfare? Isn’t it time and on the road as a traveling Williams wasn’t trying to impress to ask ourselves if we are really salesman. Beard and other historians me, although he was trying to so unimaginative that we have accompanied me across the Great convert me. His book had the to have a frontier in the form of Basin, where the hardware stores— thumping straightforwardness of a an informal empire in order to my customers—closed at five in the good manifesto. I had heard of the have democracy and prosperity afternoon and television reception open door, but I had no idea how at home? Isn’t it time to say that was spotty. I didn’t yet conceive of pervasive that policy was and how we can make American society myself as a historian, but the germ much it influenced American foreign function even better on the basis of my original plan for a dissertation policy for most of the twentieth of equitable relationships with took root somewhere between century. I read the 1962 edition, in other people?1 Winnemucca, Nevada, and Salt Lake which Williams was able to cite City. As it turned out, Robert Divine the Bay of Pigs as the I-told-you-so Before encountering Williams I at the University of thought confirmation of his 1959 version. hadn’t paid much attention to the an intellectual history of American Yet it was Vietnam that made him a titles of the books I read, but I came foreign policy was a bit ambitious for guru of the left, and as the quagmire to appreciate the care with which he a thesis, so I set it aside. deepened, his reputation as the had chosen his. To the other radicals, But eventually I got back to it, prophet of anti-imperialism rose. American diplomacy was a plot, and the basic concept came straight What appealed to me, however, a conspiracy, a crime; to Williams from Williams and Beard. I called was not the accuracy of Williams’s it was a tragedy—an error all the the book that resulted What America forecast but the tone of his voice. more heartbreaking for having been Owes the World, and it took as its Among all the leftists of the era—I avoidable. And I realized that he starting point the essential moralism Page 8 Passport September 2009 of Williams and Beard. Williams Anderson Centennial Professor of to the systemic issue of economics, wouldn’t have been so pained by History at the University of Texas at as a material consideration and American diplomacy if he hadn’t Austin. as weltanschauung. And for over a believed that America could do quarter-century now, I have framed better. Beard became an isolationist, Notes: foreign policy issues in my work but his isolationism was informed 1. William Appleman Williams, The as an American attempt to expand by a conviction that America owed Tragedy of American Diplomacy, 2nd ed. commercial interests. Instead the world not military salvation (New York, 1962), 5. of asking whether the motive is but the example of a prosperous 2. New York Times, March 14, 1994. economic, I ask, how it could not be democracy living within its means economic? and mostly within its borders. Beard The beauty of Tragedy is, in the and Williams anchored one side “We Always Did Feel the Same, We most positive way, its simplicity. of the long debate over America’s Just Saw It From a Different Point Williams introduced us to the open responsibilities to the world, the side of View” door and explained American I labeled “exemplarists.” The other expansion, intervention, overthrows, side—the “vindicators”—were those Robert Buzzanco wars, and empire via that doctrine. who advocated the international And Tragedy is not a contortionistic activism against which Williams and riting about The Tragedy history that makes weird twists and Beard contended. of American Diplomacy is turns and tumbles so that ideas will Perhaps it is not surprising that like trying to discuss Eric fit into a methodological framework. Williams and Beard got sympathetic WHobsbawm, Frank Sinatra, or Miles The open door concept applies to treatment in my book, which was Davis. It is much easier writing about discussions of the market revolution, published in 1998, safely after the a book that had no real significance the 1890s, the World Wars, the Cold end of the and before the and was quickly forgotten, as War, Vietnam, and the wars in terrorist attacks of September 2001. most books that and . It I didn’t buy the Reaganist argument historians write are. was right in 1959 and it that American pressure had broken What can I say that Williams’s work requires is right today. Seeking the Soviet model; instead I sided hasn’t been said thought. Love it or hate security and democracy, with the aging George Kennan, who before, and who am it, it can’t be ignored, the United States (and pointed out that his original “X” I to critique these and producing work of by “United States” article had suggested that the Soviet people? Here goes that caliber is a laudable and “America” I mean system included the seeds of its own anyway. achievement and a the nation’s ruling- destruction. Kennan also complained I suspect worthwhile goal. class government that his concept of had most people officials, bankers, been hijacked by the militarists, participating in corporate titans, global and he sounded a lot like Williams this symposium collaborators, and the and Beard when he asserted, in have been influenced by William media and intellectual myrmidons an opinion piece in the New York Appleman Williams, just as I have. that promote them) conducted its Times in 1994, that “it is primarily He shaped the study of U.S. foreign affairs abroad with an eye to finding by example, never by precept, that a policy like no one else, and whether markets, investment opportunities, country such as ours exerts the most we accept his analysis or not, we cheap or slave labor, resources, and useful influence beyond its borders” have learned much from him. Isaiah political influence. and that “unless we preserve the Berlin said that Marx’s intellectual Still, as important as Tragedy is to quality, the vigor and the morale of power was evident in the countless, the study of all U.S. history, I have, our own society, we will be of little continuing efforts to attack him, and guiltily, some real quibbles with use to anyone at all.”2 the same can be said of Tragedy. To some of Williams’s main points. In the immediate aftermath of steal from Dylan again: most people So, to be contrarian, I would like to 9/11 this modest approach appeared “read books, repeat quotations . . talk about those a bit. But even with shortsighted, but after George W. . draw conclusions on the wall.”1 these disagreements, Tragedy remains Bush involved the United States in Williams’s work requires thought. essential reading on any short list of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that Love it or hate it, it can’t be ignored, the most important history books. have come to look soberingly like and producing work of that caliber The primary issue I have with Vietnam, and as the country faces an is a laudable achievement and a Williams is his belief in the economic crisis that grimly echoes worthwhile goal. (I can’t speak for the existence of a fundamental system of the Great Depression, Williams and postmodernists and culturalists here. American values. Two outstanding Beard again appear pertinent. Beard I suspect their emphasis on “tropes,” books published recently, Joan underestimated Hitler, and neither “discourses,” and “representations” Hoff’s A Faustian Foreign Policy from he nor Williams foresaw what the doesn’t owe a whole lot to William Woodrow Wilson to George W. Bush globalization of economics and Appleman Williams [maybe to and William Walker’s National finance would accomplish, for better Raymond] and I also suspect that he Security and Core Values, argue that and for worse. But each clung to a would have been bemused by it at America’s interventionist and often vision of an America that lived up to best.) brutal experiences abroad were a its own democratic promise; and that As one of a dwindling number contravention of national values. vision never goes out of style. of leftist, materialist historians, Hoff believes that the United States I don’t assign Tragedy to my Williams was a guru. Tragedy was made a “pact with the devil” to gain undergraduate students. Like all really the first book I read in graduate enormous power, and Walker claims effective manifestos, it is too rooted school (along with Gabriel Kolko’s that “core values” were violated in in its time and place to transpose The Politics of War), and it affected the pursuit of “national security,” well. But they get the message me powerfully. It was cerebral, i.e., in interventions and wars. These nonetheless. angry, raw, nuanced, and powerful. books evoke Williams’s work, but I knew then that I would study U.S. I think their analyses recreate the H. W. Brands is Dickson, Allen, and give primacy main flaw of Tragedy. Passport September 2009 Page 9 Tragedy, my English professors the 1960s. That is perceptive, rejected by those critics). Or perhaps drilled into me, is not simply the but as he numbered the flaws in the both those claims are correct. In a story of an action that had gone bad. American approach to Havana, he similar vein, Williams asserted that It involves a protagonist pursuing a criticized U.S intransigence toward “America’s humanitarian urge to noble purpose, seeing it go wrong, Cuban reformists as “creating a assist other peoples is undercut— but inexorably continuing on his fourth truth and contributing to even subverted—by the way it goes quest despite the inevitable, ignoble the tragedy” because it pushed the about helping them.” Again, he end that awaits. Tragedies, in that Cubans “further to the left” and presupposed a set of positive values, sense, are redemptive, and those to “strengthened the radicals.” For a legitimate humanitarian quest to whom the story is told are penitent Williams, the correct path would assist others. and wiser for knowing the plight have been nonintervention. But why But let’s consider for a moment of the protagonist. Using those is nonintervention (not, presumably, that the critics Truman was trying to criteria, it is hard to see America’s revolution?) the alternative to empire, place on the defensive—and all the experience abroad as tragic. It was and why was it a tragedy that the critics of the war on Cuba, the Korean too intentional and successful, radical left was strengthened? War, the Cold War, Vietnam, of made too much profit, eliminated Although it took sixty years, Iraq today—were (and are) the ones enemies too effectively, established ’s revolution finally challenging traditional American global hegemony, and was done brought Cuba national liberation values and objectives. That is to say, without much introspection or guilt. and economic reform, which most let’s take Truman at his word. Pursuing open doors globally, the The United States, as Williams ruling class overwhelmed weaker knew and explained powerfully, peoples, people of color, peasants and So Williams, with all his insight and was built upon mass genocide farmers; it denied self-determination critical analysis, still accepted the and enslavement, indentured and national sovereignty and idea of American exceptionalism; he servitude and disenfranchisement, diminished and crushed movements would lament dreams unfulfilled subordination of women, conquest of for broader or participatory forms of and values betrayed rather than other, especially non-white, lands, a democracy. There was nothing noble admit that the American elite had a brutal civil war to defend industrial about their purposes or tragic in the coherent worldview that saw state capitalism, violent crushing of labor consequences of their actions. They violence as the means for growing its and farmer groups. And that’s just set out to rule the world and did so own influence. before 1900. Perhaps those were quite effectively, at least through the the traditional values Truman was fall of 2008. invoking. Williams understood those Cubans and many outside observers But like Hoff and Walker, Williams consequences. He wrote that would see as a huge improvement. offered an alternative coda—that America’s reformist and expansionist Yet Williams saw it as tragic. He was republicanism, free labor, liberty, program “provoked trouble,” the also troubled by the elitism reflected civic duty, civil rights, and at reaction to which “ultimately took in U.S. policy toward Cuba; yet one least the pursuit of happiness and the form of terror.” Notice that he might ask whether arguing that equality are our “core values,” to use invoked terrorism as the response the United States “pushed” Cuban Walker’s term but to adopt an idea to U.S. empire, not as the tactic used radicals to the left isn’t itself elitist, that Williams would surely have by Americans to impose reform since it denigrates the Cubans’ role in accepted. Maybe it wasn’t America and expansion on other peoples. So their own liberation. making a “pact with the devil” by Williams, with all his insight and Williams then jumped to committing atrocities abroad, but critical analysis, still accepted the Harry Truman (to be snarky, the elites in those other countries idea of American exceptionalism; he the chronological to-and-fro in making a contract with Old Scratch would lament dreams unfulfilled Tragedy and the lack of an index are in Washington, D.C., to allow the and values betrayed rather than annoyances). He wrote that at the dark forces of capital to enter their admit that the American elite had a outset of the Cold War and during dominion and plague their people. coherent worldview that saw state the , Truman “refined And as for those ideals Williams held violence as the means for growing its the technique of announcing and dear from his Iowa boyhood, perhaps own influence. defining issues in such a way as our values really are intervention, In their moving biography of to place critics on the defensive as warfare, denial of self-determination, Williams, Paul Buhle and Edward men and women who seemed to be and torture. Rice-Maximin, his associates from challenging traditional American Running throughout Tragedy is Madison, explain his worldview. values and objectives.” Williams the idea, sometimes voiced, often Among his political icons were John presupposed, then, that “traditional implied, that the United States could Quincy Adams and Herbert Hoover, American values and objectives” have acted differently, humanely, while he was critical of Abraham existed and that Truman’s militarism democratically, and that failing to Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, and violated them. Given his paternalism, do so was the tragedy. But given Franklin D. Roosevelt. Liberalism, a theology, and patriotism, that Williams’s own understanding of the “suffocating ideology,” preempted presupposition should not surprise; economic imperatives driving policy, “solid radicalism” and “thoughtful but given the invective heaped upon how could he assume that different conservatism,” so Williams held Williams for his alleged radicalism, tactics, strategies, or outcomes were to a “judicious paternalism” and his belief in traditional values and possible? was a “Christian socialist and an objectives seems unfounded. So Williams’s treatment of Woodrow undoubted patriot.” These ideals either Williams’s critics had him Wilson emphasized the gap between would guide Williams as he wrote wrong all along (which I think is “values” and empire. Clearly Tragedy, even though the men he obvious), or Williams himself did not Williams was no fan of Wilson studied were more similar to the have as radical a critique of American (neither am I). Wilson could not Corleones than to the Waltons. policies as these critics alleged remain neutral once hostilities began Williams began by seeing Cuba (which, although true, would be in Europe, Williams asserts, because in the 1890s as prologue to Cuba in a British victory was essential for a Page 10 Passport September 2009 “peaceful, prosperous, and moral” as the new corporate state and the obscenity and evil.” world. Wilson “had either to abandon economic expansion of the 1920s The “men of property,” as the folk [his] determination and destiny might have confirmed. song “The World Turned Upside to lead the world or go to war.” Williams treats the origins of the Down” called them, “sent out the Williams also suggested that the Cold War in much the same way– hired men and troopers” to wipe “basic dilemma” of foreign policy framing it in a conventional narrative out the claims of the Diggers, was framed by the time Wilson of the United States v. the Soviet Englishmen using the land for was president: America’s “generous Union, though of course pointing out, sustenance. Not much has changed humanitarianism” prompted it correctly, how the American pursuit since the Diggers and Levellers to help the less fortunate, but it of the Open Door made conflict fought the ruling class in 1649 at defined that humanitarianism likely if not inevitable. Again, there St. George’s Hill. Perhaps William as making others more “like us.” were alternative narratives, such Appleman Williams knew that but That interpretation subverted self- as contending that the real point didn’t want to lose the romantic determination while leading the of the Cold War was not to contain values of his youth, the values that United States to expand overseas in the USSR– for Stalin was never lay behind his service to his country. search of material benefits. adventurous to begin with and was Even so, the truths he uncovered Finally, Williams concluded basically beaten after the failure of remain too important to be spoiled that intervention in the Great War, the [on Stalin, see by intellectual disputes of this type. counterrevolutionary activities in Geoffrey Robert’s fantastic Stalin’s As I think of Tragedy, fifty years after Mexico, and continued pursuit of Wars, New Haven, 2008]– but to its publication and twenty-five years the open door meant that “Wilson’s contain forces of nationalism, and after I read it first, I feel the same liberal practice was not in keeping democracy at home, like the Soviet about it, even if we have a different with his liberal principles.” Williams, Union was doing in Eastern Europe. point of view. as Buhle and Rice-Maximim put it, Surely, as a victim of McCarthyism saw Wilson’s interventions as the “act himself, Williams understood this Robert Buzzanco is Professor of of a reckless empire-builder.” alternative, and perhaps it should be History at the University of Houston. But what if Wilson actually had a more central to the narrative. Once it precise and accurate understanding became clear that “” would The Influence of William Appleman of liberal democracy? Indeed, I not occur and that the resources and Williams on a Nonbeliever would argue that his understanding markets of the Soviet bloc would stay of liberal political economy was off limits, Third World nationalism Jerald A. Combs near-brilliant. Turn-of-the-century and neutralism and broad democracy liberalism was an economic ideology at home (what I call in my classes t a recent AHA/Pacific Coast based on the idea of free trade, free “the Paul Robeson version”) became Branch panel on the state of investments, free markets, and so targets of American power. our field, Elizabeth Cobbs forth, with correlative reform in I am also more than a bit surprised AHoffman put to us the question of order to create more progressive that Williams made nary a mention whether sweeping interpretations communities of producers and of Bretton Woods. More than a of the history of American foreign consumers abroad, provide globalization of the open door, the relations like Williams’s Tragedy of “democracy” by creating competing Bretton Woods system created a American Diplomacy were polemics elite parties, and provide political world order based not just on free that were of less value than books stability for commerce. Today, more trade but on a commercial-cum- based more closely on archival than a few business schools teach monetary regime that would regulate research. That heretical thought that democracy, which Williams all economic and financial policies. has no doubt occurred to many and others saw as embodying the That regime far exceeded anything of us, especially when reading values mentioned above, is in essence Hay, Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson, or interpretations with which we “commercial liberty,” and that is Hoover could have created. disagree. At the same time, however, the equation Wilson was making. William Appleman Williams surely I recall how valuable and exciting In other words, although Wilson had doubts about the values he held. my first encounter with Williams’s might have framed the issue of “free But to have such doubts means that work was. He raised questions for my seas” as one of international law, you hold particular ideals about what own research that I would never even the real point was that submarines America should be. It is more than have thought to ask. were sinking ships laden with surprising that, given his intellectual When I was researching my manufactures and specie. capacity, Williams repeatedly called dissertation on the Jay Treaty in the Claims of recklessness aside, episodes that contravened those mid-1960s, I was moseying through Wilson was much vindicated values tragic. Tragedies evoke my analysis of Alexander Hamilton’s by the events of the 1920s, when empathy, not just for the victim thought and diplomacy when I came Nazism and global depression but often for the perpetrator too. across “The Age of Mercantilism,” resulted from the failure to reach a I see little that was tragic in the an article Williams published in reasonable settlement at Versailles. development of the American empire, the William and Mary Quarterly, and Yet Williams didn’t effectively from the slaughter of natives, to the Contours of American History, in which engage these postwar consequences arrival of slaves and indentures, he applied the open door imperialist and didn’t mention the question of to the massacres on the plains, the thesis of Tragedy to specific aspects of German reparations at all. Perhaps Civil War, the attacks at Homestead, early U.S. history and foreign policy.1 Wilson was “reckless,” but he also Ludlow and so many other industrial In those elaborations, Williams made America a creditor nation locales, the battlefields of Europe, challenged the common notion that and a world power through his the fields of Guatemala, the sands Hamilton’s Report on Manufactures intervention in the war. As a leftist, I of Iraq. They lack the pathos or demonstrated his preference for an am not happy with the consequences redemption to be tragedy, so they independent, balanced economy over of that “recklessness,” but I suspect become “war stories” which, as Tim foreign trade that tied the United that the ruling class was more than O’Brien tells us, hold an “absolute States to British manufactures. pleased with the outcome of the war, and uncompromising allegiance to Williams asserted instead that Passport September 2009 Page 11 Hamilton’s opposition to the punitive American foreign relations. And in economics of class and the market, tariffs Jefferson and Madison wished the end, while my own analyses have such as race and gender. Thus, to impose on Great Britain showed never gone as far as the revisionists’ revisionist historians influenced by that he favored a permanent alliance have, the last edition of my textbook the cultural and ideological turn with Great Britain, “never pushed certainly emphasizes the aggressive in historiography have not rejected manufacturing as an integral part and expansionist aspects of the Williams and the Wisconsin School of the economy, and in fact opposed history of American foreign relations but have added cultural influences the efforts of others to accelerate more than the first edition. to the economic ideas of the open its development.”2 In the end, I I am not alone among non- door in explaining the history of U.S. concluded that Williams was wrong, revisionists in absorbing and foreign relations.6 If such revisionism that Hamilton had wanted a balanced reflecting the influence of Williams is not now the majority opinion in economy and ultimate independence and other revisionists. George the field of the history of U.S. foreign from any British alliance but had Herring’s new general narrative relations, it is very close to it. And no not wanted to risk a trade war with of the history of American foreign one is more responsible for that than Great Britain or the loss of critical relations, From Colony to Superpower, William Appleman Williams. federal income from moderate tariffs while written from a non-revisionist on British trade by a premature perspective, certainly emphasizes Jerald A. Combs is Professor of challenge to Britain’s economy and American aggressiveness and History, Emeritus at San Francisco State power. expansionism to a far greater degree University. Similarly, Williams challenged my than non-revisionist histories written sense of James Madison’s foreign in earlier decades.3 Even a history policy. I had assumed that Madison’s written from a very conservative 1. William Appleman Williams, “The Age argument in Federalist No. 10, that viewpoint, Robert Kagan’s Dangerous of Mercantilism: An Interpretation of the republicanism could survive in a Nation, accepts the centrality of American Political Economy, 1763-1828,” large area because a multiplicity of American expansionism.4 William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, interests would balance one another While the emphasis of Williams XV (1958): 419-437; Williams, The Contours to prevent one interest securing a and the Wisconsin School on of American History (Cleveland, 1961). permanent majority, was aimed at aggressive expansionism in 2. Williams, Contours of American History, the anti-federalists, who insisted American history has had enormous 163. that sovereignty should reside in influence, their idea that American 3. George Herring, From Colony to the states because only small areas expansionism was due almost Superpower: U. S. Foreign Relations since could maintain a republican form of entirely to economic causes has not 1776 (New York, 2008). government. Williams, on the other fared so well. Their concept of open 4. Robert Kagan, Dangerous Nation (New hand, saw Federalist No. 10 as an door imperialism—the idea that U.S. York, 2006). argument for imperialism aimed expansionism was the product of 5. William Appleman Williams, The Great at soothing American fears that the American elites’ need to expand Evasion: An Essay on the Contemporary territorial expansion would destroy their markets in order to stave off Relevance of Karl Marx and on the Wisdom republicanism. I still concluded that demands for economic redistribution of Admitting the Heretic into the Dialogue in the context of the debate over from the lower classes—was about America’s Future (Chicago, 1964). the Constitution, Madison’s intent very close to Lenin’s theory of 6. The textbooks of Thomas Paterson are was to prove that the United States imperialism. Williams accepted a good example of this fusion. could govern what it already had that kinship to some extent, but he rather than what it might acquire and the Wisconsin School always in an expansionist crusade. But said that their ideas owed more Williams and the Intellectual clearly Williams had a point in that to indigenous American sources, Legacies of Tragedy Federalist No. 10 could be used especially Charles Beard.5 And they to encourage expansion when the had a point. They did not take the Christopher Fisher opportunity arose. next step in the Leninist logic: they My dissertation supervisors, Page never adopted the idea that ending came to The Tragedy of American Smith and Keith Berwick, who had required a Diplomacy through a side door, generously taken over that duty domestic socialist revolution and the you might say. In the mid-1990s I when Bradford Perkins left UCLA forcible redistribution of resources studiedI with Lloyd Gardner, a close for Michigan, advised me to drop so that a growing internal economic friend, understudy, and confidante the references to Williams because demand would obviate the need for of William Appleman Williams, they thought I was setting up a straw overseas expansion. They obviously and that experience gave me a man. I am glad that I left them in. detested the market economy and the unique window into Tragedy. Like Although I did not yet appreciate aggression, selfishness, and injustice his contemporaries from Madison, the significance that the concept of that it bred, but they implied that the Lloyd never strayed too far from open door imperialism would have necessary changes could come about the original intent of Williamsonian in the field of diplomatic history, by peaceful democratic reform. It revisionism, uncovering the sources I never again assessed an issue in seemed to me that they regarded the of power in the United States and the history of American foreign market economy and the resultant the contradictions of deploying relations without considering the imperialism as an intellectual that power abroad in response to role that U.S. expansionism might construct that could be changed by pressures at home. Certain themes have played in it. As time went on, persuasion rather than the inevitable bracketed our study of America’s the conflict within the field generated outcome of an economic and social global dominance: that economic by the revisionist insistence that class structure that could only be forces were instrumental in expansionism was the dominant changed by force. determining America’s interests theme throughout all of America’s If open door imperialism was an abroad; that U.S. hegemony reflected dealings with the world was the intellectual construct, then it was an enduring vision passed from primary inspiration behind my open to supplementary cultural and generation to generation by a ruling interest in the historiography of ideological components beyond the elite; that ideologies structured Page 12 Passport September 2009 and sustained American behavior on Tragedy or Williams or the fascination with the power dynamic in the international realm; and revisionist debate; it didn’t even come in the United States and in protests that the grasp at empire, informal up in Lloyd’s anecdotal information against unfair tuition and CIA or otherwise, manifested ironic about Williams, of which he had recruitment on college campuses. consequences. an abundance. It was as if Lloyd With a line of inquiry that rested Given the obvious and discernible wanted each of us to find our own on the interplay between domestic revisionist weltanschauung—to way to Tragedy. I assume reticence concerns and foreign practices; quote Williams—of our intellectual was his way of impressing upon us the significance of ideas, both as community, you may wonder why I that Tragedy and Williams were still matters of interpretive analysis and came to Tragedy through a side door. relevant for deciphering the trends in experiential history; the conflicted Although I worked with Lloyd for U.S. history. nature of principles in the United nearly two years and our friendship Indeed, if this was the case, Lloyd States due to inconsistencies between predated graduate school, he never was right; when I finally had the the past and present; the belief that suggested I read it. In fact, it was chance to fully digest Tragedy it was a markets were the mechanism for noticeably absent from my graduate revelatory moment. Subconsciously, expressing American power and an training: it wasn’t required reading I had been moving in its direction understanding that markets were in our courses; we didn’t discuss it in throughout my academic career—a more than money, commerce, or debates; there were no colloquiums predilection that was reflected in my goods; and the certainty scholars

2009Congratulations! SHAFR Award Winners Robert H. Ferrell Book Prize: George Herring, From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations since 1776 (Oxford UP)

Stuart L. Bernath Book Prize: Jason Parker, Brother's Keeper: The United States, Race, and Empire in the British Caribbean, 1937- 1962 (Oxford UP)

Stuart L. Bernath Scholarly Article Prize: Brian C. Etheridge, “The Desert Fox, Memory Diplomacy, and the German Question in Early Cold War America,” Diplomatic History, April 2008.

Stuart L. Bernath Lecture Prize: Elizabeth Borgwardt, Washington University in St. Louis

Myrna Bernath Fellowship: Jessica Johnson, Brown University

Michael J. Hogan Fellowship: Nicholas Molnar, Rutgers University

W. Stull Holt Fellowship: Christopher Dietrich, University of Texas at Austin

Betty Unterberger Dissertation Prize: Gregory Domber, George Washington University

SHAFR Dissertation Completion Fellowships: Mara Drogan, State University of New York, Albany Ryan Irwin, Ohio State University

Passport September 2009 Page 13 could fit “empire” into their relativism, if not As I sought my path as a literature has discourse without abdicating their ambiguity itself, scholar, motivated by the focused primarily patriotism, Tragedy reflected a natural more useful belief that ideas and ideologies on modernization rhythm in my thinking. I came to than the zero- mattered in U.S. policies theory, a distinct diplomatic history from the study of sum allusions of abroad, Williams became a species of race relations and social movements “tragedy.” The fixed star in my interpretive development in the United States, and Williams relativist position universe, and tragedy, in the thought, as the served as a conduit for my interests is captured most Burkean sense, was an archetype of U.S. in those silenced by power and appropriately, I unshakable complication at development larger forces bending history to their think, by Walter every analytical turn. programs, because own ends. As I sought my path as McDougall’s of its direct links a scholar, motivated by the belief waggish claim to certain branches that ideas and ideologies mattered that “the United of the federal in U.S. policies abroad, Williams States has always been good, bad, government, private industry, and became a fixed star in my interpretive and ugly—idealistic, hypocritical, the nation’s top research institutions. universe, and tragedy, in the most and just realistic, often at the same And while such scholarship has Burkean sense, was an unshakable time.”2 McDougall’s assertion that created a better understanding complication at every analytical turn. U.S. history is fraught with doubt of where race and modernity My experience wasn’t unusual. and ambiguity, has added meaning intersect, the shared ownership and Diplomatic history was changing because of Tragedy. influence in the social construction as well, no doubt in reaction to Far from shutting down analysis of modernity, and the difficulties of Williams’s passing and years of because of the absence of moral converting theory to praxis, it has post-revisionist uproar. Rather than judgments that assign blame, such also mythologized the modernization abandon the lessons of Tragedy—its indeterminacy has proven useful in theory paradigm. Recent scholarship activism, economic determinism, my examination of the many sides speaks to this tension in the literature structural critique, and literary of U.S. development. Here the open and in doing so corroborates my sense—scholars incorporated door thesis is very much a factor in contention that the development them into advances taking place America’s desire, conscious or not, to scene was much more complex, in cultural, intellectual, and create a world order premised upon differentiated, and unsettled than we social history. The benefit was progress and stability. However, the thought. Again, the critical dialogue mutual, but it also kept Tragedy’s means of accomplishing this—open generated in the aftermath of Tragedy organizing belief—the inherent and access to goods, opportunities, and and the 1960s explains this shift in irreconcilable conflict between U.S. places—turned the United States, the historiography. ideals and its national interest—a obsessed with its own perfectibility, Part of the innovation in recent useful and relevant part of historical into a global crusader that casually scholarship has come from study. The subfield as a whole still trampled over others to reach its uncovering counternarratives to the shows Tragedy’s influence, but there destiny. These contradictions rest U.S. model of social advancement are two places where it is particularly at the center of my early work on and progress and the different acute: in the recent work on the modernization and pacification in ways those approaches construct influence of post–World War II South Vietnam; they are reflected, modernity. David Engerman’s development theories, where I cut for example, in the way steely Modernization from the Other Shore my professional teeth, and in the rationalists considered brutal is one illustration of the fluid and surge in scholarship on the United repression a reasonable precondition variegated character of development States in the world since the La Pietra for community development and ideology. His study explores the conference of 1997. social progress. The backlash created curious admiration U.S. theorists In many ways, the effort to decode by these contradictions happened and intellectuals had for Soviet-style America’s cold war development simultaneously and on multiple modernization, especially how that policies was conceived in one levels: within the command structure model employed repressive tactics of Tragedy’s basic tensions, that in South Vietnam, among pacification to create a stable environment for “America’s humanitarian urge to program operatives and village experimentation. With this approach, assist other people is undercut—even leaders in the Vietnamese hinterland, Engerman does more than disabuse subverted—by the way it goes about among intellectuals in America’s us of liberal assumptions about the helping them.”1 True to Williams, my development community, and in modernization theory community; own work contains ideas that move how the United States understood he also joins other studies in fluidly across time, place, and context. modernization as an idea. Whereas demystifying those suppositions It takes a long view of U.S. history the dominant narratives of postwar altogether by contradicting the and is sensitive to how Americans development rely upon a fixed and transmission of American modernity. mythologized themes that predated immutable grand design, presented Rob Kroes and Kristin Hoganson the republic as the justification almost uniformly as modernization offer similar critiques of the for projecting their power abroad. theory, my study suggests modernization process through The dichotomies of home-abroad, ambivalence on both the question of their interrogation of how the tools past-present, history-mythology, policy direction and the underlying of modernity move from place to and national identity-national morality. place. For Kroes, the symbols of interest propelled my research. Yet Although I didn’t envision myself modernity, delivered in American unlike Williams, whose Marxist shifting the historical paradigm on goods, acquired different meaning outlook privileged economics in the the order of Tragedy in this work, I did once in the hands of a foreign interpretative process and made see the drama playing out at the end other. Such transformation brings “tragedy” the most viable conclusion, of Johnson’s presidency, particularly the notion of U.S. hegemony into I was bound by no intellectual or the uncertainty in the face of a question. Hoganson highlights the discursive shackles. Instead, I placed competing narrative of development, unacknowledged truth of America’s Marx, Hegel, and Gramsci side by as an exposé on the limitations of empire: that U.S. identity is defined side in my interpretation and found the historiography. To date, the by what it consumes from the Page 14 Passport September 2009 broader world. It is an argument that The Big Shock master’s a chapter in my doctoral complicates how we perceive the thesis, although how I would expand effects of hegemony through where Lloyd Gardner it was not yet clear in my mind. it locates US dependence. These Bill Williams came to Madison that studies suggest that indigenous hen I entered graduate fall, and along with Walt LaFeber cultures undergo a rebirth according school in the fall of 1956 and Tom McCormick, I was a TA in to their own needs due to western I was a confirmed realist one of his classes. Bill always broke goods, and that foreign symbols of Win my approach to the history of things down into points I, II, and modernity are projected back into the American foreign policy. George III, with subpoints A, B, and C (or United States. As such, they stand the Kennan was for all intents and more) under each major heading. dominant construction of postwar purposes the best critic of our Sometimes the bell rang and he modernization on it head. When read Wilsonian past and the soundest did not finish—actually, more than back to back, this literature provides guide to the future. Graduate seminar sometimes. Students came rushing a dialectic of modernity that runs with was to us in the back of the room to ask like an endless loop, connecting all ad a bit different from what I had what the unfinished point was. We infinitum and troubling even Tragedy’s expected, but it was easy to adapt to had no idea. What we did know was notion of weltanschauung. his interest-group approach almost that what Williams was saying was Despite these differences, without realizing that it raised shocking, in the sense that it jolted and the twists and turns in the some pertinent questions about the us out of assumptions that went historiography, the study of postwar adequacy of the realist outlook. When unquestioned even when editorials development is a legacy of Tragedy. I took my nearly finished master’s and columnists in papers such as And it is a rich heritage that looks thesis into Harrington, he looked it were questioning especially bright when considered over and commented, “Where’s the specific policies. Williams’s ideas alongside the newest vogue in the economics?” were different. He was taking us to a study of American history—the I left his office wondering exactly whole new place. United States in the world approach. what I needed to do to “find” the His first book, American-Russian Although Thomas Bender makes economics, because clearly what I Relations, 1781-1947, had already made no mention of Williams or Tragedy had produced in this first draft of a him something of a notorious figure in his description of its origins, this study of FDR and colonialism was in academic circles, particularly approach is very much an extension not going to cut it. My senior thesis at as it concluded with a very harsh of the debate that began in 1959. Two Ohio Wesleyan had been on Wilson critique of Kennan as the author aims shape the “US in the World” and Mexico. It stressed the folly of the current containment policy. vogue that are tied to the intellectual of trying to personalize relations One of the main points of the book, fallout from Tragedy: the attempt to between nations and pointed out however, was that containment had move beyond U.S. exceptionalism that doing so had only encouraged been an ongoing policy, not simply by reconnecting American history Wilson’s opponents to condemn an invention of the Foreign Service to world history and the desire to his policy and urge military officer serving in Moscow when the soften, if not erase, the boundary intervention. There was no discussion Cold War began. And that made his between foreign and domestic by of the Constitution of 1917 and book even more heretical. contesting the idea of the nation- what that portended for American Much of what he explored in that state. I don’t mean to suggest that the investments because the paper halted class soon appeared in Tragedy, United States in the world approach with the crisis that might have led but even before its appearance he is synonymous with diplomatic to war if the Latin American states had already become a well-known history (though some see it as such), had not come to Wilson’s rescue and speaker at student events on campus. but I do believe it is entering the provided a reasonable exit agenda for We had, as it were, a ringside seat as conversation with the benefit of Huerta. If the paper had gone on to Williams worked through his ideas, learning from The Tragedy of American consider the aftermath of the crisis and we could watch the intellectual Diplomacy’s troubled past. And and the Constitution of 1917 it would process as the book took shape. Other judging by its ambition to uncover have been impossible, of course, not students and history faculty were and interrogate the structures of to “find” the economics. impressed as well, if not stunned. power, privilege, and dominance But in that spring of 1957 I had Harrington, I learned later, had in America, I would say that, like to find the economics or Professor actually urged him not to publish all scholarship that sees history as Harrington would not think very Tragedy, not because he disapproved the basis for social awareness and highly of my research abilities. Going of the way Williams developed the change, the United States in the back to my notes I discovered some open door theme, but because he world approach is better off for it. material about Lend-Lease and worried about such a promising American interests in persuading young historian rushing in where Christopher Fisher is Assistant the British to give up imperial angels feared to tread. For his part, Professor of History at The College of preference after the war. It was Bill always felt that Fred had all the New Jersey. enough for the master’s degree. I had building blocks for the open door a feeling, nevertheless, that FHH interpretation but fought shy of Notes: had something a little bit bigger in attempting to put them together. He 1, William Appleman Williams, The mind. During that first year I did did not criticize him for not doing Tragedy of American Diplomacy (New York, manage to get the full gist of the so, and, while there was always 1988), 15. “Turner Thesis.” One could hardly be some father-son tension in that 2. Walter A. McDougall, Promised Land, a graduate student at the University relationship, each was always the Crusader State: American Encounter with the of Wisconsin in the twentieth century other’s greatest supporter. World Since 1776 (Boston, 1997), 3. without learning about the Turner Harrington had reason to be thesis and its critics. concerned about Tragedy’s reception, Like many other graduate students as critics—most of them liberals, of the day, I planned to make the it seemed—savaged Williams; apparently they feared guilt by Passport September 2009 Page 15 association. An interesting exception than a little pleased at Williams’s critique set the parameters of debate was the old New Dealer Adolf Berle, radical reworking of his thesis. for fifty years, both at home and whose review in the New York Times Roots had another distinction. It abroad. Williams was the first major Book Review hailed Williams as was Williams’s longest and most historian to describe the United scholar not afraid to advance a thesis, fully documented book since States as an exploitative empire that parts of which he found convincing, American-Russian relations. By today’s hid its economic avarice behind a if not the whole. Williams was even standards it is a bit unwieldy and is liberal façade—a thesis that has been called at one point to appear before thus not easily adopted for classroom bolstered and amplified by scholars, the House Un-American Affairs use. Perhaps its size is the reason it pundits, and critics ever since. When Committee, although the subpoena is neglected compared to his other I taught at University College Dublin was rescinded before his scheduled books. Some critics complained that on a Fulbright a few years ago, I appearance. The IRS paid him it was pedantic—a different take found more copies of the Tragedy of attention whenever things got a little entirely from that of the critics who American Diplomacy on the library dull, and he could count on the Post had complained of Tragedy that it shelf than any other monograph in Office to open correspondence every was all speculation and was not the field. Writing in the shadow of now and then, leaving little clues to supported by careful research. McCarthyism, Williams was both show they had been there. Despite these critics and those who brilliant and brave. He was also At this point it should be obvious argued that Tragedy was destined tragically wrong. that I “found” the economics. for oblivion as soon as the Vietnam Williams’s initial popularity With teachers so focused on the War and the crazy 1960s came to an sprang from the congruence of his part that economics played in end, its impact remains as strong as vision with that of the emerging American foreign policy I could ever. The open door thesis is firmly sixties generation. Although he hardly do otherwise. But it would implanted in the literature in myriad was somewhat older than the be a great mistake to conclude that variations developed by a second radicals who became his students, Bill Williams was an economic and third generation of scholars. he shared their shock, anger, and determinist or an orthodox leftist. And with the end of the Cold War, disillusionment that the United Indeed, one of the reasons he the arguments Tragedy began are States was not an exemplar of eventually left Wisconsin was considerably less vehement than was the democratic values for which his dismay at the behavior of originally the case. The questions are it supposedly stood. It tolerated the student left. He once wrote different as well. We no longer ask racial segregation at home and in the student newspaper that “Who started the Cold War?” as often dictatorships abroad. He called the he wondered what they would as we ask “What were the fears and disjuncture between U.S. ideology do next: swallow goldfish? This concerns of policymakers?” and actions “tragic” because he reference to the flaming youth of Over the years my own work has accepted America’s “humanitarian the 1920s did not endear him to focused on the three “I’s” at their impulse” as real, even though he many student leaders of the day. meeting points: Individuals, Ideas saw it as irremediably compromised He found it quieter on the Oregon and Institutions. There is a lot of Bill by the nation’s baser, acquisitive coast, where he felt spiritually at Williams there, but there is also a lot instincts. home. He always associated the East of Fred Harrington and Arno Mayer The organizing principle of Coast with New York provincialism. and a lot of Walt and Tom. Williams’s work was the concept He urged me many times to get Similarly, it would be hard to of open door empire. Although away from the baleful influence of trace all the ripples emanating from he offered no economic data to the metropolis, and could never Tragedy since its publication fifty substantiate his claim, he posited understand why I did not flee from years ago. The latest edition, Norton that every expression of the desire the Schlesingeresque atmosphere of editors inform me, sells around for global trade was evidence that Cold War liberalism. two thousand copies a year. A new American business had sought and Now that the Cold War fur has edition is due out in April, with my achieved worldwide dominance, stopped flying, the impact of Tragedy introduction and an afterword by to the detriment of others. Other is evident wherever one looks. It was Andrew Bacevich. If Bill were still countries were encouraged to followed by even bigger enterprises, here he would raise his eyebrows develop economically but were because, of course, Tragedy was when I told him that news. Then he then arrested at “a point favorable essentially an essay meant to provoke would laugh and shrug it off, as he to American interests.”1 Again and discussion, both in its original form always did when he heard something again in his seminal work, Williams and in all of its later incarnations. that touched upon him personally, cited businessmen and government Succeeding books, The Contours and turn to the next subject, with its officials who proclaimed, like Herbert of American History and The Roots more promising intellectual give- Hoover, that America must ensure of the American Empire, also upset and-take. domestic prosperity by finding “a audiences. The former left liberals profitable market for our surpluses.”2 aghast, as many of the “heroes” in Lloyd Gardner is Professor Emeritus of This vaunted expansion into overseas the book turn out to be conservatives, History at Rutgers University. markets was, by definition, a form particularly of imperialism to Williams. (Today and Herbert Hoover. Roots puzzled The Tragedy of William Appleman we call it globalization.) And any orthodox leftist thinkers because Williams government policy that reduced trade it turned Lenin upside down to barriers or impediments to the free- argue that the main proponents Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman flow of foreign investment betokened of American foreign expansion in exploitation. the late nineteenth century were illiam Appleman Williams Williams particularly targeted the not industrialists but farmers, who was easily the most Open Door Notes issued by Secretary demanded an expansion of the influential scholar of of State John Hay in 1899 and 1900 marketplace and forced their view WAmerican foreign relations in the as prima facie evidence of economic on political leaders. One wonders if second half of the twentieth century. expansionism. Hay’s notes endorsed Turner might not have been more His books traveled the world, and his two basic principles. The first Page 16 Passport September 2009 principle, previously championed time coming. When Europe went policy, found that far from being by Britain, was free trade: all foreign to war in 1914, the American stock captive to American capitalists, merchants had rights equal to one exchange closed for eight months, Chinese consumers exerted a lot of another in trade with (none like a shadow puppet that the light control. Most American businessmen being able to create a monopoly or of the world economy had ceased to passed up open door opportunities closed trading sphere). The second illuminate. because prospects for investment principle was respect for China’s Yet we do not define the nineteenth at home were so good and the territorial sovereignty and opposition century United States as a colony opportunities in China were so to its being colonized by foreign of Britain, which for more than a poor, and the few who did invest governments. In effect, Hay tried to hundred years was the dominant found that to succeed they had to extend to Asia the non-colonization partner in their economic solicit Chinese opinion, use Chinese principle first articulated with regard relationship. The United States, like merchants, cater to Chinese tastes, to Latin America by the Monroe much of Europe, benefited from the and play by Chinese rules.6 Doctrine of 1823. quietude of the Pax Britannica, but it I found similar evidence a number But Williams believed that the was not part of the British Empire. of years ago when studying Open Door Notes had an effect China, similarly, was not a part of American investments in Brazil, that was the polar opposite of what any twentieth century American another lesser-developed country they implied on empire. In per capita where Williams’s thesis led me to paper and were income, it remains expect pushy businessmen itching thus evidence One of the many problems one of the world’s to promote America’s “overseas for America’s with Williams’s model poorer countries, economic expansion.” Coincidentally, underlying of imperialism is that it but its economy Williams cited by name the two duplicity. Free requires only that a scholar has grown by leaps businessmen who became the focus trade between two prove significant disparity and bounds in of my study: Nelson Rockefeller and countries inherently between two countries, and recent decades—in Henry Kaiser. In 1959 Williams noted diminished the resentment of the stronger by the absence of that the history of open door empire sovereignty of the weaker, to show that one any multinational provided “illuminating perspectives” whichever was is abusively colonizing the land war between on then-current newspaper stories less industrially other. industrialized states about the activities of the Rockefeller developed, making since 1945 (the and Kaiser corporations.7 it into a virtual current pax). This But my research showed their colony. “Leaving occurred largely activities to be the exact opposite of aside the question-begging approach because the communist government what Williams’s thesis predicted. which evades the issue by defining of China reversed its earlier The story was much more about empire solely and narrowly in isolationism and reopened the door “pull” than “push.” The Brazilians terms of seventeenth- or nineteenth- to trade as the most expedient route felt they had to “knock on this door century colonialism,” Williams to prosperity. In 1978, Prime Minister until it opens,” soliciting U.S. loans wrote, “when an industrial nation Deng Xiaoping opened four special and investment that could hardly plays . . . a controlling and one-sided economic zones where foreign goods flow south fast enough to meet local role in the development of a weaker and investment were made welcome hopes and needs.8 They passed laws economy, then the policy of the more and thus set the stage for a boom that that defined the terms under which powerful country can with accuracy transformed the country in three outsiders could participate in the and candor only be described as decades. Deng Xiaoping resurrected Brazilian marketplace and at the imperial.”3 what he called the open door same time assiduously wooed foreign Williams’s bold but policy not because any other nation involvement. American corporations, unsubstantiated assertion assumed forced him to accept what Williams I found, were sometimes far more that any relationship that is unequal unfailingly called “the American solicitous of local sensitivities and is also exploitative. However, the system,” but because he saw the concerns than the U.S. government. historical experience of both the spectacular economic progress of the Brazil’s story made me wonder: if the United States and China shows other Asian tigers.5 In fact, China’s very examples that Williams plucked that this assumption is completely experience showed that a country out of the air to prove his point were false. In the nineteenth century, could benefit from freer trade from a in fact quite inapt, what did that say the United States was a developing position of relative weakness, not just about the rest of his evidence? country that depended heavily on strength. When I first read William Appleman foreign investors to underwrite its One of the many problems with Williams as an undergraduate in the development and buy its goods. Williams’s model of imperialism is 1970s, I resided in a radical feminist As Walter Russell Mead shows in that it requires only that a scholar collective founded upon socialist Providential Nation, Americans felt prove significant disparity between principles of equal income and their subservience to outsiders two countries, and resentment of the shared work, and I was subsequently keenly: they resented the power stronger by the weaker, to show that fortunate to live there for more of foreign bankers whose money one is abusively colonizing the other. than twenty years. His book was dug canals and built railroads and Yet by these criteria, we would have inspiring and reassuring since it the foreign markets upon which to call even the nineteenth-century showed that even within academia farmers depended at their peril for United States a colony of Britain, and there were individuals willing to a livelihood. In the late nineteenth today’s communist China a colony of challenge received wisdom and century, twelve states restricted the United States, even though such speak the truth about America’s foreign ownership of land, and in definitions flout common sense. oppressive, hypocritical relationship 1884 Banker’s Magazine of New York Williams further compounded to the Third World. I also found it foretold a day “when the United his error by failing to look at exactly a bit tame, however, since Williams States shall cease to be an exploiting how investment operates on the stopped short of a Marxist analysis ground for European bankers and ground. Michael Hunt, for example, of capitalism, saying that Americans money lenders.”4 That day was a long who closely examined the open door “thought” they needed to expand Passport September 2009 Page 17 economically, not that the capitalist proved that people at all educational 9. Williams, 21. system required such expansion, as levels tend to remember dramatic 10. Victoria DeGrazia’s recent research Lenin argued.9 information about danger and on the activities of the Rockefeller- Today, Williams still seems tame, risk much better than mundane owned International Basic Economy but for a different reason: his thesis information. Most people then over- Corporation in Italy shows similarly has become received wisdom. As rely upon this information regardless that the Rockefeller affiliate there such, it should be challenged. In the of whether it is representative decreased food costs for all Italians years following the 1959 publication of reality.12 Sensational, thinly and eventually became Italian-owned. of Tragedy, numerous historians documented accusations of American DeGrazia, Irresistible Empire: America’s elaborated upon Williams’s thesis, to imperialism are thus likely to be Advance through Twentieth-Century Europe the point where it has become more remembered and relied upon. When (Cambridge, MA, 2005), 376-415. controversial (and professionally a word is both memorable and 11. Mark Bowden, Guests of the Ayatollah: riskier) to praise America than inaccurate, it is doubly dangerous. The First Battle in America’s War with Islam to disparage it. The evidence for Williams made an effort to balance (New York, 2006), 69, 159-160, 173, 183. good works is often held to a his denunciations of American 12. Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, higher standard than allegations of foreign policy with the recognition “Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics wrongdoing, and even then such that some of its actions, particularly and Biases,” Science 185, no. 4157: 1127. evidence is sometimes received as the and other foreign The authors note, rather wryly, that the exception that proves the rule. aid efforts, “literally made the “it is a common experience that the (“I must admit I’m disappointed,” difference between life and death subjective probability of traffic accidents a colleague once commented when to hundreds of thousands of people rises temporarily when one sees a car I told him I had found that the throughout the world.”13 But the overturned by the side of the road.” Rockefeller and Kaiser enterprises, positive achievements of U.S. 13. Williams, 292. despite mixed results, overall foreign policy are not what Williams proved very useful to Brazilian emphasized, and these are not the development).10 words for which he is remembered. Tragedy, Revisited . . . Again But these are mere scholarly Like much of the literature of the squabbles. Much more important late 1950 and the 1960s, Tragedy Ryan Irwin is that bastardized versions of crystallized the growing sentiment Williams’s sweeping generalizations that, as John F. Kennedy said, “we ]ust as there can be no explanation in have burrowed deep into the can do better.” It spurred Americans history without a story, so too there can popular psyche. It is essential that to think more deeply and critically be no story without a plot by which to we recognize historical mistakes, but about their effect upon the world. make of it a story of a particular kind. students are sometimes surprised But Williams’s book is as useful a to discover that not all (or even barometer of present reality as The —Hayden White1 most) of what goes wrong can be Feminine Mystique or the Electric Kool- laid at America’s doorstep. (Unless Aid Acid Test. Its day has come and As a historian, Williams wished for one believes that the United States gone. an America whose ideals, as he under- somehow “runs” the 192 countries stood them, were never compromised of the world, how could it be?) These Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman is the Dwight by the behavior of the leadership. He students are not the complacent true E. Stanford Chair in U.S. Foreign never seems to have sensed that if he believers in American righteousness Relations at San Diego State University. were cogent in his exploration of the whom Williams sought to awaken motivating forces in the history of the in the 1950s, but rather a generation Notes: republic, there was something foolish raised on movies in which CIA 1. William Appleman Williams, The or perverse in his exhortations for officials have replaced Nazis Tragedy of American Diplomacy, 2nd ed. Americans to take a different path. and black-hat gunslingers as the (New York, 1962), 61. prototypical bad guys. 2. Williams, 123. —Bruce Kuklick2 Williams’ Manichean mythology 3. Williams, 47, 60. does not affect only American 4. Quoted in Walter Russell Mead, Special eing asked to say something students. As Mark Bowden’s book Providence: American Foreign Policy and original about an academic icon on the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis How It Changed the World (London, 2002), is never easy, especially when showed, the chief interrogator of the 16. you’reB the scholarly equivalent of a imprisoned diplomats studied at U.C. 5. “Open Door Policy,” BBC News, peon. To be honest, I have a hard time Berkeley, where he first encountered http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/ even imagining what a conversation the homegrown rhetoric that in_depth/china_politics/key_people_ between William Appleman denounced the United States as racist, events/html/8.stm, accessed 24 January Williams and me would look like. tyrannical, and “world-devouring.”11 2009. I would probably begin with some Historical arguments meant to rouse 6. Michael Hunt, The Making of a Special painfully awkward self-introduction, social consciousness at home can Relationship: The United States and China like “Hello, Professor Williams, my have dire consequences abroad. to 1914 (New York, 1983), 284-285. I found name is Ryan. I’m, umm, I’m an Businessmen, medical personnel, evidence of a similar nature in my earlier historian too.” It would be one of soldiers, diplomats, tourists, and research on U.S. businesses in Latin those halting exchanges that demand journalists have been imprisoned, America. See Elizabeth A. Cobbs, “U.S. long, embarrassing pauses, and a held hostage, tortured, shot, and Business: Self-Interest and Neutrality,” follow-up like “Can I call you Bill?” even beheaded because irate foreign in Abraham F. Lowenthal, ed., Exporting In all candor, I have no idea what citizens believed these Americans Democracy: The United States and Latin Professor Williams was like in real were part of an imperialist vanguard. America (Baltimore, 1991). life, but I can visualize only one The work of the ivory tower can have 7. Williams, 60. response. He would look at me dead tragic repercussions in the street. 8. Elizabeth A. Cobbs, The Rich Neighbor in the eyes with a pipe in his teeth or In the 1970s, psychologists Daniel Policy: Rockefeller and Kaiser in Brazil (New a cigarette dangling from his lips—I Kahneman and Amos Tversky Haven, 1992), 65. don’t know if he actually smoked, Page 18 Passport September 2009 but he would do this for several, so unequivocal in a seminar paper oranges—you look at government very dramatic moments—before today I would probably get a big elites, I look at Mexican farmers— responding finally, “No, no you may fat question mark in the margins, historiography is a fruit basket. The not. And Ryan . . . You’re not as good followed by an exclamation like oranges don’t technically have more as you think you are.” “evidence!” or “historiography!” intrinsic value than the apples. Perhaps my introduction would The profession Anyway, that’s get better with practice, but I’d like has changed. swing numero to think the response would remain People make uno. My second the same. The words just jump out this observation William Appleman Williams— argument, I whenever I hear his name. William all the time, but this towering, semi-mythical suppose, takes this Appleman Williams—this towering, Williams was a intellectual with a singular point into the deep semi-mythical intellectual with a Richard Hofstadter- message: “America, you end of the pool. singular message: “America, you type historian; may think that you’re a big Stated plainly, and a may think that you’re a big deal, he talked not just deal, that you’re a beneficent little bit tentatively, that you’re a beneficent and noble to the historical and noble superpower, but The Tragedy of superpower, but in real life, the place profession but to in real life, the place where American Diplomacy where economics matter and politics America as a whole. economics matter and politics is wrong. I would are nasty, your leaders are just like His ideas were are nasty, your leaders are just love to pitch this everybody else—and by everybody big and clean and like everybody else—and by as some sort of else I’m talking about Europe.” provocative, and everybody else I’m talking generationally Admittedly, the thesis doesn’t pack they were meant about Europe.” hip post-9/11 as much raw emotional power as both to persuade statement, but it probably did in the early sixties, us to change our when I explained but it still works. It taps into some views about our my thinking underlying, semi-universal truth past and adjust our attitudes about to my friends they all said I was about life—the idea that the stories our present. They hearken, ultimately, wrong. So maybe I’ll step back from we tell ourselves about ourselves back to a time when historians could the statement a little (wrong, after just aren’t true. And what makes call their country “her” and have all, turns out to be the rhetorical Williams’s version of this argument their peers—who happened to all be equivalent of a slap in the face), all the more powerful, in my opinion, white Anglo-Saxon Protestant men— and say instead that if you take is that he then couples it with a say something other than “Man, that sociologist Karl Mannheim even a rejoinder that suggests, in essence, guy’s a misogynistic meta-jerk.” little bit seriously—accepting his that if we wanted to, if we just tried On the other hand—or maybe on notion that modern societies can hard enough, we could in fact be the flip side of the same hand—it’s be ideologically grouped in terms our imagined versions of ourselves. hard to miss the fact that The of anarchism, conservativism, The only thing stopping us is the Tragedy of American Diplomacy liberalism, and radicalism—then ridiculous, unfounded notion that has no footnotes. It is probably Williams’s work fits too cleanly into market expansion will solve all our not a mistake that people—and one category. He’s a semi-romantic problems. It’s just plain tragic. here I am admittedly thinking of radical’s radical (using Mannheim’s This essay is supposed to provide myself—typically reference Walter epistemological definitions, of a “graduate student perspective” on LaFeber, Lloyd Gardner, and course). Therefore, if you argue that The Tragedy of American Diplomacy, Thomas McCormick when they Williams’s diagnosis was an accurate celebrating the book’s fiftieth want to discuss revisionism as a reflection of the historical record, anniversary while commenting on school of thought. Would William that America was, in fact, driven by its relevance to the contemporary Appleman Williams be William economic impulses that prevented field. In other words, I should try Appleman Williams without the it from being “good,” then you have to say something that can pass for scholars who came after him (and essentially elevated one particular semi-intelligent, generationally aware provided the evidence-based case ideological roadmap to an objective commentary on this very famous studies that gave his argument reality. Use whatever terminology thesis. I will take two swings and such lasting interpretive power)? I you prefer—lumping, directional pass the bat feebly to my neighbor. have no idea, but I don’t think it’s theorizing, mechanical plotting, First, The Tragedy of American an exaggeration to say that much of synthetic thinking, or just plain Diplomacy is unusual by today’s the work since Tragedy—or at least old-fashioned storytelling—but, standards. The book reads more like during that period between the like the work of most of the great a philosophical statement on America sixties and early nineties—was a fight philosopher-historians, Williams’s than a traditional monograph of U.S. over Williams’s footnotes. And the analysis doesn’t jibe well with foreign relations history. On the one opposition admittedly landed some the teachings of our postmodern hand, it is confident in a way that solid punches. For instance, can you era. I don’t mean to deny the historians aren’t really allowed to really put Tragedy next to Melvyn argumentative beauty of The Tragedy be anymore. Just look at the chapter Leffler’s A Preponderance of Power and of American Diplomacy or conflate a titles: “Imperial Anticolonialism,” walk away thinking that Williams term like “wrong” with “bad.” But “The Imperialism of Idealism” nailed the “origins” debate? Many of the book has ideological blinders. It and “The Impotence of Nuclear the arguments of the post-Tragedy wants to change the world—it wants Supremacy.” I won’t throw anyone era—call them post-revisionist or a better America. in particular under the bus here, but liberal realist or neo-strategicalist So what’s wrong with that? I will say that I certainly don’t have or whatever you want—resound Depending on your age and/or that type of rhetorical creativity. because they capture something political proclivities, nothing and Then there is the prose. “If it could about the archival materials everything, I suppose. What would be done, [Wilson] was confident that historians find when they visit happen if the United States did American economic power could take College Park and other government isolate itself from the world and care of the United States—and the archives. Even if we are ultimately repent for the sins of the open door world” (91). If I tried to say something talking about interpretive apples and philosophy? Would the world be a Passport September 2009 Page 19 better place? Would America be a of the beholder. Then I suppose I’d the war’s full meaning for Americans better place? I imagine half of us snap back to reality. Because the next as well as Vietnamese—turning would say “Heck, yeah!” and the part—where I would run as fast as I coldly against the conflict. Nor was other half “Hell no!” and the point could out of the room, watching my he searching for any vital center here isn’t so much that there is a tenureless career crash down on my when in later editions he dissected right or wrong answer but that the heels—wouldn’t be pretty. the American involvement with the answer itself says as much about you Vietnam struggle and the 1959 Cuban and me—where we grew up, what Ryan Irwin is a Ph.D. candidate at Ohio Revolution. we believe, and how we think about State University. He is currently a pre- These two U.S. defeats, and our country—as it does America. You doctoral fellow at Yale University. the American response to them, could ground this statement in all began a long series of setbacks sorts of different scholarships, but it that marked the beginning of the will always come back to the same Notes: end of Henry Luce’s short-lived point. The world is interconnected 1. Bruce Kuklick, “William Appleman American Century: Chile, Iran, the in strange, multi-directional, and Williams and His Interpreters,” Central American revolutions and unexpected ways, with nation-states Diplomatic History 21 (4): 666. their extended aftereffects, Somalia, functioning as merely one entity 2. I say this, of course, knowing full Haiti, the failure of Latin American in a sea of overlapping, conflicting well that William Appleman Williams democratic experiments, Iraq, interests, and elite behavior, along was responsible for the authorship of Central Asia, Georgia, the Ukraine, with the imperatives that shape more than just The Tragedy of American and a U.S.–shaped and dominated that behavior, looks a lot different Diplomacy and that many of these international economy whose when you are in the White House other works had copious footnotes and downturn in 2009 was compared than when you are on the sidelines abundant archival evidence. Think of to that of the 1929 crash in both the of a pleasant academic town like this observation as more a metaphorical global extent of the devastation and Madison, Wisconsin. It would be so rumination than a literal statement. the effects on Americans themselves. easy, for instance, if we could say, The collapse of the Soviet Union in with a straight face, that the current The Tragedy of American 1991 had marked a high point of global financial meltdown is the Diplomacy: Then and Now U.S. policy. But it was a high point result of the dynamics unveiled that soon turned into something in Williams’s Tragedy. But on some Walter LaFeber quite different than the victors level we all know better. I sat had initially assumed, just as the through a lecture recently where the arl Becker’s declaration supposed “end of history” in 1989 speaker—Paul Solman from PBS’s that it is the responsibility turned into disasters which were in “NewsHour”—started asking the of the historian “to think reality deeply rooted in a history that audience to recall their mindsets as Cotherwise” anticipated the debate, inexorably continued to work its way their home values skyrocketed in the indeed the furor, detonated by through the final stages of the so- early 2000s, and this little old lady, Williams Appleman Williams in called American Century. an archetypical grandmother, raised 1959 and still exploding today. When Tragedy spoke to these dilemmas The Tragedy of her hand right at the most dramatic Williams published because its approach diametrically American Diplomacy 50 years ago, the opposed the believers in the “end of moment of the discussion and stated intellectual consensus was clustered history” or ’s with the matter-of-fact sincerity around “the vital center,” as Arthur unipolar world model. For Williams, that stays with you late at night, “I Schlesinger Jr. had defined (and the tragedy had deep roots in a wanted more.” My point is this: there embodied) it. The supposed right, history that had never ended because are no grandmothers in Williams’s whether Eisenhower conservatives Americans refused to examine America. Only tragic leaders who or McCarthyite witch-hunters, critically the major historical make tragic decisions. was declining, while left-of-center assumptions of their foreign policies. Which takes this story back to critiques were beginning to emerge To carry out that examination, they my initial, imagined exchange with in scholarship exemplified by the first needed to know their own Professor Williams. For I suppose if works of C. Wright Mills. Williams’s history and how to critique it. In the I were a bolder version of myself— book galvanized 1950s, as in someone more ensconced in the and shaped 2001-2004, most particularities of my millennial those critiques For Williams, the tragedy had deep Americans, generation—the conversation as the Vietnam especially wouldn’t end with me sulking over roots in a history that had never War era took ended because Americans refused to newspaper my own inadequacies. I would wait, hold. examine critically the major historical and academic like some academic version of John Tragedy assumptions of their foreign policies. pundits, proved Cusack’s character in the movie High provided that To carry out that examination, they to be singularly Fidelity, until my version of Professor most important first needed to know their own unequipped Williams turned to walk away, and ingredient history and how to critique it. to carry out I would mutter just loud enough for for any such criticism. him to actually hear me and with understanding Williams that Jon Stewartesque intonation of and possible helped prepare that manages to be ironical, self- prescription for the foreign others in the generations of the 1960s, deprecating, and self-aware all at the policy tragedies that shaped the 1970s, and beyond to do so. same time, “Well, Professor, maybe generation and more after the The tragedy, he argued, had you’re right, but you’re not as good as book’s publication. Unlike many begun in the 1890s, if not before. you think you are either. None of us other intellectuals and politicians (In later work, such as The Contours are.” And I’ll mean it, not in a snarky, of the time, Williams provided this of American History, Williams mean-spirited sort of way but in the understanding not by hotly favoring, located origins of the tragedy philosophically honest way. Because then—when finally comprehending several centuries earlier.) Directly all tragedies, ultimately, lie in the eye Page 20 Passport September 2009 challenging Samuel Flagg Bemis’s economic power relationship had twentieth century, armed opposition, popular thesis that the American become quite different. even revolution, erupted in Mexico, imperialism of the 1898 to 1913 Williams’s open door idea, Russia, and China to oppose both era was an “aberration” in the resembling the globalization process, the existing order and the American nation’s expansionism, Williams linked continents. Tragedy was one of economic and military quest for that demonstrated that the era was the earliest accounts that understood stable, informal empire, Wilson and instead a seedbed from which that the United States could many of his successors followed emerged the full-blown policies of undertake its first major military McKinley’s example in 1898-1900 Woodrow Wilson and Cold War intervention in Asia (landing U.S. of responding with even greater officials. troops in China in 1900), because military force. Neoconservatives Tragedy thus radically turned the McKinley had earlier used events on read the history, but they never prism through which twentieth- the other side of the world in Cuba understood the Tragedy. century U.S. power was viewed by to rationalize and make possible Williams’s use of global open door demonstrating that American entry this historic intervention. These and economic expansion destroyed the into the 1898 war was caused not by other policies justified by the open long-held consensus, summarized yellow journalism, or some deluded door doctrine, Williams believed, had neatly in leading classroom texts, that public opinion peculiar to the era, indeed been expressly—and quite the 1920s were instructive primarily but by top officials, skillfully led mistakenly —conceived in order because the decade illustrated the by President William McKinley, to win commercial prizes without many dead ends of “isolationism.” whose foreign policies were part of having to fight wars. Such a policy, His analysis of America’s global an ongoing historical continuum; again resembling globalization, economic involvement, and the that the pro-revolutionary position aimed in Tragedy’s view to rework accompanying political challenges, of 1776 for which Americans the political economics of the poorer made it impossible for any serious long after applauded themselves third-world nations into policies that observer to identify such policy as had turned by 1898 into a direct fit the worldview of Americans. isolationist. In reframing the years attack on Cuban revolutionaries Some leading neoconservatives in during and after World War I, Tragedy and thus set the precedent for the the post-9/11 era had read Williams. raised fundamental questions about anti-revolutionary policies that They believed that the central the contradictions in American propelled U.S. policies through the problem in U.S. foreign policy was economic expansion that led to next century; and that these driving not open door/globalization tactics; the post-1929 crisis, a crisis that forces behind Washington’s policies these had simply become internalized forced Herbert Hoover, Stimson, could be identified by an open door in an American consensus which and Franklin D. Roosevelt to come policy rubric that indeed opened either understood little history or to terms with a conclusion that the possibility of justifying nothing believed it could escape from – or, later U.S. observers, including the less than global expansionism of better yet, reshape -- its own history. neoconservatives, gladly embraced: American-style capitalism and By definition, this consensus did open door globalization can lead democracy (or self-determination, not lack journalists or historians to the necessity of protecting it as it was often termed in Tragedy). who happily reshaped the history to with a globalized military force. Such justification continued even if, justify the Bush policies of 2003, just Williams’s fresh approach to the as frequently occurred, it became as many historians of the so-called 1920s was followed, and sometimes necessary to use military force to age of consensus in the 1950s wrote challenged, in the 1980s by a group advance the open door doctrine that history to justify Eisenhower-Dulles- of historians that included Frank was not supposed to require force— Kennedy policies. The problem, as Costigliola, Melvyn Leffler, Joan indeed, Secretaries of State John Hay the neoconservatives saw it in 2001 Hoff, and Michael Hogan. They and Henry Stimson, among others, and after, was that Americans did not further solidified our understanding argued that the doctrine should sufficiently understand that military of a key decade that now linked, not obviate the need for military force. commitments (often unilateral temporarily severed, fundamental Williams’s use of post-1890s U.S. military commitments) policies running from McKinley history prepared us to understand were necessary to carry out the and Wilson to the Cold War—and globalization, that post-1960s consensus’s objectives because beyond. updating of the open door policy there were communities—whether Summarizing in Tragedy how which was defined and led by for economic, religious, or other this historical legacy played out the United States. Frederick historical reasons—that bitterly in the 1940s and 1950s, Williams Jackson Turner’s highly influential opposed U.S.–style globalization eerily anticipated post-1989 U.S. frontier thesis of 1893 provided and hegemony. By examining policies and problems: “From the the worldview that was pivotal to Washington’s interventions in Latin very beginning . . . many American Tragedy’s argument in this regard. America from the 1890s to the 1930s leaders stressed the desirability and Globalization resembled Turner’s on behalf of a Monroe Doctrine that possibility of making the countries frontier in that it became both an had shifted with rapidly growing of eastern Europe ‘independent opportunity and an escape—an American commercial and financial of Soviet control’. . . . Hardly any opportunity for fresh, cheaper land exports from an anti-intervention American leader failed to contribute or labor and an escape from market policy in 1823 to an interventionist his insights to the ‘cheerful gluts and labor/wage pressures. Just tool by 1905, and especially by discussion of how America ought, as Washington officials had trouble, noting in detail how Woodrow and ought not, to try to remake even wars, with Native Americans, Wilson became the most important Russia’. . . . All agreed on the morality Mexicans, and Chinese within the formulator and advocate of a refined and practicality of the objective.” framework of Turner’s frontier of the open door policy that became the The Tragedy of American Diplomacy late nineteenth and early twentieth American version of informal empire, recast the writing of post-1890s centuries, they encountered similar Williams drew up essential historical U.S. foreign policy history. It did so problems with, among others, background for understanding the because the book defined and issued Chinese, Indians, and Southeast opposition to U.S.-style globalization. warnings about the central ideas, the Asians a century later, although the When in the first decades of the unexamined, parochial assumptions, Passport September 2009 Page 21 that haunted and undermined anti-revolutionary imperialism at the universalizing it and making the American diplomacy not only core of Wilsonian internationalism; world safe for it; to provide the between the 1890s and the 1960s, but stood conventional treatment markets and profits for American long after Williams published his on its head with “The Legend of surplus capital and goods and thus own final edition of the book in 1972. Isolationism in the 1920s”; presaged prevent free market capitalism from his later work devolving into Walter LaFeber is the Andrew and on liberal more statist or James Tisch University Professor corporatism by even socialist Emeritus at , and, stressing the Central to this open door forms; and to when in graduate school at the University continuities paradigm was the notion that provide the sense of Wisconsin, was a teaching assistant between continuity and consensus in of national pride in William Appleman Williams’s U.S. Herbert Hoover American foreign policy were, and power that foreign policy lecture course. and Franklin over time, more important and would subsume Roosevelt; more revealing than oscillating domestic challenged the shifts in opinion and tactics. differences of usefulness of Williams challenged the class and region. Fifty Years On: A Paradigm Shift? the idealism- field’s tendency to organize its For Williams, realism typology explanatory typologies around expansionism Thomas McCormick in attacks on the polar-opposite dyads, engaged often became “Mr. X” article” in an endless, pendulum- synonymous hree years after William A. (which he dubbed shifting struggle to shape the with empire. Williams published The Tragedy “The Sophistry character of U.S. foreign policy: While the old of American Diplomacy, Thomas of Super- isolationism and internationalism, paradigm defined Kuhn’sT classic study, The Structure Realism”); paid unilateralism and multilateralism, empire narrowly of Scientific Revolutions, introduced his intellectual realism and idealism, dogmatism as formal the term “paradigm shift,” a three- debts to Charles and pragmatism, Jacksonianism colonialism, stage process by which conventional A. Beard, whom and Wilsonianism. Williams wisdom is altered and replaced. First, he characterized broadened it in individual scholars identify so many affectionately his notion of errors or anomalies in orthodox as a “Tory-Radical”; and offered a open door imperialism--what British analysis that the exceptions no longer preview of his open door paradigm scholars called “the imperialism prove the rule. Second, the ensuing in “The Frontier Thesis and of free trade” or “imperialism on crisis provokes an outpouring of American Foreign Policy.” Almost the cheap.” Limited and short-lived new interpretations that engage in every piece was provocative or even by orthodox standards, America’s intellectual warfare, battling with combative, and often butted heads empire was large and long-lived staunch defenders of the old order. with heavyweights like Arthur by Williams’s since it also included Third, after a protracted period S. Schlesinger, Jr., and George F. an informal empire of economic characterized by back-and-forth Kennan. dominion (e.g., pre-revolutionary shifts in the balance of power, a Stage Two: Williams articulated a Mexico) and a semiformal empire of consensus on a new explanatory full-blown alternative paradigm in military-financial protectorates (e.g., model solidifies. Voila! A paradigm Tragedy in 1959 and in The Contours Cuba under the Platt Amendment). shift! While truly applicable only to of American History two years later. Informal empire (the open door) was the natural sciences, Kuhn’s three- Its main thesis bears repeating-- that always the preferred model, but more stage process is, in a rough-hewn American leaders had always viewed formal means of control would be way, a fair description of Williams’s expanding (and thus diffusing) used when circumstances dictated. impact on the profession: 1) exposed political space as the best way to Also central to this open door anomalies and exceptions; 2) preserve democracy; had looked at paradigm was the notion that presented an alternative overview; expanding economic space as the continuity and consensus in and 3) engaged in a long struggle best way to grow and develop a American foreign policy were, over to establish a new paradigm—one sustainable economy; and had seen time, more important and more that was to enjoy initial gains, later expanding geographic space as the revealing than oscillating shifts losses and now a renewed chance at best way to blunt internal conflicts in opinion and tactics. Williams paradigmatic dominance. like sectionalism. In that last sense, challenged the field’s tendency to Stage One: During the seven- expansion and territorial acquisition organize its explanatory typologies year run-up to Tragedy’s appearance had always been a way to “export around polar-opposite dyads, in 1959, Williams had established the social question.” In the late engaged in an endless, pendulum- himself as the enfant terrible of the nineteenth century, however, radical shifting struggle to shape the profession-- “a kind of Socrates as circumstances changed the process character of U.S. foreign policy: socialist who habitually got up on of expansion. First, the nature of the isolationism and internationalism, the wrong side of the bed.” He had social question itself mutated with unilateralism and multilateralism, already published his dissertation on the emergence of a new, industrial realism and idealism, dogmatism Russian-American relations, followed America that fueled agrarian and and pragmatism, Jacksonianism and by twenty-four articles and a half- working-class upheaval. Second, Wilsonianism. He saw these concepts dozen book review essays. Some America’s closing frontier could no as too vague and vacuous to have any were in radical publications like longer serve its historic purpose of real utility for sophisticated analysis; The Nation, Science and Society and providing lebensraum for democracy, instead, they were merely rhetorical Monthly Review; others were in peer- free enterprise and nationalism. As pegs, many political science imports, reviewed journals like the American a consequence, expansion and (if on which to hang our stories. They Historical Review, the Pacific Historical need be) overseas empire became a over-emphasized shifts in tactics Review, the New England Quarterly logical means of providing a new while fudging the continuity of and the William and Mary Quarterly. frontier to meet those needs—to strategy and ends. Moreover, In these articles he highlighted the sustain American democracy by they exaggerated the differences Page 22 Passport September 2009 generated by changes in presidential cultural histories. First, Williams’s preemptive war and presidential personalities and political parties. work appeared to lack a proper doctrines rather than the continuity And finally, the open door thesis radical emphasis on class and of open door goals. Nonetheless, stopped well short of economic class consciousness or a sufficient these rhetorical concessions tend to determinism. While Williams saw acknowledgement of agency by non- highlight some of the weaknesses human thought as largely the result elites both in America and in the inherent in the older paradigm. of its social and economic context, Third World. Second, like the whole Finally, the Williams paradigm has he believed that the consequent field of diplomatic history, it seemed been able to offer a more plausible worldviews (Weltanschauungs) could top-down, elitist history of white men narrative than others for post-Cold be transcended by reason and free with power, making its relevance War developments. In particular, it will and altered by rational dialogue, ideologically suspect. was able to answer two questions by dint of ideas rubbing up against If Williams’s paradigm of open rarely answered well by other contrary ideas. While empire door imperialism and long-term interpretations. First, why did policy might have been “a way of life” for continuity was ahead of its time in after the Cold War change so little, Americans, they could be persuaded the 1960s, there are some reasons to if at all, from policy during the Cold to make a quite different choice; and suspect that its time is now at hand. War? By any measure, there seemed the essence of America’s “tragedy” First, the paradigm has addressed to be little difference between the was that they had not done so some of its own shortcomings. It two in military spending and the Stage Three, a protracted period has been leavened and deepened by use of force, in NATO’s expansion of competing paradigms, has waxed cultural and social historians who, and employment “out of theater,” in and waned for the half century since in making their own research focus the rigid rules of the international Tragedy’s publication. It remains to far more international in scope, economic game (“the Washington be seen if an end game is at hand. In have often discovered compatibility Consensus”), and in hostility to the the 1960s and early between their emergence of even regional powers, 1970s, the Williams work and much less global ones. None of that paradigm was Tragedy certainly has the power Williams’s would have surprised Williams, an idea before its to sweep up the reader in a constructs. because he always viewed the Cold time. To be sure, powerful tide of indignation Likewise, its War as a subset of a larger project: Tragedy was a cult over the mistakes that were partial integration that of using American hegemony to book for antiwar made in American foreign policy with world promote what has come to be called protestors in the since the 1890s. But, as I read it, systems theory globalization; to rescue the world Vietnam War era; I was also swept up in a fit of has tended to from the economic and political many of Williams’s methodological and linguistic broaden its nationalism that had produced the students enjoyed indignation because Williams American- Great Depression and World War II; academic tells us that mistakes were made, centered focus and to reprise Britain’s role from the success; and the but he doesn’t really tell us who to encompass a mid-nineteenth century during the Wisconsin School made them or what, if any, steps wider and more world’s first round of globalization. of Diplomatic an individual reader might take comparative Ironically, the Cold War was a History was a toward correcting them. range. It has godsend to that hegemonic project, frequent focus taken some of since providing security against an of professional the edge off the external enemy was a crucial lever discourse. And sense of American in maintaining allies’ deference to even as late as 1980, Williams exceptionalism; it has refined it, especially that of Europe and himself acquired a measure of the use of the term “empire” by Japan. But when the Cold War ended, legitimacy with his election as distinguishing between it and America’s project remained ever president of the OAH. Well before hegemony; and it has augmented constant; and so did the policies that then, however, a concerted, critical the stress on leadership worldviews served it. reaction had commenced. While with more attention to systems and Second, why did that hegemonic a few polemical critics questioned structures. project fall apart when America Williams’s accuracy, if not his Second, orthodoxy has lost much seemed at the height of its power? honesty, the more substantive, on of its own coherence by being forced Why did the “unipolar moment” both the right and the left, offered to concede too much rhetorical real turn out to be little more than that serious, intellectual challenges. estate to the Williams paradigm. For in historical time—a moment only? On one hand, the Thermidorian example, it has accepted “empire” One could infer three answers reaction reaffirmed the validity of as a legitimate description of U.S. from Williams’s paradigm. In the the orthodox paradigm with great foreign policy—moreover, an short term, hegemony itself was far vigor and success. To be sure, it did empire by unilateral choice rather harder to sustain after the Cold War re-brand itself (e.g., post-revisionism) than “by invitation.” Similarly, it than during it. No longer needing and it did make economic factors has acknowledged considerable American protection against the part of its narrative, though a rather continuity and consensus in that communist threat, America’s allies perfunctory, marginalized part. At policy—coupling even the likes of and its client-states were far freer to heart, however, it was a reworking John Quincy Adams and George W. follow their own national interests of an older paradigm. On the other Bush. To be sure, the concessions and to resist American initiatives hand, Williams’s standing may are only skin-deep! The structural when the two were at odds. In have suffered less from orthodox imperatives of empire that flow the medium term, the Williams counterattack than it did from from the U.S. political economy school had seen Pax Americana relative neglect in the post-Vietnam are still not appreciated and thus in slow, halting decline since the decades by the academic left. That grossly understudied—even as 1970s era of détente, stagflation and distancing reflected two related the global financial architecture Bretton Woods collapse. And while concerns, both reflecting the left’s reels in disarray. And discussion military Keynesianism and business drift into identity politics and its of continuity is largely limited to deregulation had re-energized it attraction to the new social and issues of tactics like unilateralism, in the 1980s and 1990s, its material Passport September 2009 Page 23 underpinnings were hollowed out Thomas McCormick is Professor generalizations. by deindustrialization, increased Emeritus of History at the University of Two quite different introductions income inequality and stagnant Wisconsin-Madison. appeared in the two editions on my public investment in infrastructure. shelf. In 1959 Williams’s introduction Reaganomics-Rubinomics was itself The Fiftieth Anniversary of The reflected the Soviet-American a kind of bubble, sustainable only by Tragedy of American Diplomacy relationship and the launching of the a succession of bubbles in emerging first Russian satellite. He justified his markets, technology and housing. Anna K. Nelson re-examination of American foreign Finally, Williams always believed policy by quoting mainstream that in the long term “the chickens t is hard to remember the level figures such as Arthur Krock, Senator would come home to roost” for of controversy that followed J. William Fulbright, and Walter America’s open door imperium the publication of The Tragedy of Lippmann, all of whom urged such when it reached its planetary AmericanI Diplomacy and the number a review, and he noted that to make limits—the final Last Frontier. Much of diplomatic historians who rejected such a re-examination required a influenced by Karl Polanyi’s The it out of hand. My major professor fresh look at the history of the United Great Transformation, he had already in graduate school was a Bemis States. Tragedy was the result. learned two lessons from the first man. To him, William’s views were On page three of the 1959 wave of globalization under the aegis apostasy. Eleven years after Tragedy introduction, Williams set forth of the British. First, globalization was published, I carefully avoided his thesis. Americans, he wrote, always reaches limits and has to reading it, even though it was on are guided by “three conceptions.” retrench. It produces a backlash from my book shelf and I knew the gist First, they have a “warm, generous, cultures and religions undermined of its contents. It was important that humanitarian” impulse to help by secular modernization. It no residue from Williams enter my other people solve their problems. produces anger at the free movement graduate exams. When I completed Second, they support the “principle of capital, characteristic of late the exams, I sat down to read The of self-determination” that gives globalization, because it is always Tragedy of American Diplomacy. societies the right to their own goals. more volatile than free trade, forever Williams continued to be However, the third component of the moving hither and yon, in and out, controversial, of course. At least American vision is a belief that other in search of profit maximization. one eminent Ivy League historian societies can only improve their lives It ultimately produces a structural resigned from the Organization of if they follow the American way. problem of global glut as worldwide American Historians when Williams There is an obvious conflict among income redistribution upward places became president. Another currently these components, he continued, and limits on consumption and forces therein lies the tragedy of American tends to use Williams as a foil to 2 capital away from production and prove his own arguments. Most diplomacy. into exotic speculation to sustain critics, however, content themselves The 1972 edition did not discuss profits. with challenging his views in their these “three conceptions” until Second, globalization’s books, essays and lectures. If nothing page thirteen. Instead, his 16 retrenchment is both the cause else, Williams has enlivened debates pages of introduction focused and consequence of the hegemon’s for fifty years. on U.S. relations with Cuba., His decline. No longer able to enforce Meanwhile, Tragedy has stood the words had a sharper edge. He the rules of the global game, it test of time. Even those who refute still mentioned Krock, Lippman increasingly breaks its own rules in its thesis acknowledge Williams’s and other moderates, but he had an effort to hang onto its primacy. impact upon our discipline. Except traveled far from their moderate And the costs of that heterodoxy are for a few hold-outs, it is required world, and he no longer had to quote not merely material, but moral and reading for graduate students, part others as he argued for a change in psychic as well. For example, Britain’s of the “canon,” and a continuing foreign policy. American relations inability to sustain its global order subject for discussion and critique. with Cuba confirmed his views of prompted it to move away from My informal and unscientific poll American policy. First, he noted, the open door back to colonialism of a few graduate students indicates the United States fought for Cuban and more formal forms of empire; that Tragedy is still relevant to this independence from Spain in 1898 for to spend an increasing amount of generation.1 Only one student was presumably “humanitarian” reasons: state funds on its military; to resort reading Williams for the first time to give the Cubans independence to regional wars that were both this academic year. Others noted and “to initiate and sustain [Cuba’s] preemptive and perhaps unnecessary development toward political that they had read it several times 3 (e.g., the Boer War); and to conduct for different classes. Students also democracy and economic welfare.” both its empire and its wars in ways shared my view that because so After the War of 1898, the United sometimes inconsistent with the much of the book had drifted into the States built roads, water systems and nation’s supposed moral codes. So it work of others, it was not as shocking other infrastructure but it did not would not have surprised Williams to read about American imperialism “sustain” the development of either to discover that a similar fate awaited as it was in 1959. democracy or economic welfare. the United States, knowing as he did For purposes of this discussion, Instead, it repeatedly interfered in that once the status quo no longer I went to my bookshelves to find Cuba’s political and economic life, met its needs, it would try to fashion Tragedy and reread the book. To dominating the country through its a new status quo more to its liking my surprise, I found two copies: a economic policies for sixty years. through more unilateral, aggressive very yellowed copy of the original Americans controlled the sugar means. Likewise, he would not edition, published in 1959, and the industry, set limits to political have been surprised by the growing third edition, published in 1972 with independence and managed to obstacles encountered—old allies an extensive new introduction by the squelch opposition. What began as melting away, new power centers author. Also tucked into my copy of a humanitarian gesture ended with emerging to challenge, and the loss the 1972 edition were some notes I a degree of American economic of moral legitimacy that accompanies had made questioning the author’s control that prevented any real self- the abuse of power. determination. Here was the tragedy Page 24 Passport September 2009 of U.S. diplomacy writ large. Finally, Tragedy was almost ignored more assaults and greater complexity. the Cubans staged their revolution in when it was first published. Under William Appleton Williams marked 1959-61. other circumstances it might have the path; others have either enlarged The new introduction also remained at best on the periphery or abandoned it. But although it must contained some of Williams’s of scholarship. But many who read be used with care, the path is still favorite themes. He points to it saw the events of the 1960s as there and still usable. American elitism, the American acting out The Tragedy of American view that democracy is connected to Diplomacy. Seeming to add validity Anna K. Nelson is the Distinguished “individualism, private property, and to his analysis were the economic Historian in Residence at American a capitalist marketplace economy”; punishment of Cuba, which closed University. economic expansionism that turned the door on the United States; to overseas markets after the land interference in Africa, where there Notes: frontier had closed; and the support were rich lodes of minerals; the 1. It also revealed that students were of farmers, who are often erroneously actions of the U.S. Marines in the uniformly troubled by the lack of notes described as isolationist, for foreign Dominican Republic, which typified on sources, a testament to our research policy that promotes trade.4 American arrogance and elitism; seminars. Williams was revising Tragedy and the continuing escalation of 2. William Appleman Williams, The during the worst years of the the war in Vietnam. Humanitarian Tragedy of American Diplomacy (New York, Vietnam War, and he pointed to instincts sent the Marines to Santo 1959), 3-4. that war as the logical end of the Domingo, for example, to protect 3. Williams, The Tragedy of American policies the United States pursued the Americans and their embassy. Diplomacy, 3rd ed. (New York, 1972), 1. throughout the preceding century. But President Johnson, who had 3. Ibid., 6-9. The quote is from p. 9. He made passing reference to it in little respect for Dominican political 4. Ibid., 57. the text but left a lengthier discussion leaders, was concerned primarily 5. Ibid., 274. of the war to the revised conclusion. with preventing the restoration of a 6. Bradford Perkins, “The Tragedy of The absence of any discussion of the democratically elected government American Diplomacy: Twenty-Five Years war in the body of the book is not under a political party that included After,” Reviews in American History 12: surprising, for Tragedy’s ideas and communists. Humanitarian motives 1-18. examples come from the first fifty gave way to political and economic years of twentieth-century history. interests. Similarly, the United States Agency and Nation in Williams’s Williams did not formulate his major entered Vietnam to help the South Tragedy contribution to U.S. foreign policy Vietnamese preserve their freedom. from the events around him. His But as war progressed, Americans Nicole Phelps frame of reference and his examples ended up destroying the country come from decades dominated by they went to save. Wilson, Hoover and both Roosevelts. It is easy to grow impatient with y re-reading of William Williams formulated his major Williams, since his arguments can Appleman Williams’s 1972 contribution to U. S foreign policy appear so one- dimensional. Never version of The Tragedy of from events of the last years of the mind the geopolitical or strategic AmericanM Diplomacy in preparation for 19th century. He took John Hay’s factor: it was the open door policy writing this reflection coincided with Open Door Notes to keep the ports that influenced every diplomatic an outbreak of debate on H-Diplo of China open and turned them move and negotiation. His discussion about the definitions of international, into a symbol of American policy of pre–World War II policy, for diplomatic, and transnational history. and its imperialistic goals. The example, left out Hitler, the brutal As a recent Ph.D., negotiating among open door policy, Williams argued, occupation of conquered countries these labels—and helping to give was designed “to win the victories and the concentration camps for Jews them meaning—is quite important to without the wars.” The United and dissidents. For the most part he me, and it struck me as I was reading States devised the policy because its also ignored the interaction between Tragedy that the book could be helpful “overwhelming economic power” politics and cultural traditions and for articulating different approaches could “cast the economy and the the influence of culture on policy. to scholarship on the international politics of the poorer, weaker, His approach to issues could be system. underdeveloped countries in a pro- misleading. The United States was I should note at the outset of American mold.” He predicted that not responsible for Mexico’s poverty, what is going to be a sharp critique if it were not modified, “the policy as Williams intimated, dismissing the of Tragedy that I have tremendous was certain to produce foreign powerful elites who controlled the respect for both the book and policy crises that would become country. Sometimes he was simply Williams himself, although I have increasingly severe,” The ultimate wrong. Dulles was not an “adviser no personal stake in the reputation failures of the Open Door Policy, he and assistant” to Acheson.6 of either. When the book celebrated wrote. are the failures “generated Never mind these details, William its twenty-fifth anniversary, I was in by its success in guiding Americans Appleton Williams gave us a new kindergarten. I understand Tragedy as in the creation of an empire.”5 conceptual framework for the study being important because it expanded Permeating policy was the need of American foreign policy. Few the scope of studies of U.S. foreign for markets, an open door to every historians, if any, regard Tragedy as relations beyond military-based country and region of the world. the last word on twentieth-century balance-of-power politics to include Without those markets, policy foreign policy. Historians have economic factors, and because it makers did not think the United moved ahead to a more complex view called into question both the efficacy States could survive as a democracy. of that policy, but Williams brought and the morality of U.S. foreign It was this need for markets which to front and center important factors policy. These ideas are invaluable led inexorably to the promotion of that cannot now be ignored. As one contributions, and they seem to me the Open Door. Behind every policy, historian noted, “Tragedy was the first to be alive and well among historians Williams saw the hidden hand of the fundamental assault on the merits of in a variety of subfields and among open door. American objectives.”6 There are now scholars in a number of other Passport September 2009 Page 25 disciplines. he employs a national character is a common assumption that public Tragedy certainly has the power to argument: “The Russian’s search for opinion is collected via elections, and sweep up the reader in a powerful self and emphasis on community in Williams does suggest that voting tide of indignation over the mistakes the face of poverty and power led might be an avenue for reform. He’s that were made in American foreign him to conclude that man’s essential quite pessimistic about it, though, policy since the 1890s. But, as I goodness emerges as a phoenix asserting that “votes have mattered read it, I was also swept up in a fit from the pyre of degradation. Hence increasingly less in recent decades” of methodological and linguistic in his mind he is best qualified to (312). indignation because Williams tells lead a similar reconstruction of all Williams—and myriad other us that mistakes were made, but he humanity. For his part, the American scholars who take the unitary doesn’t really tell us who made them concluded that his achievement state, nation, or nation-state as or what, if any, steps an individual of prosperity and military might an ontological given—appears reader might take toward correcting elected him as trustee for the to assume a congruence between them. Williams’s sense of agency same responsibility” (283). In this American voters, members of the is painfully vague, and he draws construction, there is only one American nation, U.S. citizens, and haphazardly and inconsistently Russian and only one American— residents of the United States. In from what have become several idealized individuals standing in the past several decades, scholars distinct theoretical approaches. Yet for their national collectives. To me, working in a number of historical reading Tragedy can help us identify that suggests that Williams is really subfields and in disciplines outside the differences between theories saying that race is more fundamental history have chipped away at this of foreign policies and theories of than economics, since all Russians assumption. They have disconnected international relations and recognize are the same at the core but the the nation from the state, loosed what transnational history can Marxist ideologies they adopt are the nation from its moorings in contribute to our understanding of different. nineteenth-century biology and how the world works. That passage, along with numerous rendered it a social construction, Williams most often sticks to the others in the book, also paints illuminated disparities in citizenship realm of foreign policy: the actors “Americans” with the same brush, rights and obligations based on he talks about—notably presidents, rendering them homogeneous—and gender, race, class, and sexuality, secretaries of state, their closest complicit in the tragedy of American and demonstrated the permeability executive-branch advisors, and diplomacy. This doesn’t seem fair, of state borders. This is the stuff American business interests—are all especially since Williams repeatedly of “transnational history.” These located within “the United States,” stresses the elite nature of American developments raise serious questions and the “American diplomacy,” or diplomacy. When Williams actually about an account like Tragedy, in foreign policy, they devise is thrust names names, he’s talking about which power, ideas, and goods upon the world in the name of a presidents, secretaries of state, and appear to flow out of a monolithic unitary, sovereign United States. their advisors; the business interests United States while no one resists This is, I think, how many U.S.- that they’re responsive to remain an and very, very little flows in the other trained diplomatic historians have un-individuated collective. I think direction. approached their own accounts; it’s Williams means to blame those few If we think of power, ideas, about picking a vantage point within elite men for the tragedy of American goods—and people—constantly the U.S. government and looking out diplomacy, but that’s really unclear, crossing borders, opportunities for on private Americans and the rest since he drops into the passive individual action in the international of the world, and it can be done by voice at some very crucial moments. system become clearer. Non- consulting strictly American sources. Most notably, when he lists the four electoral actions such as lobbying Williams ventures occasionally into factors that produced the tragedy of and protesting are a possibility, and the realm of international history American diplomacy in Vietnam— their importance can be intensified when he attempts to explain the factors that are contributors to the when those taking action can claim Soviet perspective in addition to that longer-running tragedy, too—point identities that cut across boundaries of the United States. To do so, he three is “the loss of the capacity to of nation and citizenship or when shifts his attention from internal U.S. think critically about reality, and their physical location renders processes to the international arena, about individual action” (303). He their actions legal or beyond state and his actors are unitary sovereign doesn’t tell us who it is who lost that control. In addition, individuals states. He quickly cuts himself off capacity. He may very well mean that have a meaningful role to play as from this approach, however, and re- the elite policy makers have lost that consumers. Economics drive the grounds himself in US foreign policy, capability, but he may also mean a action in Williams’s account, but he noting that “this essay is about broader American public. talks about capitalism in terms of American diplomacy, and ... has to It is not really clear who the production, focusing on capital and concentrate on America’s actions and intended audience is for Williams’s labor; his consumers are vaguely the ideas behind them” (217). book. If it is aimed at elites, then defined foreigners. Americans were In Tragedy, Williams is inconsistent there are certainly ways in which and are consumers, too, and their when it comes to treating states and they can take action to remedy the demand for foreign products is a nations as unitary. He makes an tragedy of American diplomacy; crucial part of the story of the global important point when he stresses that Williams provides them with a economy. I am willing to concede all Marxists are not the same, thus definite place in the policy making to Williams that the organization of rendering it inaccurate and unhelpful process. If the book is aimed at the economy can strip individuals to treat communism as a monolith. individuals outside those elite ranks, of much of their power because they His approach to Marxism suggests however, identifying a course of are dependent on particular goods that he’s willing to differentiate action is much more difficult, since for their survival, but I am unwilling among different groups within—and Williams does not articulate a role for to write those individuals out of the perhaps even across—the boundaries non-elites in the international system. story completely. Many consumers of the nation-state. However, he In theories of foreign policy that contributed to the construction of retreats from differentiation when apply to democratic countries, there the capitalist economy, and they Page 26 Passport September 2009 could reshape it by changing what production and exports rather than Williams, of course, concentrated they buy; individuals who are more consumption and imports. Moreover, on attempts to expand markets and thoroughly dependent on the system national economies in 1959 still a market-based productive system can still opt to resist, even if their seemed relatively coterminous with abroad. But stimulating domestic efforts are ultimately unsuccessful. political boundaries, and threats consumer demand at home became The scholarly developments from environmental damage were even more central to the growth of that have formed the basis of invisible or seemed relatively American capitalism. Over time, transnational history demand benign. Grounded in its historical business and governmental efforts methodological and linguistic era, Willliams’s analysis elided to create and maintain a robust precision, especially on the question two trends—consumerism and domestic consumerism would of agency. Collective nouns like sustainability—that now loom dramatically influence foreign policy. nation and state hide more than as central to national and global As a social/cultural system they illuminate, including human predicaments. To examine how an that emphasized desire and agency and responsibility. In open door world contributed to these the construction of identities Tragedy, Williams’s imprecision trends, it will help to understand the through purchasing, consumerism shuts down paths of much-needed central role that mass consumerism thrived in part because of change. He gets the reader riled came to play in American life during the unique characteristics of up—and justifiably so—but he the twentieth century. America’s immigrant-based really doesn’t seem to offer a way Mass consumerism in America society. Entrepreneurs in media, out. By not giving the individual plays no role in Williams’s Tragedy. entertainment, and advertising reader a role in his story of how the Consumerism may have seemed, industries, often drawing on and world works, Williams also hinders in the 1950s and early 1960s, to lie targeting America’s immigrant- the reader’s ability to see herself mostly in the “domestic” sphere. based subcultures, developed as part of a wider community that Cold War “kitchen debates” about consumer imaginaries that projected demands her empathy or any re- which system could offer more acts of purchase as acts of self- definition of her self-interest. Even personal goods to its citizens may fashioning. Consumer goods took for most “Americans,” the tragedy of have appeared to be essentially on aspirational qualities, seeming American diplomacy is apparently trivial footnotes to the nuclear/ to confer glamour, leisure, and someone else’s problem. military standoffs of the day. But respect. Smoothing over the diversity as more and more Americans in languages and customs, the Nicole Phelps is assistant professor at embraced what Charles McGovern advertising industry that drove the University of Vermont. has called “material nationalism” the mass production/consumption and came to equate Americanism system presented commodities with ever-growing consumer choice, as cultural markers of national the American economy morphed identity as well as of personal The Tragedy Updated: Considering from what Charles Maier has upward mobility. Consumer-based Consumerism and Sustainability called an “empire of production” habits could provide the comforts to an “empire of consumption.” of “consumption communities” Emily S. Rosenberg The open door, which Williams even as they became powerful saw as a portal primarily for an Americanizing agents. McGovern’s n his classic interpretative outflow of American products and Sold American charts the ways work, The Tragedy of American investment capital, became a reverse in which the acts and rituals of Diplomacy, William A. Williams gateway for a growing cascade of shopping took on nationalistic advancedI a critique of open door imports, most of which supported overtones and consumer citizenship expansionism, arguing that it increasingly entrenched consumer came to rival older definitions of drove U.S. international policy and lifestyles in the United States. The civic participation.1 Consumerism, warning that it could bring about persistent demand for lower-priced his book suggests, played a key role the “destruction of democracy” goods from a transnationalized and in expanding the definition of the rather than its spread. In the half mobile manufacturing base abroad “nation,” as ethnic and racial groups century since the publication of in effect eroded America’s productive that were once outsiders learned to Tragedy, however, the open door capacities and the heavily unionized, view their citizenship in terms of world that Williams examined high-wage system that had been in access to goods. To be able to exercise has undergone seismic shifts. This place since the New Deal. “choice” as part of a consuming commentary seeks to build on Mass consumerism in America market was to join the national Williams’s interpretation by asking became both an economic and imaginary of “America.” how the open door has contributed a social/cultural system. As an By the late 1950s, when Williams to new global economic patterns and economic system, it rested on an wrote, mass consumerism had begun spawned threats to democratic forms intensive use and commoditization to emerge as an economic, social, that the Tragedy hardly anticipated. of the continent’s seemingly psychological, and nationalistic Read in the context of the global inexhaustible natural resources system that was integral to American crises that currently beset the United and on innovative technologies life. It was, however, still too early to States and the world, Williams’s that spurred revolutions in discern how dramatically the ethos 1959 book seems almost like the transportation, communication, and of “consumer citizenship” would historiographical equivalent of Happy productive techniques. Confronted transform America’s international Days. The threats of global economic with bounty and innovation, the position. It was only after Tragedy implosion and onrushing climate European “dismal science” of scarcity was published in 1959 that American change suggest a tragedy that looks did a summersault in America. In the trade balances began their long a bit different from the one that late nineteenth and early twentieth deterioration and the open door Williams envisioned. centuries, as Williams argued, became less and less a creature Tragedy appeared at a time when politicians and business people of America’s once prodigious the economic engine of American pursued policies aimed at addressing productive capacities and more and power revolved largely around overproduction and abundance. more a creature of its apparently Passport September 2009 Page 27 insatiable appetite for consumer consumerism so thoroughly lay outside of Williams’s purview. goods. intertwined with discourses of Mass consumerism, of course, Robert Reich’s Supercapitalism American nationalism that it arose partly from America’s has recently traced in detail the seemed nearly impossible to break abundance of cheap resources and process by which Americans’ the cycle of pursuing cheaper and technological innovation. American- desire to consume things at lower cheaper imports with lower and style production and consumerist and lower prices and therefore to lower prices—even when such imaginaries, entering through manufacture goods at lower and a cycle meant fewer well-paid open doors, then spread into the lower costs became the central jobs with guaranteed benefits world. But are the assumptions of logic of U.S. international trade and at home. Nationalist themes, abundance appropriate in a resource- financial policies. Reich also points which emphasized the ability of scarce world now threatened out that as retirement plans shifted Americans to consume (and to with climate change and facing from defined benefits to individual borrow even against their own burgeoning populations that live at portfolios, a growing number of homes and retirement funds in the margins of regular employment? American worker-investors had a order to consume) and to share The American system of force- stake in enlarging corporate profits. (though unequally) in higher profits, feeding consumer desire to solve Businesses, government, and prompted businesses, politicians, the “problem” of overproduction consumer-citizens, for a variety of and most citizen-consumers to ignore and abundance seems increasingly different reasons, found it easier to the deficits in national and personal anachronistic. respond to (and promote) consumer savings that accompanied the sharply Environmental tragedies are desires by gravitating toward policies deteriorating terms of trade. emerging from the U.S.–led global that encouraged lower prices with Borrowing made up for imbalances, system that helped stimulate ever- higher profits (gained from moving especially during the past decade, growing demand through lower offshore) rather than toward those as the gap between rich and poor prices in a world in which many that might have encouraged higher widened to historic proportions. governments (especially the U. wages at home and abroad. “The Borrowing from abroad funded S. government) seem unable to last several decades have involved a America’s deteriorating trade factor environmental costs into the shift of power away from us in our balances. Borrowing eased the gap price of goods without incurring capacities as citizens and toward us between the wages most people could severe political backlash from as consumers and investors,” Reich earn and their desires for consumer their consumer citizens. The writes.2 products. And to paper over both environmental impact of practices Open door policies that the international imbalances and the that emphasized the commodification emphasized lowering prices for widening gap in the distribution of and sale of nature’s goods at an consumer goods but did little to wealth and income at home, finance ever-accelerating pace has created maintain wage levels became part capitalists operated on a global scale tragedies beyond Williams’s worst of a historic shift in America’s to create new credit instruments nightmares. And these tragedies relationship to the world economy. that became more and more abstract may not be ameliorated by During the era in which Williams and less and less transparent. Williams’s suggestion of allowing wrote, the United States was an The pressures to lower consumer an “Open Door for revolution.” That “empire of production”; the nation costs and to “revolution,” ran trade surpluses and was a advance credit after all, might capital lender in the world economy. to facilitate Viewed in relation to the economic well be an As an “empire of consumption,” consumer crisis of 2009, Williams’s work may expression by contrast, the United States purchasing have renewed relevance, as it reminds of consumer- increasingly ran trade deficits and, thrived, us that foreign policy claims and citizen desires to fund its appetite for cheaper especially practices have actually undermined for greater imports, became the world’s within their own presumed goals (the abundance of greatest debtor. Meanwhile, the the highly definition of tragedy). Moreover, his inexpensive largest transnational firms, most of nationalistic insistence that U.S. international consumer which in Williams’s day were still discourses policies emerge from economic goods, for low anchored within the United States, advanced relationships at home remains prices achieved became globalized enterprises and during the as relevant (and as frequently by keeping spread their sites of production, Republican overlooked) as it was in 1959. resources cheap. and even management, into widely ascendancy Williams did scattered and often highly mobile of the early not advocate locations. This globalization of twenty-first slamming production and the onset of all century—even as the nation’s shut the open doors as a solution kinds of flexible manufacturing productive capacities withered. to the problem of democracy-in- techniques accelerated during and Economic “globalization,” a word peril. I do not believe he embraced after the 1970s, as businesses used that became prominent in the early protectionism or rejected people’s open door mechanisms, in effect, 1980s, brought about a disjuncture desires for material satisfactions. to export production and jobs and between bounded national states Certainly, I advocate neither to turn America into a great import composed of citizens and an protectionism nor anti-consumerism emporium. Meanwhile, lower-priced unbounded and globally networked as a solution to global dilemmas. goods helped enable the conservative economy catering to consumers, Rather, these dilemmas, if they are to political turn that kept consumer especially in America. This was a be solved, will necessitate new forms lifestyles affordable to many even as disjuncture that Williams’s work on of international and transnational income and wealth were distributed the open door presaged but did not regimes that can enforce norms and upwards. thoroughly anticipate. standards for sustainable labor and Any reversal of open-door/ Like consumerism, the mounting environmental policies. Viewed in low-cost consumption policies “tragedy” associated with relation to the economic crisis of 2009, became politically difficult. Robust environmental sustainability also Williams’s work may have renewed Page 28 Passport September 2009 relevance, as it reminds us that were continual comparisons between continuing belief in the convergence foreign policy claims and practices him and FDR and calls for another of commercial expansion and a have actually undermined their own New Deal. harmonious and peaceful world. presumed goals (the definition of Williams wrote about economic This theme runs through elite tragedy). Moreover, his insistence hard times, foreign wars, and opinion from Norman Angell’s The that U.S. international policies presidential leadership in Tragedy. He Great Illusion (1910) to any session of emerge from economic relationships saw connections among them. Many the Davos World Economic Forum at home remains as relevant (and as of those connections apply today; before the crash of 2008. Williams frequently overlooked) as it was in some are dated or irrelevant. What wrote of the institutionalization of 1959. is most surprising is how fresh and international business as a way of “Capitalism has become more accessible the language of Tragedy is. promoting American values. The responsive to what we want as Most fifty-year-old books are past only item of contemporary interest individual purchasers of goods, their shelf life. This one is not. missing from his catalogue of the but democracy has grown less Williams’s baseline for hard government’s efforts to promote responsive to what we want together times was the Panic of 1893. It business abroad is the role of finance. as citizens,” writes Robert Reich.3 changed leaders’ minds about the There is nothing about central Williams’s call not to close doors but sustainability of domestic economic bankers and little about foreign to open more doors—to dissenting growth. They thought the United lending. ideas, critical analysis, and a broader States would have to keep finding Half of Tragedy deals with World sphere of public discussion— new markets for a growing surplus War II and the Cold War. In that way supports a revival of democratic of consumer goods. Like the leaders too, the book showed what historians citizenship over the consumer of the other imperial powers, they wanted to study. At least half of the citizenship that rested on low-cost thought that empires paid, and the writing on U.S. foreign relations goods and on unsustainable resource United States had to have one or is about World War II or the Cold use. wither. Hence a war with Spain for War. We know so much about these Cuba and the complex events Emily S. Rosenberg is Professor of Philippines. that Williams’s History at the University of California, Williams’s Williams wrote about economic account of them Irvine. views were not hard times, foreign wars, and seems lacking. entirely new in presidential leadership in Tragedy. He emphasized Notes: the 1950s, but He saw connections among them. trade expansion 1. Charles McGovern, Sold American: they have gained Many of those connections apply consistently and Consumption and Citizenship, 1890- more currency today; some are dated or irrelevant. said little about 1945 (Chapel Hill: University of North among historians What is most surprising is how nationalism, Carolina Press, 2006). since. They are fresh and accessible the language ideology, and 2. Robert B. Reich, Supercapitalism : The pretty much the of Tragedy is. Most fifty-year-old technology Transformation of Business, Democracy, and standard version books are past their shelf life. This as causes and Everyday Life (New York, 2007), 5. of the Spanish- one is not. drivers of war. 3. Ibid. American-Cuban- He focused so Philippine War. exclusively on Reading The Tragedy of American We have not the confrontation Diplomacy in Hard Times heard much in the last thirty years between the rich, self-confident about the need to dump America’s United States and the rest of the Robert D. Schulzinger surplus production; if anything, world that it appeared as if nothing the United States worries now that happened elsewhere mattered. reread William Appleman about absorbing too much of other Such self-centeredness is always Williams’s The Tragedy of American countries’ goods. But involvement dangerous. Certainly Americans Diplomacy in the midst of an in the world’s movement of goods, came to realize how dangerous it Ieconomic slump. Many people ideas, and people remains central can be when the administration of called it the worst since the Great to the creation of foreign policy, as President George W. Bush sought to Depression; some predicted it might does, more specifically, trade. What impose its locally generated views be another Great Depression. The is most relevant about Williams’s about democratic government on United States was also engaged views today is his emphasis on what other nations. But Williams was in two wars. One of them was in elites thought. Now, as then, there is writing about American diplomacy, Afghanistan, a place so remote group-think, suspicion of Americans so Tragedy was necessarily Yankee- that a few decades ago the word without special knowledge, emphasis centric. “Afghanistan” was code among news on control and secrecy, and concern Unlike his account of the Spanish- editors for a place so remote that about the way other rich, educated American-Cuban-Philippine war, his few knew and no one cared what nations conduct their affairs. Tragedy explanation of the origins of World happened there. does not explore the themes of the War II or the Cold War has not been My reading took place two months new cultural turn in the history of accepted as the standard version. into the presidency of Barack Obama, American foreign relations. There Few historians see World War II whose election called to mind some is nothing in it that is explicitly as a war to expand U.S. trade. A of the hopes of 1960 and some of the about race, gender, or culture. But its greater number of them, but hardly a turmoil of 1968. A few weeks before emphasis on elites, how they think, majority, explain the early Cold War Obama took office, he mentioned and their fears of what others may as an American attempt to encircle a that he was reading one of the think set the stage for the recent work poor and suspicious Soviet Union. several recent books on Franklin D. on the psychology of foreign affairs. What has proved to be of Roosevelt’s Hundred Days. As bad Fifty years ago the freshest part continuing value in Williams’s news came from big financial firms of Tragedy was the chapter on the account of World War II and the Cold every week and the stock market legend of isolationism in the 1920s. War is his discussion of elites. He continued to fall in early 2009, there Williams wrote about the elite’s wrote that the New Deal “steadily Passport September 2009 Page 29 drew more and more of its leadership almost no resonance today. Whatever American capitalism, and they were from the community of large, counter-arguments there are to the joined by others such as Joyce and established corporation executives, triumphant global capitalism of Gabriel Kolko. Since Perkins’s fine their counsels, and their economic the Washington Consensus of the essay obviates the need to analyze advisers” (177). The reliance on 1990s, they are not revolutionary, at the evolution of Tragedy, I decided an established elite may be good least not in the Marxist mode of the to provide some recollections of or it may be bad. Williams clearly twentieth century. But Williams’s how the book affected both my own thought it was bad. It is also a timely plea that Americans should leave the scholarship and trends in our field topic. As the government faces the rest of the world alone to develop as from the time I entered graduate financial problems of 2009, liberals, it pleases has resonance. school to the present. generally supportive of Barack There are many details in Tragedy I first read Tragedy in what was Obama, now voice their frustration to quarrel with. Williams’s account probably the 1962 edition sometime with his appointment of people with of the early Cold War doesn’t stand between the spring of 1968, when experience as investment bankers the test of time. His leaders focus I was finishing my first year in the to important positions overseeing almost exclusively on economic master’s program at Queens College, private finance. motives. But there is also a skeptical and the spring of 1972, as I completed Williams was fascinated and approach to the leadership of the past my first year in the Ph.D. program frustrated by the elusive character that is especially relevant. Williams at Brown University. The first three of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was consistently criticized the leaders years of that period saw the height not alone. Williams was no realist of of the twentieth century for their of the anti-Vietnam War movement, the Hans Morgenthau or George F. narrow ideological blinders. They with which I was peripherally Kennan school of foreign relations; talked mostly to one another and involved, and the last two years if anything, he was a romantic and rarely saw merit in any alternative brought publication of two major occasionally a revolutionary. But he point of view. It is that critique that works on the early Cold War, Herbert praised FDR for his recognition of had the most appeal when the book Feis’s From Trust to Terror and Joyce reality. Roosevelt accepted “limits appeared in 1959, and it is what keeps and Gabriel Kolko’s The Limits of upon American expectations and it alive today. Power. In a seminar offered at Brown actions, and for the working out of during the spring semester of 1972 by a concert of power with other major Robert D. Schulzinger is College a visiting professor, Allen Weinstein, nations” (204-05). Here again, the Professor of Distinction of History and then in the early stages of his work contrast with George W. Bush is International Affairs at the University of on Alger Hiss, both books generated stark. But Roosevelt disappointed Colorado. considerable discussion. I recall Williams because he was not as Weinstein being impressed by how revolutionary or visionary a figure as much of the revisionist argument Williams wanted him to be. He wrote Reflections onThe Tragedy of Feis had adopted. Feis was a former of Roosevelt, in sorrow rather than American Diplomacy on the Fiftieth employee of the State Department in anger, that he “offered a few very Anniversary of Its Publication and was generally considered a general ideas about the kind of things moderate proponent of conventional that could be done to adapt American William Stueck wisdom. On the other hand, the thinking and policy to the new Kolkos’ book had a distinctly conditions. . . . But he never worked riginally I intended to hard edge and made Tragedy seem out, initiated, or carried through a focus my comments here rather mild by comparison. The fresh approach. . . . At the time of his on a comparison of the four response to Limits by reviewers in death, he was turning back toward Oeditions of The Tragedy of American mass publications was generally the inadequate domestic programs of Diplomacy (1959, 1962, 1972, and favorable, but I had reservations the New Deal era, and was in foreign 1988), as I remembered the first as about the Kolkos’ use of sources in affairs reasserting the traditional relatively moderate in tone and their treatment of the origins of the strategy of the Open Door Policy” content compared to the later ones. Korean War, on which I had written (205). For Williams, Roosevelt’s In examining them, however, I a master’s thesis at Queens. A closer problem was that he was a reformer, discovered that the last was identical examination of their citations led and Williams wanted more than to the third, except for its inclusion me to write what would be my first reform. There are echoes of the of an essay by Bradford Perkins, publication, a critique of the Kolkos’ same concerns expressed by some originally published in Reviews methodology. liberals in early 2009 that Obama in American History, which did an Although my own views on is too much a reformer and not a excellent job of tracing the book’s many broad issues of American completely transformative figure. evolution and influence. Perkins foreign policy remained fluid, But this is distinctly a minority point attributed the increasingly strident my inclinations were toward a of view, because there aren’t many tone of the second and third editions conventional interpretation of the revolutionaries now. There were more to Williams’s “growing alienation” in U.S. course in Europe after World in the 1960s, although they were the face of America’s reaction to the War II and a moderate revisionist hardly a majority. Cuban and Vietnamese revolutions. one on the U.S. course in the Third Throughout Tragedy, Williams By the time of the third edition World. The Kolko interpretation reverts to an idea that runs counter Williams had a good deal of company seemed overly deterministic and, to open door economic expansion: in that disaffected state, including while I understood that Williams’s he wanted Americans to be more several younger scholars whom he framework was more flexible, understanding and accommodating had helped train at the University admired his less polemical tone, of revolutions. This sentiment of Wisconsin. Indeed, some of those subscribed to his passionate belief in certainly made sense at the height scholars took Williams’s critique of using the past to help us understand of the Cold War, when Americans U.S. foreign policy to new extremes, the present, and recognized the feared revolutions and considered especially in their claims for the value of his insights regarding most nationalism archaic, but it has inherently expansionist qualities of America’s trials and tribulations in

Page 30 Passport September 2009 the Third World, Tragedy struck me sense of the importance of geopolitics disappointment with the lack of as naïve about the Soviets’ postwar as an influence on U.S. foreign policy effectiveness of their Midwestern aims and intentions. By that time in the twentieth century. Without vision of America—determined to a I had been exposed to the postwar such a sense it is impossible to large extent their outlook upon the writings of Reinhold Niebuhr, which comprehend a good deal about what past.”2 I found overlapped with Williams’s drove American decisionmakers The power of Williams’s Tragedy in warning against national hubris in the Cold War. I can agree with comes from exactly what Mosse while recognizing the need to Bacevich on points that Williams observed: the author’s intense belief confront Soviet expansion. The surely would endorse were he still in the promise of America and appeal of that outlook remains strong with us: namely, that “our appetites his deep suspicion of the eastern to the present day, even though its and expectations have grown elites who often distorted promise prescriptive significance is not always exponentially” in the post-Cold through practice. “American obvious in specific circumstances. War era, that we “expect the world leaders were not evil men. They It is no surprise to me that one to accommodate the American way did not conceive and excuse some prominent present-day critic of U.S. of life,” and that these attitudes are dreadful conspiracy. Nor were they foreign relations, Andrew Bacevitch, extremely unhealthy and increasingly treacherous hypocrites,” Williams a self-described conservative, unrealistic. However, I disagree that wrote. “They believed deeply in the borrowed heavily from Williams we can resolve our problems at home ideals they proclaimed.”3 Tragedy in his first major book and from or abroad by reversing the growth opens with a reflection on the Niebuhr in his most recent. of our appetites and modifying our “warm, generous, humanitarian Bacevitch’s invocation of Williams expectations of the world, however impulse” among Americans to “help in his admonitions against American important it might be to do so. It is other people solve their problems.” empire strike me as a welcome essential to keep reminding ourselves The fundamental American flaw, rekindling of Williams’s memory of our own limits and failings, Williams explained, was not one of after a generation of scholars who both individual and systemic, and intentions, but self-centeredness— either found the postrevisionist Williams’s work served—and, in the conviction that “other people model of complexity and ambiguity our remembrance of it, continues cannot really solve their problems attractive, as I did, and tended to to serve—that purpose. But Tragedy and improve their lives unless they move toward international history, never offered a comprehensive vision go about it the same way as the or were influenced by French for how to confront our problems. United States. . . . This insistence that theorists and moved toward the For that, I will continue to look to the other people ought to copy America emergent “holy trinity” of race, Christian realism of Niebuhr. contradicts the humanitarian urge to class, and gender (with emphasis help them and the idea that they have on the first and third) advanced William Stueck is Distinguished the right to make such key decisions by social and cultural historians. Research Professor at the University of for themselves.”4 To be sure, Williams’s student Georgia. This argument resonates with Thomas McCormick helped students attending university in the keep the open door thesis in the shadow of the , just as it mix with his logically rigorous Williams, the Wisconsin School, grabbed the attention of protesters if thinly documented synthesis and Midwestern Progressivism against the Vietnam War and of 1989, America’s Half-Century, critics of Ronald Reagan’s “New which drew heavily on Immanuel Jeremi Suri Cold War.” Williams’s dissection Wallerstein’s world systems model. of self-serving American moralism And Michael J. Hogan and others eaching a joint seminar with echoes through the decades. In this developed a “corporatist synthesis” William Appleman Williams sense, he agreed with his frequent that integrated economic and at the University of Wisconsin nemesis, George F. Kennan, about the ideological factors with institutional Tin the early 1960s, George Mosse, destructive tendency of Americans developments in the public and the great historian of European to overstate their power (“the vision private sectors. Yet proponents of radicalism, once told him that if he of omnipotence”) and their purchase international history tended to focus was right he would be “as famous as upon solutions to far-away problems on the interactions of states and Beard or Turner.” If he was wrong, (“the imperialism of idealism”). peoples, sometimes at the expense of he would “simply be written off as Williams’s famous argument the internal variables that drove both, another sign of the times.” Williams’s about the ideology of the open door while proponents of the cultural turn writing, especially his Tragedy came out of this context. Beginning frequently emphasized attitudes of American Diplomacy, was both with the Panic of 1893 and the toward race and gender in ways that enduring and presentist—famous first American invasion of Cuba, submerged material considerations and a sign of his times.1 continuing through the Bay of Pigs as driving forces behind America’s Mosse anticipated this verdict: “I fiasco and the Vietnam War, Williams outward thrust. was never able to persuade Williams described a consistent American Yet there are risks as well (dare that historical concepts specific to one urge to preserve prosperity by I suggest hubris?) in focusing period could not just be applied to a enhancing access to foreign societies. primarily on our domestic different period. . . . The isolationism From John Hay to John F. Kennedy, institutions and habits of thought of this Wisconsin school of history elite policymakers in Williams’s in addressing our relationship with played a role here, the combination of narrative manipulated foreign the world. For one thing, such an regionalism and intense patriotism economic influence, combined with approach encourages us to believe which fed their suspicion of the political pressure and military that we can resolve the problems Eastern Seaboard (which sometimes force, to make other societies more we face largely by ourselves alone. extended to students from New capitalist on American terms. Market For another, it discourages us from York). This patriotism also made access, private property protections, recognizing the compelling need them highly critical of the United and expanded trade supported to learn about others. The most States’ role in the world. I believe consumption in the United States dramatic omission in Tragedy is any that a feeling of a lost utopia— and created a perception of peace Passport September 2009 Page 31 by Americanizing—or seeming to it difficult—nearly impossible—for imperialism without being familiar Americanize—the far reaches of the Americans to see the dark shadows with the history of nations like globe. lingering behind their bright-eyed Russia or China against which it When this vision came under intentions. Most of all, in what was presumably directed.”10 For attack from diverse sources, U.S. Williams called the “diplomacy of the great American historians who leaders condoned and sometimes the vicious circle,” foreign resistance surrounded Williams in Madison— instigated brutal acts of repression to to U.S. influence inspired redoubled William Hesseltine, , restore a functioning economic order. American efforts overseas.8 Howard K. Beale, Merrill Jensen, In the Philippines, Nicaragua, South How could insurgent groups in and Fred Harvey Harrington— Korea, Iran, Guatemala, Cambodia, Cuba, the Philippines, and Vietnam provincialism was not an active issue Chile, and countless other places the act with such seeming disregard for of debate. They shared, as Mosse United States targeted nationalist humanity? How could communists recounted, a critique of twentieth- figures who wanted to protect (and religious extremists) preach century American expansion that local practices and deny American harm to the United States? Williams grew from a deep commitment to solutions. East Coast elites and the argued that America’s opponents a more modest past and a virtuous, good citizens indoctrinated by them across the last century were quite reform-minded nation that they “defined every opponent of the often brought into being by the believed had been under siege since United States as being misadvised very country that intervened to the Spanish-American War. The about the nature of the world. . . . eliminate them. George Kennan and Wisconsin School in all its glory was Americans became very prone to the doctrine of containment that he rooted in midwestern progressivism. define their rivals as unnatural men. initially authored came under sharp Williams’s work was more about that They were thus beyond the pale attack from Williams in this context: than foreign policy. and almost, if not wholly, beyond “By creating in fact a real, avowed, Williams’s Tragedy speaks redemption.”5 and all-encompassing outside threat, across generations because it For Williams action based brilliantly articulated a critique of it was not upon such American society and its outward “pocketbook” For Williams it was not “pocketbook” analysis and manifestations from the perspective economics that economics that drove American analogy lent of an idealistic and patriotic young drove American expansion, but instead a worldview substance to man. Students easily identify with expansion, (Weltanschauung) that emphasized what Kennan Williams’s arguments, his passions, but instead the possibilities of opening other originally even his sarcasm. Tragedy offered a worldview societies and the dangers of caution defined as a a window into another time and (Weltanschauung) and restraint.It was what Williams hallucination recovered a still-vital vision of the that emphasized called in another book a “way of in the minds of nation and its flaws. That is perhaps the possibilities life” that encouraged the bigness of Soviet leaders. the finest accomplishment for a of opening empire rather than the smaller-scale Having argued historian. Like many of Williams’s other societies life of nation and community. that they [the readers, Mosse might have had and the dangers Soviets] had to serious differences with Tragedy’s of caution and create imaginary arguments, but he accurately restraint.6 It foreign dangers anticipated that its author would was what Williams called in another in order to stay in power,” Kennan soon become as famous as Beard or book a “way of life” that encouraged and other American Cold War policy- Turner. Williams was so successful the bigness of empire rather than makers conjured a self-fulfilling that he became the patron saint of the the smaller-scale life of nation and conflict.9 “Wisconsin School,” the Society for community. Dazzled, frightened, This analysis is precisely what Historians of Foreign Relations, and coerced, and frequently confused, inspired students (especially during the field in general. His progressive Americans accepted the centralizing the Vietnam and Iraq Wars), and anti-elite writings have become an and interventionist impulses of it is precisely what George Mosse integral part of a politically moderate their leaders, according to Williams, found so incomplete. For all its words scholarly establishment. I think he transforming republican democracy about the economy and politics, would relish that irony. into corporate society: “All major Williams’s Tragedy was driven by a segments of the economy came to small set of elite decision-makers. be dominated by a tiny number of They made policies that sacrificed Jeremi Suri is E. Gordon Fox giant firms which shared an interest inner American strengths and values Professor of History at the University in controlling any new rivals, and for their self-defined purposes. of Wisconsin. establishing rules and procedures to Americans and non-Americans control their part of the marketplace alike were forced to react, often in Notes: . . . the history of that dynamic ways that barely slowed the tide 1. George L. Mosse, Confronting History: A interaction, and particularly the story of the open door. For a book that Memoir (Madison, 2000), 158. of how the citizens were increasingly condemned assumptions about 2. Ibid., 156-57. limited to choosing between policies American power, Tragedy presumed 3. William Appleman Williams, The formulated by the corporations inordinate international agency for Tragedy of American Diplomacy, 3rd ed. or the government (or the two in Washington and New York bigwigs. (New York, 1972), 2. collaboration), makes it apparent that Beyond resisting or collaborating, 4. Ibid., 13-14. Emphasis in original. all those protagonists accepted an foreign countries barely acted in 5. Ibid., 94. imperial way of life.”7 Williams’s narrative. 6. Ibid., 38. It did not have to be this way. For a European émigré like 7. William Appleman Williams, Empire as Elites made decisions in 1898 and Mosse, this was passionate but also a Way of Life: An Essay on the Causes and subsequent decades that contributed provincial history, replicating the Character of America’s Present Predicament to this descent. Citizens accepted and very self-centeredness that Williams Along With a Few Thoughts About an followed. The serious humanitarian sought to attack. “One could not,” Alternative (New York, 1980), 12-13. impulses of American society made Mosse remarked, “analyze American 8. Williams, Tragedy, 258. Page 32 Passport September 2009 9. Ibid., 279. resonate with new generations of relegated exclusively to discussions 10. Mosse, Confronting History, 156. practitioners in the field—that is to of historiography and not of history. say, with my generation and those Worse for an author who defined that follow—remains a more open history “as a way of learning” The Ongoing Tragedy of American question. After all, in the past fifty would be the prospect that, absent Diplomacy years the historical profession has the fundamental change in the changed considerably, and despite trajectory of U.S. foreign policy Dustin Walcher the perceptions of some within it, that he called for, Tragedy offers no U.S. diplomatic history has as well. insights into the tumultuous global 4 Do people still read him?” That For one thing, according to my events of our time. Despite all pointed question, delivered in entirely unscientific observations of its limitations, however, I hope a dismissive tone, greeted me over the past eight years, most that my contemporaries will not “in December 2001 as I gathered my younger scholars identify themselves dismiss Tragedy as irrelevant. Fifty things in the History Department as historians of U.S. foreign relations years after it was first published, it mailroom. It was the middle of the and/or international historians remains the best starting point for final week of my first quarter as a instead of diplomatic historians. The serious study of the history of U.S. graduate student, and a senior faculty cultural turn has caught on with foreign relations. As scholars have member was asking—or rather was a significant segment of foreign increasingly turned their attention commenting—on the subject of a relations historians, and they have to the U.S. interaction with the Third paper that I was preparing to hand integrated categories of race and World, embraced a multi-archival in to complete Ohio State’s required gender fruitfully into the tapestry approach, and developed more multi- course on historiography. The of our collective work. As a result, facetted interpretations of agency culminating assignment prompted the sustained analysis of political and causation, they have too often us to write an essay on a scholar of economy that once seemed radical, confirmed that the history of U.S. great significance. I wrote on William and for which Tragedy became diplomacy has had tragic results both Appleman Williams. famous, now appears traditional. at home and abroad in the broad Very few books possess a similar Moreover, an increasing proportion sense that Williams intended, even capacity to raise the hackles of of younger SHAFR members as they have transformed significant detractors nearly a half-century have wisely heeded the call to re- aspects of his original thesis. after their date of first publication; internationalize the field. While the Much of the discussion related to however, The Tragedy of American presidential library circuit remains Tragedy has centered upon two of Diplomacy excited critics from the on their research itineraries, they are its key arguments: the formulation start. When it first appeared in as likely to be found overseas, and of the open door interpretation of 1959 it was, as Bradford Perkins not only in Europe, as was the case U.S. expansionism and Cold War explained twenty-five years ago, “[a]n with Samuel Flagg Bemis’s generation revisionism. Indeed, Williams iconoclastic attack upon conventional of multi-archival practitioners of played a central part in developing wisdom.”1 diplomatic history. Williams by each of those related historical Working within the larger contrast was unapologetically interpretations, and they merit Beardian tradition by positing that Americentric in his analytic focus, the protracted attention they have ideas about the domestic political defining himself first and foremost received. As important as those ideas economy served as the driving as a historian of the United States. are, however, the essence of Tragedy influence upon the makers of U.S. (Analyzing wartime diplomacy with lies embedded in its title. Williams foreign policy, Tragedy revolutionized the Soviet Union, Williams wrote, concluded that “[t]he tragedy of the field of U.S. diplomatic history, “since this essay is about American American diplomacy is not that it is then dominated by scholarship in the diplomacy . . . [it] has to concentrate evil, but that it denies and subverts on American actions and the ideas American ideas and ideals.”5 As realist tradition. Consequently, over 3 the years detractors have dismissed behind them.” ) Having expanded Melvyn Leffler reminds us, Williams Williams as a Marxist and Stalinist the available universe of sources began to develop this theme on apologist. They have alleged that and methodologies, historians the book’s second page, where he he ignored evidence that failed to are analyzing a more complicated described how the United States conform to his conclusions and architecture of political, economic, tolerated “torture and terror” in that he was sloppy in his research. cultural, and social power across Cuba and intervened to support the They have argued that whatever national borders than did Williams. “economic and political restrictions” popularity and influence Williams Rarely have I heard SHAFR members it had established there: achieved came as the result of of my generation invoke Tragedy disenchantment with the U.S. war in outside of conversations about That sad result was not caused Vietnam. Yet despite such concerted where the field has been. To do so by purposeful malice, callous efforts to dismiss Williams, and would seem to carry with it the air indifference, or ruthless and especially his most famous book, of refighting the scholarly disputes predatory exploitation. American both have been remarkably resilient. of the sixties, seventies and eighties leaders were not evil men. They As Perkins again pointed out, “[t] rather than of advancing a cutting- did not conceive and ex[ecute] hat so much labor had gone into edge research agenda. some dreadful conspiracy. this reaction is proof of Tragedy’s In this light, Tragedy remains as an Nor were they treacherous influence.”2 imperfect synthesis. Its arguments hypocrites. They believed deeply Tragedy’s historiographical do not fully address all significant in the ideals they proclaimed, significance, then, has been questions asked by practitioners and they were sincere in arguing clearly established. In whatever in the field, and its analysis of that their policies and actions new directions the field moves, the causes and consequences of would ultimately create a Cuba graduate students will continue U.S. foreign policy are ultimately that would be responsibly to cite it on their comprehensive incomplete. It is therefore possible self-governed, economically exams. However, Tragedy’s ability to to conclude that Williams and prosperous, and socially stable his most noted book have been and happy. All, of course, in the Passport September 2009 Page 33 image of America. foreign relations, nearly all the Diplomacy, 4th ed. (New York, 1988), 313- Precisely for those reasons, professors I spoke with warned me 334. The quotation is from p. 313. however, American diplomacy against what would almost certainly 2. See especially , contained the fundamental be a monumental mistake. It was a “The Tragedy of Cold War History,” elements of tragedy.6 dying field, they said. I would never Diplomatic History 17: 1-16; and Robert find a job. If I was determined to W. Tucker, The Radical Left and American The tragedy, then, has been that continue on to graduate school (they Foreign Policy (Baltimore, 1971). For early although Americans most often were well aware of the difficult state criticism, see Ruhl Bartlett, “Review proceeded into the world with the of the academic job market even of The Tragedy of American Diplomacy best of intentions, too often the effects for freshly minted Ph.D.s in fields by William Appleman Williams,” The of their actions were disastrous. For widely considered more cutting- Mississippi Valley Historical Review 46: 342- all of the discussions of Williams’s edge), they suggested that I study 343. Perkins, “‘The Tragedy of American alleged economic determination, social or cultural history instead. Diplomacy’: Twenty-Five Years After,” supposed lack of patriotism, and However, their very pragmatic and 321. real commitment to understanding, well-founded arguments could 3. William Appleman Williams, The refining, and utilizing the work of not convince me. I had enjoyed my Tragedy of American Diplomacy, 4th ed. Karl Marx, Tragedy remains first and coursework on the history of U.S. (New York, 1988), 217. foremost an idealist’s plea that his foreign relations and was particularly 4. Ibid., 13. country honor its stated principles. drawn to the work of Walter LaFeber 5. Ibid., 291. The United States, Williams argued, and Emily Rosenberg. I wanted to 6. Melvyn P. Leffler, “Reflections on should not merely talk about self- gain a better understanding of the SHAFR at Forty,” Diplomatic History 31: determination but instead must construction and use of power on 413-417. Williams made minor alterations permit other countries to choose their a national and international scale. I in the text between the second and third own leaders and their own political wanted to understand more fully the editions. Although Leffler uses the 1962 and economic systems. The United role of the United States in opposing edition, the above quotation reflects States ought not to obstruct those Third World social revolution. Williams’ 1972 edits. See Williams, movements around the world that Without knowing it, because I did Tragedy, 4th ed., 2. seek social justice for dominated not read Tragedy until I started populations; instead it should graduate school, I had set out on a Critically Relevant and Genuinely embrace them. Implicit in Tragedy’s path that Williams had blazed. While Critical pages is the idea that Americans subsequent historians refined the should concentrate on perfecting ideas pursued in Tragedy, Williams Vanessa Walker liberty and democracy at home rather wrote intelligently about many of than spreading a particular version the core questions that we confront: s a biology major at a small of those concepts (which Williams the causes of U.S. expansionism; liberal arts school, I wandered would have argued includes market the U.S. response to global social unsuspectingly into my first capitalism) abroad. revolution; the role of ideas Ahistory class my junior year of college Far from limited to the Vietnam (especially ideas about the economy) to fulfill a humanities requirement generation, Tragedy’s themes resonate in the construction of U.S. foreign for my degree. While I came for four across time. To take examples from policy; structural constraints on humanities credits, what I received the past two decades, the Clinton policymakers; and the consequences was a whole new way to think administration supported the North of U.S. policy abroad. The questions about the world around me and, American Free Trade Agreement, that Williams asked are still essential eventually, a new career path. That called for a Free Trade Area of the to the advancement of historical and history course—the United States in Americas, and ultimately backed policy analysis. Tragedy remains not Vietnam—opened up new horizons, most favored nation status for China. only relevant, but also essential. and I began to explore U.S. history Each decision offered continuities I have been unusually fortunate. and political affairs with the zeal of with the open door principles Over the long odds that my a convert. After a discussion about expressed a century before. From undergraduate professors quoted, I contemporary foreign policy, my embracing torture in the name of found tenure-track employment as professor, David F. Schmitz, handed national security to prosecuting a historian of U.S. foreign relations me a copy of William Appleman the war in Iraq with the eventual with a research agenda that includes, Williams’s The Tragedy of American explanation that it would serve to among others, the themes listed Diplomacy, hinting, as the book’s spread democracy and American above. In the process I have accrued introduction did, that “at the end of values, it is almost too easy to recount a tremendous intellectual debt to such a review of the past, we return the ways that the George W. Bush Williams. So, to answer the question to the present better informed.”1 administration pursued policies that that began this essay: yes, at least The cover of my 1972 edition fit into Tragedy’s framework. It seems some of us still read Williams, and touted Williams as “America’s unlikely that Williams would have if we are wise we will persist in leading radical historian,” so I been surprised, but I find it hard to reading him for at least the next fifty was a bit surprised to find that imagine that he would not have been years. Williams did not present the United severely disappointed. States as inherently evil or portray Unlike many of the contributors Dustin Walcher is Assistant Professor its aspirations and foundational to this roundtable, I never knew in the Department of History and principles as fatally flawed. The Williams; indeed, I was born a full Political Science at Southern Oregon “tragedy” for Williams was not the decade after he left Madison for the University. absence of ideals or simple greed Oregon coast. Tragedy nevertheless and power-lust on the part of U.S. became central to my professional Notes: policymakers, but rather the hell of development in ways that I did not 1. Bradford Perkins, “’The Tragedy of good intentions, where admirable understand while it was happening. American Diplomacy’: Twenty-Five Years ideals, distorted in their application, As I contemplated attending graduate After,” reprinted in William Appleman subverted the ends. What resonated school to study the history of U.S. Williams, The Tragedy of American with me was not an argument about Page 34 Passport September 2009 open door imperialism, free markets, discrepancies between the two Quoting Oliver Cromwell, Williams or economic determinism, but rather, images.2 It is precisely the historian’s admonishes policymakers and fellow Williams’s lack of cynicism about quest for objectivity and perspective historians alike: “I beseech you, in and indeed championing of the that gives the profession a unique the bowels of Christ, consider that principles at the position from ye may be mistaken.”3 Williams’s core of U.S. foreign which to evaluate legacy lies in the boldness of his policy. Williams Ultimately, The Tragedy and critique these quest, his engagement with the was not dismissive of American Diplomacy is a discrepancies. contemporary issues of his time, in of the value of reminder that ideas matter but Historians like his willingness to take the ideas he American ideals that ideas without reflection Williams are thus critiques seriously and, perhaps most of democracy and or history are as dangerous necessary to break important, in his reminder that we self-determination, as they are vital. We need through the walls too may be mistaken. nor was the book historians to help place these between academia skeptical about ideas in a broader context and policymaking, Vanessa Walker is a Ph.D Candidate the sincerity of so that we remain aware between scholarly in U.S. History at the University of U.S. leaders in of their importance, their pursuits and Wisconsin-Madison and a 2009-2010 espousing those larger meaning, and their civic discourse, Fellow at the University of Virginia's ideals. What he corruptibility. to facilitate Miller Center of Public Affairs. lamented was the new, productive narrowness of debates. The Notes: vision that imprisoned these ideals in history of U.S. foreign relations 1. William Appleman Williams, The counterproductive policies. should not simply be reduced Tragedy of American Diplomacy, 2nd ed. Williams argued that to transcend to a proxy discussion of current (New York, 1972), 13. tragedy, one has to grapple with conflicts and policy issues. However, 2. Ibid., 16. the nation’s mistakes and engage historians should not shy away from 3. Ibid. the ideas of those with whom allowing the present to pose new one disagrees. It is easy to decry questions about the past, challenging corporate greed and power-hungry previous assumptions, and in turn, leaders. It is harder to see that your offering new light on contemporary adversaries share your own best, problems and addressing the gap most sincerely held ideals, and that between intent and outcome. it is precisely those ideals that lead The Tragedy of American Diplomacy to the policies that you so adamantly helped give my undergraduate disagree with. It is indeed the shared studies meaning beyond the Announcement Re: territory of these ideals that makes classroom; it did not ask me to give Diplomatic History the recent debates about the Iraq up my ideals, but encouraged me War, torture as an interrogation to ask how those ideals could be technique, and post-9/11 foreign better served. Thus, as my like- policy so contentious, so personal, minded friends applied to law school, SHAFR Council directed and so painful. When considered the Foreign Service, government immediate publication of the within the framework of a Williams- internships, Teach for America, and following motion on Diplomatic style tragedy, it is clear that the non-profit organizations, I applied to History that it approved at its problem is not, nor has it ever been, graduate school in history. My dog- meeting on June 25, 2009: simply the presence or absence of eared copy of Williams has become a ideals. These debates are not about touchstone for me, not for its content 1) Council approves those who believe in democracy and and analysis, but as a reminder that reappointment of Robert those who do not, those who want history’s importance transcends Schulzinger and Thomas to protect freedom and those who academia. A gift from an inspired Zeiler as Editor-in-Chief and want to destroy it, those who want and dedicated professor, my copy Executive Editor, respectively, to strengthen the United States, also reminds me that excitement for the 2009-2013 term. and those who want to weaken it. and eagerness to learn come, in Rather, the devil is in the details of large part, from relevance and a 2) A notice will be posted translating principles into actions. No teacher’s ability to help students immediately in Passport that nation can be without higher national find those connections between the SHAFR will appoint a ideals, shared values, and good their studies and their world. The committee in 2012 to consider intentions. Yet the ways in which vast majority of our students will applications for the editorship, nations apply these values must be not become historians. Raising for a term beginning in August closely examined so that they do not questions pertinent to both historical obscure the means used to achieve topics and current issues, however, 2013. them, so that ideals do not become can encourage them to think in 3) The current editors will be zealotry, justifying any exploit in fresh ways about the issues they eligible (and cordially invited) their name. face, to debate important ideas, and to submit an application to that Works like The Tragedy of American challenge their own assumptions. Diplomacy are an essential part of a Ultimately, The Tragedy of American committee for reappointment. process of national self-examination. Diplomacy is a reminder that ideas 4) The editor will serve ex In the introduction to Tragedy matter but that ideas without officio on the committee to Williams declared that “history is reflection or history are as dangerous renegotiate the Diplomatic a mirror in which, if we are honest as they are vital. We need historians enough, we can see ourselves as we to help place these ideas in a broader History contract. are as well as the way we would context so that we remain aware like to be,” and he clearly intended of their importance, their larger his book to call attention to the meaning, and their corruptibility. Passport September 2009 Page 35 The View From Overseas

“Evet We Can”: President Barack Oabama’s Visit to Turkey and the State of Turkish-American Relations

Edward P. Kohn

The following essay is part of the View From Overseas, which a favorable opinion of the United States. Even Pakistanis is an occasional series that consists of short pieces written by and Palestinians viewed America more favorably. someone outside of the United States, examining the views Americans and Turks alike wondered what was going held by the people and government in their country about the on. The United States and Turkey were supposed to be United States. SHAFR members who are living abroad, even allies. They were partners in NATO, the Organization temporarily, or who have contacts abroad that might be well- of Economic Cooperation and Development, the positioned to write such pieces are encouraged to contact the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, editor, Mitch Lerner, at [email protected]. and G-20; they cooperated on the Joint Strike Fighter program; and the United States was the most vocal n the eve of President Barack Obama’s April visit supporter of Turkey’s membership in the EU. Certainly to Turkey, the Hurriyet, a nationally circulated Turkey was not happy with the Iraq War and America’s newspaper, summed up the country’s feelings occupation of a neighboring country. The occupation Oabout the United States in a front-page address to the complicated Turkey’s long-standing conflict with the American president. “You come to a country that is a Kurdish paramilitary group, the PKK, as Kurdish fighters friend of the U.S.,” the paper said. “However, our hearts operating out of northern Iraq launched attacks on Turkish have been broken in the last eight years. Now is the time troops. The October 2007 PKK ambush that left seventeen to make repairs.” Indeed, in recent years it has been easy Turkish soldiers dead was widely blamed on the United to forget that the United States and Turkey are allies and States. That same year Turkey withdrew its ambassador that each country would consider an attack on the other to Washington following the introduction of a House the same as an attack on itself. In fact, in 2001, in response resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide of World to September 11, Turkey voted with its NATO allies to War I. invoke Article V of the alliance, stating “an attack on one It is significant that when Turks were asked in 2007 is an attack on all.” In all likelihood the two countries had what exactly they disliked most about the United States, never been closer. many of them said President George Bush. In other Soon after that, however, relations between the United words, Turkish anti-Americanism focused specifically States and Turkey began to go downhill. In 2003 the on the administration and its foreign policy rather than Turkish Parliament refused the United States permission on America or Americans in general. Indeed, Turkish (by a margin of only twelve votes) to use Turkey as a anti-Americanism in those years was largely confined to jumping-off point for the invasion of neighboring Iraq. the press, politicians, and popular culture. There were Secretary of Defense later asserted that no demonstrations in front of the American embassy in Turkey’s move had made American occupation of Iraq Ankara and no protests against Americans in Turkey. The more difficult, implying that the Turkish vote had cost atmosphere in Turkey was in stark contrast to the Vietnam American lives. Shortly after the Iraq invasion, on July era, when students at Ankara’s Middle East Technical 4, 2003, the infamous “hood event,” took place, when University set fire to the American ambassador’s car. American troops captured Turkish military personnel Aside from formal treaties and agreements between operating in northern Iraq and led them away in hoods. Turkey and the United States, there is much that binds Although most Americans remain unaware of this the two countries together. As in much of the rest of the incident, it instantly became notorious among Turks. It world, American culture, including its consumer culture, inspired a best-selling Turkish book, Metal Storm, which has taken deep root in Turkey. Turks drink coffee at describes a war between Turkey and the United States Starbucks while talking on iPhones onto which they have and ends with a Turkish agent exploding a nuclear bomb downloaded the newest Justin Timberlake/Ciara music in Washington, D.C. The “hood event” also formed the video. They watch American television with Turkish basis of a popular Turkish film, the 2006 “Valley of the subtitles, and read American bestsellers translated into Wolves: Iraq.” Both the book and the film were widely Turkish. The Fulbright exchange program regularly brings seen as reflecting a spike in Turkish anti-Americanism, a guest lecturers from American universities, and it affords perception that appeared to be confirmed by the results opportunities for Turkish students to study and conduct of a 2007 poll by the Pew Center. According to this survey research in the United States. Ankara boasts a Turkish- of anti-Americanism in forty-seven countries, Turkey American Association, an American Studies Association, topped the list, with only nine percent of Turks holding and an American Research Institute.

Page 36 Passport September 2009 Aside from the obvious differences between a largely country and waited to see how the new president would Muslim country and one that is largely Judeo-Christian, deal with sensitive issues in Turkish-American relations. there is much to draw the United States and Turkey For a yabanci (foreigner) in Turkey, negotiating Turkish together, even where religion is concerned. Turks and society and history can be like walking through a Americans share a level of religiosity that sets them minefield. Some issues are just too explosive to touch: the apart from the countries of Western Europe. Over ninety situation of the Turkish Kurds, the treatment of minorities, percent of Turks and Americans say they believe in and particularly the mass killings of Armenians. And God, while a 2006 Science magazine poll showed that of certain events and figures of Turkish history, especially thirty-four European countries (plus the United States the Republic’s founder, Ataturk, must be acknowledged and Japan), Turkey and the United States ranked lowest with the greatest respect. No wonder, then, that Turkish in the number of citizens who believe in evolution. students who watched the speech to Parliament with me Such rejection of scientific theory underscores the felt that it resembled “a history lesson.” Obama touched conflict between traditionalism and modernism that on all the expected topics: Ataturk, the , both countries have experienced. In the United States, and the NATO alliance. The gravity of his speech was there is a persistent struggle between advocates of unfortunately marred by a rather lame reference to constitutional separation of church and state and those Turkish NBA players Hedo Turkoglu and Mehmet Okur, who want to institute school prayer and the teaching of which drew only lukewarm applause from an audience creationism in public schools. Since the 1970s Christian made up largely of soccer fans. Obama went on to speak fundamentalism has increasingly asserted itself over the of economic cooperation and America’s support for life, politics, and culture of the United States. A similar Turkish EU membership. The president then congratulated tension exists within Turkey. In 1923 the founder of the Turkey on recent political and civil rights reforms before Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, established the touching on the “terrible events of 1915,” a reference to the principle of secularism for this overwhelmingly Muslim mass killings of Armenians. Cyprus, Palestine and , nation. Women’s headscarves have been banned from the threat of a nuclear Iran, support for Turkish efforts classrooms and from the Turkish Parliament. At the same against PKK “terror,” and Turkish support for America’s time, Turkey has a Department of Religious Affairs that war in Afghanistan all received a prominent place in the authorizes the building of new mosques and actually president’s address. employs every imam. In other words, every Muslim cleric These are the references that Turks took most note of, in Turkey is a civil servant. The state is not separate from while American observers underscored the next part of the “church” in Turkey; instead, the state has co-opted it. the speech as the true reason for the president’s visit to a In such religious countries, religion inevitably slips Muslim country. “So let me say this as clearly as I can,” into the public discourse. In the United States it is hard President Obama said. “The United States is not, and to imagine an avowed atheist ever being elected to the will never be, at war with Islam.” This statement was presidency, as candidates openly discuss their faith. In followed by a lengthy assertion of respect for and a deep Turkey, the wall that divides Islam from society is a fragile appreciation of the Islamic faith and a call for building one indeed. The recently re-elected governing party, the bridges between Christians and Muslims. Then Obama Justice and Development Party (AKP), has its roots in a played his Muslim trump card: “The United States has previously outlawed Islamic political party. The wives been enriched by Muslim Americans,” he declared. “Many of the Turkish prime minister and president both wear other Americans have Muslims in their families or have headscarves at all state and public functions. And the lived in a Muslim-majority country. I know, because I am government has been inching toward an expansion of the one of them.” This statement received warm applause. public and educational role of Islam. For about a week With this affirmation of America’s respect for Islam, in 2008, many female students could be seen wearing the president had achieved the central goal of his trip to headscarves in university classrooms as the Parliament Turkey. The trip and the speech to Turkey’s Parliament briefly enacted a law allowing this display of faith before were a precursor to the president’s June trip to the Middle the Supreme Court finally declared it unconstitutional. East and his address to the Egyptian Parliament. There The government also sought to accredit private religious Obama made a direct reference to his Ankara remark— schools that teach the Koran, thus allowing these schools “The United States is not, and will never be, at war with to be a stepping-stone to a university education. For the Islam”—and thereby underscored once again the common first time in the Republic’s history, banknotes were issued American view that America’s road to the Middle East with portraits of famous Turks other than Ataturk. For goes through Turkey. those Turks who see secularism as a founding pillar of In Turkey, however, the media searched for signs of the Turkish Republic, these measures were a disturbing Obama’s stand on Turkish secularism. President Bush attack on Ataturk’s legacy. They led to a great schism liked to call Turkey a “moderate Islamic state,” a term within Turkey and prompted many prominent Turks to Turkish secularists found insulting. Lumping Turkey rally against the government. The government responded together with the rest of the Muslim world seemed by arresting scores of military personnel and civilians for implicitly to link Turkey with the Arab states and even allegedly plotting a coup. with the kind of Islamic extremism behind the 9/11 Such was the situation in Turkey and in Turkish- terrorist attacks. It did not reflect a true understanding of American relations when Barack Obama arrived in Turkey’s Ottoman and democratic roots. Obama’s April Ankara on April 5. Not since President visited 6 speech to the Turkish Parliament showed that the new in 1999 was an American’s visit to Turkey so warmly American president understood Turkish history and anticipated. Many Turks, especially the young, had closely Turkey’s unique place in the world, as a secular, non-Arab followed the U.S. elections, had watched the Will.i.am Muslim society. “Yes, We Can” video on YouTube, and had noted Obama’s Yet only weeks after Obama’s visit, events showed how familiarity with Islam and his middle name, Hussein. difficult the path would be for Turks and Americans They had heard the line from Obama’s inaugural address: seeking a new way forward. On April 24, the White “To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based House released the president’s statement on Armenian on mutual interest and mutual respect.” While much of Remembrance Day. While Obama assiduously avoided the rest of the world interpreted Obama’s Turkey visit as using the term “genocide,” he did not mince words simply about sending a message to the greater Muslim in describing “the 1.5 million Armenians who were world, Turks saw the visit as being about them and their subsequently massacred or marched to their death in Passport September 2009 Page 37 1933, after he was out of office, and Many of the more than 300 Lindbergh inspect the German by that time Europe and Japan had collections at the Hoover Library aircraft industry and the reorganized begun vigorously rearming. The contain significant documentation Luftwaffe in May of 1936. As a result bulk of Hoover's papers concerning on U.S. foreign relations. Finding of his observations, Lindbergh disarmament can be found in the aids for all of the smaller collections returned to the United States in 1939 Disarmament sub-series of the can be found at http://www. determined to campaign for greater Foreign Affairs series. ecommcode2.com/hoover/research/ military preparations and American For the United States, the historicalmaterials/hmother.html. neutrality. Students of the interwar Manchurian Crisis posed the greatest There are five collections that are years will be delighted to find that threat of war during Hoover’s extraordinarily rich resources for this collection contains not one but administration. The Japanese policy foreign affairs research. William R. three eyewitness accounts of life of expansionism in China accelerated Castle, Jr., was ambassador to Japan, in Germany in the 1930s, including in the late 1920s and early 1930s undersecretary of state, and (briefly) his air intelligence reports and an and became a major concern of the acting secretary of state during autobiography, "Facts of Life," that U.S. government. After Japan seized the Hoover administration, having contains additional comments on his control of Manchuria in late 1931, previously served as a division chief service in Berlin and the aftermath Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson and assistant secretary of state. In his of the Lindbergh-Smith reports. The sent notes to both China and Japan papers there are fourteen containers third account is that of Mrs. Smith, declaring that the U.S. government of diplomatic correspondence, which which she compiled from her diaries. would not recognize any territorial Castle arranged in bound volumes The papers of Hugh R. Wilson or administrative changes the by country, then chronologically. are a very small collection, just four Japanese might impose upon China. A complete index of this containers, consisting primarily In March 1932 the Assembly of the correspondence has not yet been of carbon copies of diplomatic League of Nations unanimously created, so it is very difficult to access correspondence filed alphabetically adopted an anti-Japanese resolution this material in any meaningful by correspondent. Wilson was a incorporating virtually verbatim the way without visiting the research career diplomat who had a knack for Stimson Doctrine of nonrecognition. room. The bound volumes, as well being in exciting places at exciting The Hoover administration's as the remainder of the collection, times. He served in Berlin during response to the crisis is documented are described in detail in the online World War I, Tokyo during the 1923 in the Manchurian Crisis sub-series finding aid. Researchers should also earthquake, and Geneva during the of the Foreign Affairs series. note that Castle's detailed diary is in many peace conferences of the 1920s The Hoover administration also the collection of ; and 30s. He was also ambassador faced an ongoing problem involving a microfilm copy and index are to Germany in 1938 and 1939. In the World War I debts that European available at the Hoover Library. addition to relaying details of his nations owed to American banks and The papers of Irwin B. Laughlin adventures, Wilson's correspondence the U.S. government. In April 1931 are arranged in one large alphabetic illustrates in colorful detail the inner the economies of several European file and consist almost entirely workings of the Foreign Service nations collapsed in rapid succession of diplomatic correspondence. At "family." as a result of the Depression and first glance, much of Laughlin's The papers of Francis White are staggering war debt or reparations correspondence with fellow particularly strong on Latin America. payments. U.S. trade with Europe diplomats appears to be no more After serving in Peking, Tehran and virtually ceased, and European banks than routine diplomatic business. Havana, White became chief of the and governments began to default However, students of the State Division of Latin American Affairs in on American loans. Hoover issued a Department in the period between 1923 and assistant secretary of state public statement in June proposing 1905 and 1933 and biographers of in 1927. White's profound interest a one-year moratorium on World diplomatic figures will be interested and expertise in Latin American War I reparations payments and war in the insights these men’s comments affairs are documented by materials debts. He hoped the moratorium furnish into the operation of accumulated during his service as would give the United States time to the department, their working councilor of the American delegation restructure the crushing payments conditions, and their colleagues. to the Sixth International Conference that were crippling many of Europe’s Three periods in Laughlin's of American States at Havana in economies and aggravating the diplomatic career supply the bulk 1928 and its direct offshoot—the Depression throughout the world. of this collection: 1912-19, when he International Conference of However, Congress pointedly was secretary and councilor of the American States on Conciliation and ignored his request to review the embassy in London; 1924-26, when Arbitration at Washington, 1928- war debts dilemma because there he was minister to Greece; and 1929- 29. He was also a delegate to the was strong public sentiment that 33, when he was ambassador to Fourth Pan American Commercial debtor nations should keep their monarchist and republican Spain. Conference at Washington in 1931 promises to pay. Congress later The collection contains only a small and served as chairman of the issued a declaration opposing any number of documents pertaining Commission of Neutrals for the restructuring of obligations owed to to his earlier service in the Far East, Bolivia/Paraguay dispute in the the United States. The Financial sub- Paris, and Berlin (1903-12). Chaco from 1929 to 1933. White's files series of the Foreign Affairs series The papers of Truman Smith also contain materials documenting deals with the moratorium agreement document his service as American his involvement in the Peru-Colombia and war debts and reparations. military attaché in Berlin from question over Leticia, the Guatemala- Related documents may be found in 1935 to 1939. From this unique Honduras boundary dispute, the State and Treasury Departments vantage point he observed and Panama, the Platt Amendment with sub-series of the Cabinet Offices reported on the rearmament of the Cuba, and the Tacna-Arica Boundary series and under "Business," German army and air forces and Commission. "Chronology of Important Economic the transformation of the German Other collections with substantial and Financial Events," and "Financial economy. In a brilliant stroke, Smith foreign affairs components include Matters" in the Subject File. arranged to have Col. Charles A. the papers of Elmer Bougerie, a Page 38 Passport September 2009 of the Ottoman Empire.” Armenians were his sincere respect for the Muslim world, Obama moved unhappy that Obama did not fulfill previous pledges to the United States away from the dark days when President call the catastrophe a “genocide.” The president’s efforts George W. Bush referred to America’s war in Afghanistan to avoid using the word were probably what prompted as a “crusade.” Just as they responded enthusiastically to Turkish President Gul to issue a relatively mild protest. Bill Clinton’s charisma, Turks embraced Obama as young, He said only that he “didn’t agree with some things” fresh, and different. The American president’s Muslim in Obama’s statement. In turn, Turkish nationalists middle name and African heritage challenged Turks’ long- slammed the government for not protesting the Armenian held view of the United States as a predominantly racist Remembrance Day statement more strongly. country controlled by Jews and Christian fundamentalists. The days following Obama’s visit to Turkey also Because so many aspects of Turkish-American relations witnessed a new round of arrests. Exactly one week after are institutionalized through treaties and economic Obama stood in Parliament and congratulated Turkey agreements, no profound alteration of the status quo is on on liberalizing reforms, police arrested thirty-nine the immediate horizon. Yet by choosing to visit Turkey people, including several current and former rectors of within his first ninety days in office, by showing his Turkish universities, for allegedly plotting a coup against sensitivity to Turkish concerns over secularism and the the government. This so-called “academic wave” of Armenian question, and by reaching out to the Muslim arrests had apparently been planned for some time; the world, Obama may have done more for Turkish-American government delayed them just long enough so that they relations in a single speech than anyone since Harry did not correspond too closely to Obama’s visit. Such Truman in 1947. events showed that long-standing irritations in Turkish- American relations had not simply vanished because of Edward P. Kohn is Assistant Professor of History at Bilkent Obama’s visit to Turkey and would constitute serious University in Ankara, Turkey. obstacles to a truly warm understanding between the two nations. If nothing else, President Obama helped change the tone and rhetoric of Turkish-American relations. By acknowledging Turkey’s secular nature and expressing

Congratulations to the Samuel Flagg Bemis Research Grant Winners! Graduate Students

Dina Fainberg, Rutgers University. Advisor: David Fogelsong ($4,000) Thomas D. Westerman, University of Connecticut. Advisor: Frank Costigliola ($4,000) Jacob Eder, University of Pennsylvania. Advisor: Ronald Granieri ($3,000) Kelly J. Shannon, Temple University. Advisor: Richard Immerman ($3,000) Mara Drogan, State University of New York, Albany. Advisor: Lawrence Wittner ($2,000) Jennifer Miller, University of Wisconsin. Advisor: Jeremi Suri ($2,000) Sudina Paungpetch, Texas A&M University. Advisor: Terry H. Anderson ($2,000) Thomas Field, London School of Economics & Political Science. Advisor: Odd Arne Westad ($2,000) James Wilson, University of Virginia. Advisor: Melvyn P. Leffler ($2,000) Patrick Sharma, UCLA. Advisor: Ellen Carol DuBois ($2,000) Jamie Sedgwick, University of British Columbia. Advisor: George Egerton ($2,000)

Faculty

Sarah E. Cornell, University of New Mexico ($2,000) Megan Threlkeld, Denison University ($2,000)

Passport September 2009 Page 39 SHAFR at Play: Highlights from the 2009 SHAFR Conference in Falls Church, VA

Page 40 Passport September 2009 SHAFR at Play: Highlights from the 2009 SHAFR Conference in Falls Church, VA

Passport September 2009 Page 41 Congratulations!2009 SHAFR Award Winners Stuart L. Bernath Book Prize Stuart L. Bernath Scholarly Article Jason C. Parker Prize Brian Etheridge

Jason C. Parker, Brother’s Keeper: The United States, Race, and The Selection Committee for the Stuart L. Bernath Scholarly Empire in the British Caribbean, 1937-1962 (Oxford: Oxford University Article Prize is pleased to announce that the 2009 recipient is Dr. Press, 2008) Brian Etheridge (Louisiana Tech University). His article, "The Desert In Brother’s Keeper, Jason C. Parker of Texas A&M University has Fox, Memory Diplomacy, and the German Question in Early Cold War produced an outstanding work of multiarchival diplomatic history. America," appeared in the April 2008 edition of Diplomatic History. Parker’s greatest achievement is his success in weaving a coherent Committee members praised the article as being well-written, and compelling narrative out of so many different actors in so many analytically sophisticated, and making a significant contribution to the places. From Washington to Harlem, and from London to Kingston, historiography of U.S. cultural diplomacy. he illuminates a complicated story of imperial rivalry and cooperation --Michael L. Krenn from the late 1930s through World War II and into the Cold War. His Appalachian State analysis weaves together wartime alliances, postwar national security, decolonization, and Caribbean economic development. Parker traveled to twenty-two archives in seven countries to tell the story of the United States’ role in the British Caribbean. Moving outside the halls of state Robert Ferrell Prize power, Parker also sheds light on what he calls the “Harlem nexus,” a network of activists, intellectuals, and immigrants who represented George C. Herring another force shaping U.S. policy toward independence efforts in the West Indies. The result of Parker’s ambitious research is a book that contributes to multiple fields. His skillful analysis of U.S. preference SHAFR’s Robert Ferrell Prize Committee, consisting of Nancy Tucker for a moderate “federation” framework unifying Jamaica, Trinidad, of Georgetown University, Bill Miscamble of Notre Dame University, and and the rest of the British Caribbean offers insight for all historians of myself (as chair) has unanimously agreed to award this year’s Ferrell decolonization. Parker’s account of U.S. concerns with military bases Prize to George C. Herring for his magisterial book, From Colony to and strategic bauxite reserves underscores the 1940s rise of U.S. Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations since 1776, published by Oxford security policy. In addition, his attention to the influence of Caribbean University Press. political leaders and their diasporic allies in the United States, especially in Harlem, provides a political framework on which cultural historians and A contribution to the multi-volume series, The Oxford History of the historians of immigration can ground their studies. In sum, Brother’s United States, George Herring’s book offers a masterful interpretive Keeper embodies both classic multinational diplomatic history and an synthesis of America’s interaction with the wider world, from the era of expanded “big tent” approach to U.S. foreign relations history. We are the Founding Fathers to the Iraq War. In the only thematic volume in that pleased to award the Bernath Prize to this worthy book. distinguished series, he deftly interweaves the story of American foreign --Christopher Endy relations and expansion with the broader story of American history writ California State, Los Angeles large. In so doing, Herring demonstrates the centrality of foreign affairs to the overall history of the United States, from the late 18th century to Stuart L. Bernath Lecture Prize the early 21st. Our committee was extremely impressed with the book’s sweep and Elizabeth Borgwardt breadth, the clarity of its prose, and the balance and sophistication of its interpretive judgments. Despite its nearly 1,000-page length, From The Bernath Lecture Committee takes great pleasure in selecting Colony to Superpower remains a remarkably fast-paced, accessible Elizabeth Borgwardt as the winner of this year’s prize. Elizabeth narrative that should prove as appealing to general readers as it will Borgwardt is one of the brightest, most accomplished individuals in our be invaluable to specialists. Drawing from his own mature and judicious profession today. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at reading of an exhaustive range of primary and secondary sources, and Cambridge University in Great Britain, her juris doctorate at Harvard informed throughout by recent scholarly literature that has emphasized Law School, and her Ph.D. at . She has won four the cultural, ideological, and racial dimensions of U.S. interactions with book prizes, including the Stuart Bernath Prize for her first book, A other states and peoples, Herring has provided an authoritative, up-to- New Deal for the World: America’s Vision for Human Rights. Students date, and broadly conceived account of American diplomatic history. His praise her book for its accessibility, vividness, and wit; scholars for its study speaks to all of the critical themes and covers all of the major erudition, breadth, and originality. Borgwardt’s research shows how the episodes in the history of American foreign relations; and it does so in experiences of economic havoc and war inspired not only Americans, but an incisive, measured, and ofttimes provocative manner. also peoples worldwide to embrace a new vision of the responsibility of humans to one another. A New Deal for the World is especially timely Our committee salutes George Herring for what it considers a today in the face of similar challenges. Elizabeth Borgwardt has been a monumental achievement. We expect that From Colony to Superpower visiting scholar at the University of Heidelberg and the Charles Warren will long remain the standard interpretive overview of the history of Center at Harvard, and is the winner of two awards for teaching. She American foreign relations. This is a book that will be indispensable not is currently associate professor of history at Washington University in just to specialists in U.S. diplomatic history–but to all historians of the Saint Louis. Her work and dedication do honor to the memory of Stuart United States. Bernath. --Robert J. McMahon --Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman Ohio State University San Diego State University

Page 42 Passport September 2009 Historical Resources on Foreign Policy at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum

Spencer Howard

he Herbert Hoover Presidential career as an international mining overshadowed by the beginning Library-Museum is located engineer and consultant and more of the Great Depression at home. in West Branch, Iowa, just a famously through his humanitarian Between the election and the Tfew hundred yards from Hoover's efforts during and after World War I. inauguration, he traveled to Central birthplace and final resting place. Limited documentation of Hoover's and South America, visited with As part of the presidential library mining career, early humanitarian leaders, and began formulating system administered by the work, and involvement with the what would be known as the Good National Archives and Records Wilson administration and relief Neighbor Policy. He promised to Administration, the Hoover Library activities in post-war Europe can improve diplomatic relations and contains approximately 2,500 linear be found in the Pre-Commerce to remove troops that had been feet of the papers of Herbert Hoover subgroup. More detailed records can sent to "keep the peace" in several as well as copies of selected record be found at the Hoover Institution Latin American countries. The groups from the National Archives on War, Revolution, and Peace at records of Hoover's pre-inaugural documenting the activities of federal Stanford University, http://www. trip to Latin America can be found agencies connected to Hoover. The hoover.org/. Hoover's Commerce in the Campaign and Transition library also houses the papers of papers reveal his involvement with subgroup; documents concerning Mrs. Lou Henry Hoover and over 300 many foreign policy initiatives Latin American relations after other collections from individuals during the Harding and Coolidge the inauguration can be found in who worked with Herbert Hoover or administrations, including the World the Presidential Period subgroup were associated with him. Along with Foreign Debt Commission, the early primarily within the Foreign Affairs Hoover's life and presidency, other phases of the St. Lawrence Seaway series and the Subject File series. areas of research interest covered by project, and the rapid expansion of Hoover was an ardent advocate of the manuscript collections include the Commerce Department's Bureau world peace and cooperation between atomic energy, aviation, international of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. nations. He had been a vocal relief work, agricultural economics, The Presidential Period papers proponent of the League of Nations the isolationist movement prior are broken down into a number of after World War I, and as president to World War II, and conservative series, four of which are most useful he supported the establishment political thought in the mid-twentieth for researchers interested in foreign of a World Court and encouraged century. Audiovisual holdings at the policy. The Foreign Affairs series, legislation, defeated in the Senate, to Hoover Library include almost 40,000 which is the most relevant, is divided make the United States a member. still photos, 153,000 feet of motion into seven sub-series by topic. The Documents concerning the World picture film, 420 hours of audio tape, Cabinet Offices series contains Court can be found in the Judicial 19 hours of video tape, 79 audio discs, correspondence between the White sub-series of the Foreign Affairs and transcripts of 443 oral history House and the State Department. series. Hoover also took a strong interviews. Most of the correspondence is purely interest in disarmament, a goal he The Herbert Hoover Papers span administrative, but researchers pursued with even greater urgency Hoover's lifetime from his birth in should not overlook the series, as the Depression began. He believed West Branch in 1874 to his death in because it does contain some that if all nations would cooperate to New York City in 1964. To facilitate hidden gems. The Subject File series reduce expenditures on armaments, research, the library has divided is a large topical file, arranged the money saved could be put to the collection chronologically into alphabetically. Finally, the Secretary's use fighting the Depression through five subgroups, each pertaining File series, the largest series in the public works projects and programs to a distinct period in Hoover's presidential subgroup, contains some to increase employment. He proposed long career of public service: Pre- correspondence, numerous cross- cutting the number of submarines Commerce (1874-1921), Commerce references, and abstracts of letters and battleships in all navies by one (1921-1928), Campaign & Transition referred to various governmental third and sought unsuccessfully (1928-1929), Presidential Period (1929- departments and agencies for to persuade the international 1933) and Post-Presidential Period attention. The cross-references in community to eliminate all bombers, (1933-1964). Guides to the Hoover the Secretary's File are very helpful tanks, and chemical warfare. The Papers can be found online at http:// in developing leads to information London Naval Conference of 1930 www.ecommcode2.com/hoover/ within other series. successfully reduced the rate of research/hooverpapers/index.html. Hoover had hoped to make growth of the navies of the Big Five Before his entry onto the American foreign relations a centerpiece (the United States, Britain, Japan, political stage in the 1920s, Hoover of his administration, but his France and Italy), but the World made a name for himself on the administration's accomplishments Disarmament Conference Hoover international scene, first in his early in foreign affairs were largely called for did not convene until

Passport September 2009 Page 43 Foreign Service officer who served in Africa, Mexico and West Germany in the 1940s and 1950s; Kenneth Call for Contributors Colegrove, a political scientist at Northwestern University who served in Japan as a consultant to the OSS The Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations is and General MacArthur at the end looking for contributors to a new series of lesson plans for of World War II; Roy Tasco Davis, who served as envoy to Guatemala, secondary teachers. Our first set of topics is below. Costa Rica, and Panama and was later named ambassador to Haiti; If you would like to be considered as a contributing editor Edward Durand, an economist who served in the Bureau of Foreign and for one or more of the topics, please submit a one paragraph Domestic Commerce and later served summary of how you would approach the topic and a brief C.V. on the U.S. Tariff Commission; Hugh to the SHAFR Director of Secondary Education, John Tully, at Gibson, a Foreign Service officer who served in Honduras, Cuba, Belgium, [email protected]. Poland and Switzerland and was involved with several disarmament We especially welcome joint submissions from SHAFR members conferences; Henry Holthusen, a Foreign Service officer who served and secondary teachers, so please share this announcement with in Japan, Turkey, and Egypt; Joseph local teachers in your area. E. Johnson, a history professor who served in a variety of roles with the State Department, was a special We have a limited number of stipends available for those envoy to the U.N. Conciliation selected. We would like to have the first draft of the lesson plans Commission for Palestine in 1961 and completed in the fall semester. was involved with the creation of the United Nations; Nathan William MacChesney, who served as U. S. The typical lesson plan will have clear, measurable objectives minister to Canada (unconfirmed) of what the students will learn, a variety of primary sources from 1932 to 1933 and consul general for students to explore, strategies for opening and closing the to Thailand from 1924 to 1954; Hanford MacNider, a businessman lesson, and suggestions for further reading for both teachers and and founder of the American Legion students. who served as minister to Canada from 1930 to 1932; Ferdinand Mayer, a Foreign Service officer who Additional information is available at the SHAFR web site www. served in Canada, Peru, Belgium, shafr.org, under the teaching-secondary education tab. Luxemburg, Germany, and Haiti; and Henry J. Taylor, a journalist and author who served as ambassador to Switzerland from 1957 to 1961. • The Jay Treaty The research room at the Hoover • The Louisiana Purchase Library is open weekdays from 8:45 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. to • War of 1812: Another War for Independence? 4:45 p.m., and is closed on weekends • The United States and the Republic of Texas and federal holidays. Researchers • Slavery and Civil War Diplomacy should bring some form of photo identification with them for • The Philadelphia World’s Fair, 1876 registration. Appointments are • The Philippines after the Spanish-American War not necessary, but researchers are • Wilson’s Vision of the Postwar World strongly encouraged to contact the research room in advance of their • FDR and Great Britain in the 1930s arrival. The archives staff can be • The contacted by email at hoover.library@ • The Marshall Plan nara.gov, telephone (319) 643-5301, or FAX (319) 643-6045. • How “Cold” was the Cold War? • The United States and Iran: Troubled Past Spencer Howard is Archives • Was the about Space? Technician at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum. • The United States and the Middle East: 1945-1967 • Nixon Goes to China • Ronald Reagan and the End of the Cold War • The Bush Doctrine: Old or New Strategy?

Page 44 Passport September 2009 In Memoriam: John E. Taylor

ew archivists can have had as much Records Office, which had been created influence on as many historians as only a few months before. John E. Taylor of the National Archives In an interview on February 3, 2006, with Fand Records Administration. Taylor, who Dr. Tim Nenninger, the head of the modern died at the age of 87 at his Washington military and civil records branch at the home on September 20, 2008, worked at archives who was for many years Taylor's the archives for more than sixty years chief, Taylor said that he had worked part- and probably dealt with more researchers time as a librarian in school but had never than any other staff member. He joined been in an archive.1 When on his first day the archives in the first week of September he walked through the stacks to the office 1945 and specialized first in World War in room 8W, he was struck by the smell II documents and later in the records of of the documents. He later claimed that the OSS (Office of Special Services), the that it was the smell of history rendering CIA, and the NSA. Because books on judgment. After a few days or weeks, he those subjects sell well, and because the started to open document boxes to see authors often thanked him for his help, Photo Courtesy of National Archives II, John what was inside. “I was fascinated, and I Taylor became one of the world's best- Taylor Collection have been fascinated ever since,” he said. known archivists. The more those authors Although his bosses wanted him to published, the more his fame grew. start by taking the course on archival Many researchers revered him for his administration given by a refugee German knowledge of the files—their sources. But they liked him archivist, Dr. Ernst Posner, Taylor declined. He wanted to get because of his avuncular kindness. He would reassure young some experience first. He would take the course later, after researchers, far from home and daunted by the hundreds of files working for seven months. His first assignment was to call they faced, that they could make a contribution to knowledge. up agencies that had borrowed documents from the National He could sense when a researcher seemed adrift, and he Archives and get them back. They would say that they still would suggest looking at some other source. His kindness and needed them. Taylor would say, “That's OK. Just send them back sensitivity were the reason former researchers would telephone to me and I'll recharge them.” Presumably he got a lot of papers him years later from around the world—many of them from back that way. Japan—to tell him of their latest project, to ask for his advice, or He often wondered why more people didn't know about simply to report a marriage or the birth of a child. the National Archives. He heard radio programs about the Many groups honored him. The OSS Society gave him its , about the Smithsonian, but never about the Distinguished Service Award for his decades of work with archives. He soon learned that many of his superiors did not OSS files. The National Archives, the National Intelligence want the public to know about them. “Their attitude, almost, Study Center, the Embassy of Japan, and the American Jewish was, 'We have these records, but by God, we don't want anyone Historical Society gave him awards. The archive’s John E. Taylor to know about it.' I encountered that many, many times,” he Collection of almost 1,000 books on espionage and intelligence, said. many of whose authors he helped, stands as a monument to his The main emphasis of the archives was reference—answering contributions to scholarship. questions from both the public and government agencies. But Taylor's legacy also lies in the many historians he helped. in the years immediately after World War II, many wartime His longevity ensured that he would deal with many young records were flooding into the National Archives. They had to historians and writers who had to discover on their first visit be recorded, cleaned, arranged, listed, boxed, security-cleared, that an archive is not a library and that they had to learn shelved, and given to requestors. Among the first records that different ways of research. From his long-time aerie in Room Taylor worked on were those of the Office of Civilian Defense. 13W in the National Archives building on Pennsylvania Avenue, Then came the War Production Board records in 1947 and Taylor graciously led them through the mazes of record groups the Nuremberg Trial records in 1948 and 1949. Taylor got a and finding aids. He continued to do so when Archives II reputation as the lead archivist for those groups of records. opened in College Park and he met his visitors at a cluttered He was also the savior of the unit records of the American desk in a cubicle off the main reading room. Expeditionary Forces of World War I. His supervisor, Dr. Dallas Taylor said he had a poor memory for names but remembered Irvine, thought that the records of the units could be discarded faces and could connect each face with a research project and because the personnel records sufficed. Taylor disagreed. its problems. Naturally he kept up with new acquisitions, and For a year and a half he kept making up figures when his sometimes he would call researchers when documents that bosses asked him what percentage of the unit records he had might be of interest to them arrived. If he knew of a researcher eliminated that quarter. In the end, he saved them all. And who was working on a project similar to one another person many people were glad he did, because a fire in the St. Louis was starting, he would sometimes call the first researcher to records center destroyed many personnel records and made the ask whether he would talk with the second. He never broke a unit records he had saved all the more valuable. confidence, however, if the first scholar did not want his project Taylor began his work with intelligence records in 1946. discussed. President Harry S. Truman had abolished the OSS abruptly at An Arkansan and a graduate of the University of Arkansas, the end of the war, and many of its records—some 800 linear Taylor became an archivist almost by accident, though he had feet of documents—came to the archives soon afterward. The always enjoyed history. In the summer of 1945, he took the State Department, which had received other OSS records but Civil Service examination and gave as a reference the name of did not want them, subsequently sent 900,000 index cards a teacher he had liked at Arkansas, Fred Harrington, who was and many reports to the archives. Taylor found these records head of the history department. Harrington had done research fascinating. They soon led to an expansion of his responsibilities. at the archives, and someone there called him. He recommended State, which controlled the records of the OSS's Research and Taylor, and the archives hired him and assigned him to the War Analysis Branch even though they were physically at the

Passport September 2009 Page 45 National Archives, allowed users to take notes on the records was also a fixture in the Archives Café. He lunched there each but required that those notes be cleared. Taylor dealt with State's day, usually having a salad, a cherry coke, and frozen yogurt. authorizers and later dealt with authorizers from the FBI and It was easy to spot him: he was the man surrounded by good- the CIA in the same way. He thus became the archivist to whom looking young women. researchers went when they wanted records from those agencies Everyone seemed to have a story about him. His office mate or from the Military Intelligence Division files. and superior, Bob Wolfe, revealed a mischievous side of Taylor. Archivists have to prepare records for use by researchers. “He took great delight in startling me into momentary belief in They refer to this work as “projects.” Some archivists enjoy it: bogus, but plausible, newly discovered records, and chortled they like being in the stacks, working with the documents, and with tongue-in-cheek each time he conned me that way.” not being interrupted by people. Taylor never cared for it. He did Richard Immerman, now at Temple University, felt that what his share of it, as with the AEF records, and he had a desk in the made Taylor unique was less his expertise, less his eagerness stacks. But he preferred working with people and concentrated to help, than his commitment and dedication. “The archives more on dealing with researchers. were his life. I recall doing work at the Modern Military Branch Of the celebrities he dealt with perhaps the most famous years ago. It was November, and it snowed. Washington of was William Casey. Casey had been in the OSS. He would visit course mostly shut down. But the Archives remained open, and Taylor fairly often in 13W. “He would come in, and talk to me I showed up. I was young. So did Taylor. He was not. I had a one- about these records and look at some of the card indexes, maybe on-one with him that day. I won't ever forget it.” look at a few documents. Then he'd jump up, look at his watch: David and Helen Anderson, now of California State University 'Brother Taylor, I have to be in London tomorrow morning. at Monterey, found Taylor very “creative” in helping with I've got to go.'” Casey was still a private-sector lawyer at the Freedom of Information requests. He was also generous and time. He later became Ronald Reagan's campaign manager, and trusting with those he knew were honest. One day Anderson after Reagan was elected he was appointed director of central showed him a note from the son-in-law of General J. Lawton intelligence. But even after he became CIA director he stayed in Collins giving him permission to see his father-in-law's papers. touch with Taylor. “Casey would call me up from time to time. Taylor led Anderson to a small room crowded with library Once or twice in the 1980s I went out to Langley and talked to trucks stacked full of archives boxes and with a copy machine in CIA people about new records coming in here. And the next the next room. He told Anderson to give him a page count when day I would talk to Casey on the phone and say, 'I was in your he finished. He then closed the door and left him with what building,' and he'd boom, 'Why didn't you come to see me?' Anderson calls “the trove of archival treasure. He was a gem.” One day Casey asked Taylor to meet him at his house after Katie Sibley of St. Joseph's University called him “a dear and work. “I grabbed a cab, went up to Northwest Washington. He kind man, always solicitous and helpful, and what an amazing came in, a bit late; I got there before he did. He gave me a drink fount of information. I remember he told me about materials or two, then he turned to me and tossed a manuscript in my in Record Group 319 [army staff], personnel records, which lap. He said, 'I want you to help me edit this manuscript.' I said, I had no idea about, and which connected me to some great 'No way! I am blind in one eye, and by five o'clock my good eye material for my Red Spies book.” When Mark Stoler began his is shot. But I have the person who may be ideal for you.' I gave dissertation research in 1969, he was working in diplomatic and him the name of a friend of mine who had done research in modern military records. Someone suggested he speak with the records at Archives when she was a student. And they hit Taylor about OSS records. Stoler did, and he received invaluable it off, and they both came to Archives a number of times to do advice on material that he used in his dissertation, later research. Casey even came in on Saturdays. But after he died—I published as The Politics of the Second Front. also knew Mrs. Casey; I met her a couple of times, we had talked Stanley Cohen, a Manhattan lawyer, was the force behind the on the phone many times—I called her up and urged her to have American Jewish Historical Society's awards to those unsung the publisher hire this young lady, who had aided her husband heroes of the historical profession, the archivists. One award in the editing of his book. The manuscript he had was in very went to Jacquie Kavanagh, keeper of the written archives of bad shape, but they got the book out.” the BBC, and last year's went to Dr. Saad Eskander, head of the Among the other CIA directors he worked with was Bill Baghdad library and archives. But the first went to John Taylor. Colby, whom he liked “very much.” Colby was “very low key. I “John could obtain documents that we were told never existed,” would see him many times outside of the Archives, outside of Cohen said. “Once when I had a problem obtaining a 1940 the government; each time he'd come up to me and say, 'John, document from the CIA, John called his counterpart there. I I'm Bill Colby.'” He also knew Admiral Stansfield Turner. Turner received a copy a few days later.” “called me up one day and said that he hoped to swing by to see And if I may add my own recollection: I met John in 1963 or me, but he never came. Admiral Turner had a young guy come '64, after Barbara Tuchman's The Zimmermann Telegram cited the in to do the research for him.” National Archives as the location of an important version of the Asked how he saw his role in helping a researcher, Taylor said telegram. I was a newspaperman and had never thought about that whether the researcher was “a student from Georgetown, or archives as a source of information. Tuchman's citation woke a student from Oxford, or a famous writer who has published a me up. I visited the archives and found the telegram (in RG 59, half-a-dozen books,” he would tell them the same thing: “'The State Department). But the archives had much more information more I know about your project, the better I can help you.' Many, on codes. With John's help, I found tons of material that I never many researchers, not the sort of people you're talking about would have thought of and that I used in The Codebreakers. We now [senior authors and researchers], but for many researchers became friends, and our friendship lasted more than 40 years. who come here, it's like pulling teeth to find out exactly what All men and women depend on other human beings in their are they looking for. They are sometimes reluctant to reveal labors. Those of us who write history are no different. We everything, or think that two or three lines are all we need, but I use the documents to tell it as it really was, and we need the often tell researchers that the more we know about your project, specialists who can lead us through the mountains of papers, the better we can provide assistance.” find what we need, and so help us enrich the world's knowledge. When asked about his career, Taylor often said that he “liked it To that high endeavor John Taylor devoted his life. For that we from Day One.” He worked for years in 13W, and as Nenninger thank him, and for that we remember him. told him, “Everybody just sort of reorganized around you and you just sat in the same place! And I know when I first came —David Kahn to the Archives in 1967 to do research I think you were sitting Independent Historian and Author in pretty much the same spot where you were in the early 90s Notes: before we all moved out here!” When asked when he might 1. Nenninger’s interview provided most of the information and retire, Taylor's standard answer was, “Not this week!” Taylor all of the quotes from Taylor in this article. Page 46 Passport September 2009 In Memoriam: Richard H. Zeitlin

r. Richard H. Zeitlin, on the Wisconsin State Historic historian and director of Preservation Review Board and the Wisconsin Veterans the Dane County Cultural Affairs Museum,D died on December 3 Commission, both of which he after a short but courageous battle chaired, and was a member of with cancer. He was 63 years old. the Board of Presidential Advisers A native of New York City, for the National World War II Zeitlin earned his B.A. degree Museum in New Orleans. He from Queens College of the worked frequently with SHAFR City University of New York members and invited many of them in 1966 and his M.A. and Ph.D. to lecture at the Veterans Museum. degrees from the University of He was also an active member of Wisconsin-Madison in 1969 and the Society for Military History 1973. In Madison he studied and organized two memorable with Professors Allan Bogue, SMH conferences in Madison: a Edward M. Coffman and Thomas special 1998 regional conference in McCormick, among others. He honor of Edward M. Coffman and worked for the State Historical the highly successful 2002 annual Society of Wisconsin and operated conference. an historical consulting firm before Richard Zeitlin’s knowledge joining the Wisconsin Veterans of and interest in history were Museum as curator in 1980. In legendary. So were his warmth, 1982 he became its director. kindness and gentleness, as well When Zeitlin joined the as his incredible smile. These Wisconsin Veterans Museum it attributes, together with his consisted of a room in the State impressive managerial skills, Capitol building dedicated to Civil helped make the Wisconsin War relics. Under his direction Veterans Museum the outstanding a new state-of-the-art museum institution that it is today. They was constructed between 1989 also gave many of us a friend and and 1993. Zeitlin supervised this colleague whom we treasured and major redevelopment, working will never forget. closely with designers and Zeitlin is survived by his historical experts to create an children Samuel and Eleanor internationally-known military Zeitlin, who are presently students history institution. He continued in Munich and New York; his to direct the museum and presided mother Mildred Zeitlin of New over its continued success until his York City; his brother and sister- death. At that time it contained in-law Dr. Alan and Sherri Zeitlin; over 20,000 objects, hosted a Photo Courtesy of Wisconsin Veterans Museum his niece Brigitte Zeitlin; and his major annual lecture series by significant other Jackie Johnson of internationally-known diplomatic as well as military historians, Madison, Wisconsin. He was buried in New York on December attracted an average of 11,000 visitors each month, and provided 7, and a memorial service was held at the Veterans Museum on a moving educational experience for veterans and non-veterans March 21—which would have been his 64th birthday. A room alike. Zeitlin also remained active with the Wisconsin State dedication and historical conference in his honor are being Historical Society and was a frequent consultant for as well planned for the fall at the Veterans Museum, with details to as guest on local and statewide media. Wisconsin Secretary follow. A special fund has also been established in his honor. of Veterans Affairs John A. Scocos referred to him as a “state Donations can be sent to the Wisconsin Veterans Museum treasure.” Foundation, Attn: Richard Zeitlin Memorial Fund, PO Box 2657, Zeitlin also published a series of books and articles, primarily Madison, WI 53701-2657, or by visiting the Foundation’s website but not exclusively on Wisconsin history, military history and at www.wvmfoundation.com. the Civil War. These included Germans in Wisconsin (1977, 1985, 1991, 2000), All for the Union: Wisconsin in the Civil War —Mark A. Stoler (1998), The Flags of the Iron Brigade (1997), U.S.S. Wisconsin: University of Vermont A History of Two Battleships (1988), and Old Abe the War Eagle (1986) He also taught U.S. military history at both Edgewood College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He served

Passport September 2009 Page 47 SHAFR Council Minutes Thursday, June 25, 2009 8:30am – 12:00 noon Presidential Boardroom Fairview Park Marriott Falls Church, Virginia

Present: Frank Costigliola (presiding), Jeffrey Engel, Brian Etheridge, Catherine Forslund, Peter Hahn, Richard Immerman, Paul Kramer, Mitch Lerner, Erin Mahan, James Matray, Meredith Oyen, Jaideep Prabhu, Stephen Rabe, Andrew Rotter, Chapin Rydingsward, Thomas Schwartz, Sara Wilson, Thomas Zeiler

Business Items

(1) Announcements Costigliola called the meeting to order at 8:30 A.M. and thanked everyone for attending.

(2) Motions passed by e-mail Hahn reported that since last meeting Council approved the January 2009 minutes and agreed to name the SHAFR Junior Faculty Research Grants after William Appleman Williams.

(3) 2008 election Costigliola declared that Council would sit in Executive Session to discuss the 2008 election. After a long and thorough discussion about the conduct of the 2008 election, Council unanimously passed the following resolution: The President seeks endorsement of Council for his having appointed an ad hoc committee to make recommendations for improving SHAFR’s procedures for nominating and electing officers. Said committee is now headed by Richard Immerman and includes Tom Schwartz, Arnie Offner, Catherine Forslund, and Kathryn Statler. The pool for appointees was former presidents, current Council members, and the current chair of the Nominating Committee. This committee is now doing its work and will report to Council with its recommendations in January 2010. For a number of years, SHAFR has been considering how to regularize its nominating and electing process and whether to move toward an electronic ballot. There has been concern with the consistently low voter turnout. The Council especially thanks Stephen Rabe for urging SHAFR to update and perfect its electoral procedures. Council also advised that a graduate student should be appointed to the ad hoc committee and Costigliola named Meredith Oyen to that role. Costigliola ended the Executive Session portion of the meeting.

(4) Report on 2010 SHAFR Summer Institute Schwartz reported on a recent proposal from Carol Anderson and Thomas Zeiler to host at Emory University the 2011 Summer Institute on the topic “Human Rights, Globalization, and Empire.” It was noted that Emory’s proximity to the Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta would appeal to SHAFR members. Schwartz also reported that the committee had yet to received proposals for the 2010 Summer Institute. He noted that the committee is considering Texas, which would take advantage of the Johnson Presidential Library in Austin. Immerman asked if the Institute would continue to alternate between faculty and graduate student formats as originally stipulated. Costigliola answered in the affirmative, but noted that exceptions would be permitted on a case-by-case basis. Hahn added that the Institute need not coincide with the SHAFR conference nor be hosted in the region where the organizers reside. Oyen raised the issue of timing, noting that it would be difficult for scholars residing overseas to attend a mid-summer institute. Schwartz thanked Council for its advice and promised to report back on the committee’s progress.

(5) Motion to authorize appointment of editorial board for web-site Costigliola stated that Ethridge was doing an excellent job as SHAFR Webmaster. He informed Council that in light of recent concerns regarding some of the content of the SHAFR blogs, Ethridge has requested the creation Page 48 Passport September 2009 of an editorial board. After a brief discussion, Council unanimously passed a motion advising appointment of a three person editorial board to oversee the blogs posted on shafr.org. Zeiler recommended that the board consult with the editorial staff at H-diplo.

(6) Motion to reestablish life membership option Costigliola briefly discussed SHAFR’s life membership option. It was noted that in 2004 the cost of life membership was $500 (ten times the annual rate). Due to an oversight, the lifetime option was dropped from the Blackwell website. Blackwell recently inquired if SAHFR wished to renew this option. Costigliola advised Council to formulate a position regarding lifetime membership. It was noted that according to Blackwell, at $500 the price of life membership in SHAFR would be considerably below the industry standard. Blackwell also indicated that if set at $1,200 (twenty-four times the annual rate) SHAFR life membership would be consistent with the rate of the other societies whose membership Blackwell manages. For comparative purposes, Hahn reported that life time membership in the AHA stands at $2,600 (approximately twenty times the annual rate) and that the OAH offers a discount to members with 50 years of past membership but does have a life option. It was additionally noted that Blackwell would treat life membership revenue in the same way as regular member revenue and thus the money would go into the journal's account to form part of the total revenue that goes to SHAFR's royalty. Council discussed the relative merits of reinstating the lifetime membership option. Hahn emphasized that lifetime membership fees would increase revenue during the purchasing year but would eliminate a potential source of income flow in subsequent years. Prabhu advised Council to consider offering a 10-year membership option. Rotter noted that many individuals purchase lifetime membership in organizations for symbolic reasons. Council members also expressed interest in a sliding scale model (employed by both the AHA and OAH) in which membership dues increase relative to an individual’s annual income. When consensus emerged that there was little support for life memberships, Costigliola moved table the issue. The motion passed unanimously.

(7) Motion regarding editorship of Diplomatic History Costigliola asked Council to discuss the following motions regarding editorship of Diplomatic History: 1) Council approves reappointment of Robert Schulzinger and Thomas Zeiler as Editor-in-Chief and Executive Editor, respectively, for the 2009-2013 term. 2) A notice will be posted immediately in Passport that the SHAFR will appoint a committee in 2012 to consider applications for the editorship, for a term beginning in August 2013. 3) The current editors will be eligible (and cordially invited) to submit an application to that committee for reappointment. During discussion it was noted that consultation by Costigliola with a number of people in the field yielded the following consensus: 1) The present editors are doing a superb job with the journal. The quality and variety of the articles and the metrics are first rate. 2) SHAFR should not, however, abandon the principle that the editorship is for a defined four-year term. The journal is now in excellent hands. There is no guarantee that SHAFR would be so fortunate with future editors. 3) Given the sizable SHAFR subsidy to the journal and the opportunities for support of graduate students, the editorship is a plum as well as a serious responsibility. In fairness the editorship should be rotated, though stability is also very important. 4) Passage of the draft motion should help ensure continued excellence and stability for the journal while also opening the chance for others to consider applying for the editing the premier journal in our field.

In discussion, Council approved an amendment to the original motion stipulating that “the editor will serve ex officio on the committee to renegotiate the Diplomatic History contract.” As amended, the motion passed unanimously.

(8) Potential changes in subscription rates for Diplomatic History Zeiler reported that institutional subscription rates for Diplomatic History would increase by a minimum of 9.5% in 2010 as stipulated in the Blackwell contract. Council affirmed that it did not wish to raise this rate of increase. Hahn reported that Blackwell requested Council to contemplate raising individual rates, which are currently below the industry standard. Costigliola noted that Blackwell had previously suggested this measure but Passport September 2009 Page 49 that it decided to maintain the current rate as a recruitment tool during the 2009 annual conference. Other advantages of low membership rates were also indicated. It was suggested low rates are part of a broader strategy is to expand the base of the organization. After further discussion, Council unanimously passed a motion to maintain the current membership rates.

(9) Report from Ad Hoc Committee on SHAFR Elections Immerman reported that the Ad Hoc Committee (Catherine Forslund, Richard Immerman, Arnold Offner, Thomas Schwartz, Mark Stoler, and Meredith Oyen) is scheduled to meet over the weekend. In the coming months, the committee will produce a series of recommendations to be considered at next Council meeting. Discussion ensued. Immerman noted that approximately one-third of SHAFR members do not provide e-mail addresses. This would pose a problem if SHAFR moved to electronic voting. Costigliola suggested that a request for email addresses be sent out with the paper ballots during the 2009 elections. Hahn noted that email accounts are often left dormant or abandoned all together and that 100-200 messages bounce back when an e-mail circular is sent. Zeiler and Prahbu suggested that SHAFR use a social networking site, such as Facebook, to communicate with and gather information from its members.

(10) SHAFR banking arrangements Hahn informed Council that National City Bank, where SHAFR has maintained savings and checking accounts since 2002, was recently bought out by PNC. Hahn recommended that Council approve a special account offered by PNC in which funds are automatically transferred between checking to savings to maintain proper balance and to provide a higher interest rate. While SHAFR has made use of this offer on a trial basis (with Costigliola’s approval), the bank requires formal approve by Council to continue the arrangement. After discussion, Council passed a motion authorizing the arrangement. Hahn also reported that local media in Ohio reported that PNC’s purchase of National City Bank was prompted by its near collapse in summer 2008. In light of FDIC coverage caps of $250,000 per account holder per bank, Hahn recommended that SHAFR open an additional account at Huntington Bank or another bank in Columbus, in order to distribute cash holdings between two banks as a means to ensure FDIC coverage of all reserves. He noted that sending surplus reserves to the Endowment would be another option, although the Endowment accounts have declined in recent years. After discussion, Council unanimously passed a resolution authorizing Hahn to open an additional account at Huntington Bank or another bank in Columbus. Hahn informed Council that he had recently looked into electronic payments as a potential alternative to SHAFR’s current practice of issuing paper checks. Some recipients of SHAFR fund have stressed the convenience of electronic deposits. However, Hahn’s initial research indicated that the fees associated with such means were relatively high in relation to the small number of monthly checks issued. Additional issues concerning data security and collection were also stressed in support of SHAFR continuing to rely on paper checks.

(11) Bemis and Williams allocations for 2010 Hahn briefly summarized the Bemis Research Grant program, which was created in part to protect SHAFR’s public charity status. Council allocated $35,000 in 2007 and $32,000 in 2008 and 2009. Hahn advised Council to decide on the level of funding for 2010. He noted that the Blackwell subsidy is scheduled to increase during the next year and that SHAFR could safely maintain its current level of funding during calendar year 2010. Matray recommended that Council disconnect the administration of the Bemis and Williams grants from the endowment. After further discussion, a motion to allocate a $32,000 for the 2010 Bemis/Williams Research Grant Program passed unanimously. Council agreed that the current ratio (28 to 4) between graduate student grants and junior faculty grants should continue to guide the committees with the understanding that this ratio could be renegotiated if necessary.

(12) Motion from Ways & Means Committee Schwartz reported that the committee looks favorably upon an application issued by Kyle Longley requesting SHAFR’s support of an upcoming conference at Arizona State University scheduled for March-April 2010. The Committee recommended that SHAFR co-sponsor the conference with a grant of $1,000, on the condition that it be repaid at the conclusion of the conference and matched by other contributions in the proposal. After discussion, the motion passed unanimously.

Page 50 Passport September 2009 (13) Motion of memoriam In honor of Ernest May, Schwartz introduced the following resolution SHAFR notes with deep sorrow and regret the death of Ernest Richard May, the Charles Warren Professor of History at Harvard University, and Past President of SHAFR, on June 1, 2009. Ernest May was one of the world’s leading authorities on the history of international relations, and his published work over the last fifty years had a major impact on the field. His first book, The World War and American Isolation, 1914-1917, won the George Louis Beer Prize of the American Historical Association in 1959. He went on to produce such definitive and influential books and essays including as Imperial Democracy: The Emergence of the United States as Great Power (1961), “Lessons of the Past: The Use and Misuse of History in American Foreign Policy(1972) , The Making of the Monroe Doctrine(1974), Knowing One’s Enemies: Intelligence Assessment Between the Two World Wars (ed. and contributor, 1985), Thinking in Time: Uses of History for Decision Makers (with Richard Neustadt, 1986), The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House During the (with Philip Zelikow, 1997), and Strange Victory: Hitler’s Conquest of France(2000). Ernest May was also a historical consultant for the Central Intelligence Agency, and his pioneering work in intelligence history led to his role as a senior advisor to the September 11 Commission. Along with John Steinbrunner and Thomas W. Wolfe, May authored the History of the Strategic Arms competition, 1945-1972, for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. At the time of his death he was still an active teacher and scholar at Harvard, offering courses at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Ernest Richard May was born in Fort Worth Texas on November 19, 1928. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1948 and his doctorate in 1951 from UCLA. He served in the Navy during the Korean War and joined the Harvard faculty in 1954. He is survived by his wife, Susan Wood, and three children from his first marriage, and three grandchildren. He is also survived by a half-century of doctoral and undergraduate students, who cherished his teaching and supervision of their work, and who will dearly miss this gentle and sweet man. Council unanimously passed the Memorial Resolution.

Reports

(14) Passport Lerner reported that the Mershon Center at Ohio State University had recently rejected a $3,800 grant requested for Passport. As emphasized at previous meetings, Lerner noted that the Mershon funds – which Passport has consistently received in the past – were never guaranteed. He also stressed that the rejection does not reflect any displeasure by the Center with Passport or the field of diplomatic history. Importantly, Passport (and SHAFR) will maintain its office suite at the Mershon Center. Lerner informed Council that the loss of the Mershon funds have been partially offset by the recent agreement with Blackwell to bundle Passport with its shipment of Diplomatic History. This arrangement has been in place for the previous two mailings and will save at least $5,000 annually. Lerner estimated Passport’s expenses for the coming year at approximately $8,450 with $1,300 in estimated revenue. For comparative purposes, it was noted that former SHAFR Newsletter was produced at a cost of $10,000 per year. It was additionally reported that both Hahn and Lerner believe it appropriate to increase the pay of Passport’s editorial assistant from $500 to $750 per issue. Lerner briefed Council on Passport’s transition to Blackwell mailing services. He noted that, as requested by Blackwell, he aligned Passport to an April-September- January schedule to align it with the publication of Diplomatic History. Initial complications in the workflow at Blackwell have been resolved. Lerner also noted that Blackwell failed to mail the April 2009 issue to approximately 500 members because of an electronic glitch. Passport promptly emailed SHAFR members with a link to a pdf version of the entire issue, and Blackwell, at its own expense, reprinted and mailed hard copies to the 500 members in question. Noting the high value of the SHAFR office at the Mershon Center, Hahn suggested that Council pass a resolution thanking the Mershon Center for the space. Costigliola moved that Council approve funding Passport as requested at the usual and customary rates. The motion passed unanimously. Council also passed a resolution acknowledging the Mershon Center and the valuable support it has given to Passport and SHAFR over the years.

(15) Diplomatic History Zeiler reported that Diplomatic History is flourishing. There is a backlog of book reviews and while article

Passport September 2009 Page 51 submissions have risen considerably, the acceptance rate had continued to decline. The journal received 110 total submissions, including 95 new submissions. The number of new submissions had increased 94% since 2004 and the acceptance rate stands at 21%. Over the past year, circulation and subscriptions have gone up by 4.5% and 8% respectively. It was additionally noted that consistent with its desire to promote greater diversity, the journal has recently welcomed two female members to the board and currently has ten female scholars on its list of reviewers. Zeiler encouraged Schwartz to organize a special DH issue in honor of Ernest May.

(16) State Department Historical Advisory Committee Zeiler summarized recent developments related to the HAC. He reported that the inspector general’s investigation into allegations of mismanagement at the Office of the Historian resulted in the reassignment of personnel. Searches are underway for a new director as well as FRUS chief editor. Zeiler encouraged Council members to recommend candidates for either position. In discussion ensued, Council members advised that Council remain abreast of the situation in the Historian’s Office. Zeiler advised the Council invite the next Office of the Historian director to meet with Council to discuss relevant issues. He noted that the SHAFR committee on historical documentation is currently responsible for monitoring the situation at the Office of the Historian. Council was reminded that the HAC currently includes three SHAFR members, and that SHAFR is authorized to nominate one member of HAC. Immerman noted that Bob McMahon, SHAFR’s most recent nominee, is now chair of the HAC. Costigliola directed Council to continue to discuss SHAFR’s cooperative relationship with the HAC via email. (17) Website Ethridge reported that traffic to the SHAFR web-site has increased significantly since the websites re-launch in January. Utilizing information derived from Google analytics, Ethridge noted that since January 1 the website has had more than 24,000 visits, including 13,000 unique visits. 49% of the traffic came through search engines, 35% from direct traffic, and 16% from referring sites. A significant portion of the new traffic is the result of increased visibility of shafr.org on the World Wide Web. It was noted, for instance, that 4,000 visits since January 1 had originated with a google search of “Afghanistan War 2001,” which currently ranks shafr.org as the third most popular site. Regarding internal traffic patterns, Ethridge noted that 533 visits have landed on the “join SHAFR” page. Ethridge stated that SHAFR’s inaugural team of bloggers were very productive, although submissions came in spurts. To address this issue, he recommended increasing the overall number of bloggers while decreasing the volume required of each individual. Ethridge also reported continued difficulties in recruiting scholars to write op-eds. In light of the increased popularity and visibility of shafr.org, Ethridge encouraged Council to expand the original content offered on the website, noting that if traffic continued to increase over the next two years, SHAFR could be in a position to derive advertising revenue from the website. Ethridge testified to the considerable amount of time and resources that would be required if Council chooses to continue its online services and outreach. Etheridge welcomed Council advice and questions. Lerner highlighted Ethridge’s valuable contribution, stressing the significant amount of time and energy required of the Webmaster. Immerman urged Council to devise a comprehensive online strategy that would address issues of expansion, lay-out, and new services while also gauging more accurately the amount of work that would be required to pursue and maintain such goals. Costigliola agreed and noted that Council ought to reconsider the Webmaster’s annual stipend. Zeiler suggested advised Council to consider creating a committee to deal with issues related to electronic submissions. Etheridge thanked Council for its support and guidance during the past six month. He concluded by emphasizing the great potential for the expanded website to serve as a platform connecting the SHAFR and the SHAFR community to the broader public while simultaneously generating interest (and increasing membership) in the Society itself.

(18) 2009 annual meeting Kramer thanked Sara Wilson for her invaluable work on behalf of the conference. He reported that under Costigliola’s directive to expand the audience and participant pool of annual conference, the 2009 conference committee (Paul Kramer Chair, Carol Anderson, Dirk Bonker, Anne Foster, Amy Greenberg, Naoko Shibusawa, and Salim Yaqub) issued a broad call for papers that was widely publicized in print journals as well as on sixty H-Net listservs. In response to its outreach, the committee received an unprecedented number of proposals including 100 for panels and 45 for individual papers. The committee also received 20 applications for Divine travel funds and 25 applications for SHAFR’s Diversity/International Outreach fellowships. Page 52 Passport September 2009 Following a rigorous selection process and with Council’s approval, the committee decided to approve 82 panels, with approximately 380 presenters (28% female), representing scholars from 17 countries outside the US (the UK, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Norway, Switzerland, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, Israel). Approximately 25% of the presenters are graduate students, and 32% of the presenters on the program (120 individuals), identified themselves as first-timers at SHAFR. Despite an 8% drop out rate, Kramer reported that 2009 would be the best-attended SHAFR conference ever. The committee awarded 7 Divine fellowships (ranging from $200 to $500 for a total of $2,500) and 21 Diversity/ International Outreach Fellowships (15 at $1,000 and 6 at $1,650 for a total of $24,900). Diversity/International Outreach recipients included 8 women as well as scholars from the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Israel, and Russia. Kramer urged Council to maintain the expanded format in subsequent years, which he believed would benefit the conference, the organization and the field all at the same time. He also expressed support for the Diversity/ International Outreach fund, as an effective tool for attracting new scholars to SHAFR. He also offered two recommendations for the 2010 conference: 1) The committee strongly advised against the plan for soliciting rejected applicants with an offer of discounted membership and instead recommended that first timers to SHAFR who had papers accepted receive the discounted membership offer. 2) The committee recommended that SHAFR increase allocations to the Divine fellowship. Kramer expressed his pleasure serving as program committee chair, noted his readiness to assist the 2010 program committee and thanked Council for its support throughout the planning process. During discussion, a consensus emerged recognizing the need to gauge the membership reaction to the expanded format and to determine how panel attendance faired under the new system. Costigliola identified shafr.org as potential tool to solicit conference feedback. Wilson reported that more than 500 individuals had pre-registered for the conference, 75 tickets had been sold for the social event, and a team of volunteers had been assigned to take headcounts at each of the panels. Wilson advised Council to consider returning to the Falls Church Marriott in 2011. The unusually high number of break out rooms and the hotel’s proximity to the Metro were identified as unique benefits of the 2009 venue. Anna Nelson had mobilized a team of volunteers on behalf of the Local Arrangements Committee to conduct local and media outreach. Wilson also urged Council make larger strides to bring SHAFR into web 2.0. It was noted that new web applications proved very useful for circulating collective documents and for creating email groups, but that SHAFR could do more to promote and feature the annual conference on the website. She suggested the use of interactive features, such as blogs and pictures. Along these lines, it was recommended that SHAFR bypass paypal by creating an independent payment system within shafr.org. During discussion, several members supported the idea of using the website to gauge the membership’s reaction to both the expanded format and the Falls Church/Marriot experience. Costigliola said that he would contact Ethridge in this regard. Council expressed its gratitude to Kramer, Wilson, and the local arrangements and program committees.

(19) 2010 annual meeting Rotter reported that the 2010 conference will be held in at the University of Wisconsin. The program committee is composed of Naoka Shibusawa (co-Chari), Anne Foster (co-chair), Kristen Hoganson, Dirk Bonker, Jason Colby, Carol Anderson, Salim Yaqub, and Amy Greenberg. Jeremi Suri will head the local arrangements committee.

(20) 2011 annual meeting Rotter reported that in 2011 the annual meeting will be held in the Washington D.C. metro area. The specific conference site has yet to be determined. Rotter noted that Council will need make a decision after assessing the relative merits of the Falls Church experience, the Westfields Marriot (site of the 2007 conference), and the possibility of returning to a campus site.

(21) Endowment Matray reported on SHAFR’s investment package. He noted that the endowment had lost 22.9% during the last year. As of March 1, 2009 the endowment stood at $853,000 having lost approximately 34% since November 2007. Due to a slight up tick in the market, the endowment currently stands at approximately $968,000 and over the last six months the endowment had only lost 3% of its value. Matray noted that he was not optimistic regarding the sustainability of current market trends and expressed agreement with Hahn’s previous Passport September 2009 Page 53 recommendation that Council maintain the current level of spending but that it proceed cautiously and avoid any major new initiatives. He also recommended that Hahn be given the authority to make the decisions necessary to render more efficient his task of managing SHAFR’s finances.

(22) Dissertation Completion Fellowships Hahn reported on behalf of Emily Rosenberg and the SHAFR Dissertation Fellowship Committee. This year the committee received 35 applications (12 from women). The committee felt that the quality was a bit higher than the previous year. There was also broad diversity in terms of field and of nationality of applicants. Although most of the applicants (and all of the winners) were historians, the award also attracted applications from several other disciplines. This year the winners were Ryan Irwin from The Ohio State University and Mara Drogan from The State University of New York, Albany. Irwin's dissertation, entitled "Race and Revolution: White Redoubt in the Postcolonial Decade, 1960-1970," focuses on the apartheid debate as a lens for analyzing the relationship between decolonization and the Cold War during the 1960s. Drogan's dissertation, entitled "Atoms for Peace, U.S. Foreign Policy, and the Globalization of Nuclear Technology, 1955-1960," analyzes the many bilateral agreements signed under the Atoms for Peace program. The committee found that many of the projects were potentially excellent, but that the proposals themselves often lacked sufficient clarity and consistency. The committee recommended that future proposals convey: 1) a sense of the overall research questions, historiographical contributions, and lines of argument; 2) an explicit statement explaining the archival sources that have been used; 3) a clear timetable of work that has been and needs to be completed. The committee suggested that a statement to this effect could be coordinated with next year’s committee and posted along with the announcement. The committee also noted that some applicants had applied the previous year, raising the possibility that, with the poor job market, people may delay finishing and hope to tack on an additional year of support through this program. While there may be nothing wrong with this, if the fellowship is designed to support the “final year,” repetitive applications may raise a question of policy. The committee also expressed it strong support for the Dissertation Completion fellowships as an effective way to increase SHAFR’s visibility and membership. Council unanimously passed a motion to disqualify those applicants for the Dissertation Completion Fellowship who have already applied for said fellowship on two prior occasions.

(23) Betty Miller Unterberger Prize On behalf of committee chair Linda Qaimmaqami, Hahn announced that the Betty Miller Unterberger Dissertation Prize of 2009 was awarded to Gregory R. Domber, of George Washington University with honorable mentions to Nicole Phelps and Meredith Oyen. The committee also recommended that SHAFR issue certificates to applicants receiving honorable mentions. Council approved this recommendation.

(24) Adjournment Costigliola concluded the meeting by thanking everyone for attending. The meeting adjourned at 12:15 pm.

Respectfully submitted, Peter L. Hahn Executive Director

PLH/c r

Page 54 Passport September 2009 ma iplo tic P D ou e c h h T

1. Personal and Professional Notes Frank Costigliola (UConn) received a 2009-10 fellowship from the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. John Tully (Central Connecticut State) won both the Board of Trustees Teaching Award for Central Connecticut State University and the Board of Trustees Teaching Award for the four universities in the Connecticut State University system. Jonathan Reed Winkler (Wright State) won the 2008 Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Naval History Prize and the 2009 Distinguished Publication Award from the Ohio Academy of History for his book Nexus: Strategic Communications and American Security in World War I (Harvard University Press, 2008). Jeremi Suri has become the E. Gordon Fox Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin.

2. Research Notes "How Much is Enough?": The U.S. Navy and "Finite Deterrence” National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 275, edited by William Burr President Obama's call for a "world without nuclear weapons" immediately raised questions such as: how do you get there; what does deterrence actually require before you get there; and how many nuclear weapons would be involved at each step. Exactly these questions of "how much is enough" were raised fifty years ago in secret debate within the U.S. government, when Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Arleigh Burke argued that a small force of mainly nuclear missile-launching Polaris submarines was enough for deterrence. Burke and Navy leaders developed a concept of "finite" or "minimum" deterrence that they believed would make the United States safer because it would dissuade nuclear attacks while removing pressures for a dangerous "hair- trigger" posture. In early 1960, when Eisenhower's budget director Maurice Stans was told that the U.S. Navy's Polaris missile-launching submarines could "destroy 232 targets, which was sufficient to destroy all of Russia," he asked defense officials, "If POLARIS could do this job, why did we need other … ICBMs, SAC aircraft, and overseas bases?" According to Stans, the answer "he had received ... [was] that was someone else's problem." An electronic briefing book of declassified documents obtained through archival research and published for the first time by the National Security Archive shows how the U.S. Navy tried to take responsibility for this "problem" by supporting a minimum deterrent force that would threaten a "finite" list of major urban- industrial and command centers in the heart of the Soviet Union. With their capability to destroy key Soviet targets, Burke believed, the virtually undetectable and invulnerable Polaris submarines could "inflict terrible punishment" and deter Moscow from launching a surprise attack on the United States or its allies. By contrast, Burke saw land-based missile and bombers as vulnerable to attack, which made the U.S.-Soviet nuclear relationship dangerously unstable. While he did not propose eliminating all strategic bombers and ICBMs, he believed that a force of about 40 Polaris submarines (16 missiles each) was a reasonable answer to the question "how much is enough?" Although the Kennedy administration rejected Burke's concept, years later former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara revived it by arguing that 400 nuclear weapons were "enough" to deter a Soviet attack. The Archive's briefing book includes: • A report by Admiral Roy Johnson arguing that the proper basis of deterrence lay in the "assured delivery of rather few weapons," which was "sufficient to inflict terrible punishment." Even "10 delivered weapons would produce a major disaster with fully a quarter as many casualties as the first hundred." • A speech by Arleigh Burke in which he argued that Polaris submarines would mitigate the vulnerabilities of strategic forces, but would also "provide time to think in periods of tension" making possible gradual retaliation as well as opportunities for "political coercion, if we like, to gain national objectives more advantageous than simple revenge." • The record of Burke's conversation with the Secretary of the Navy, where, having lost a major bureaucratic

Passport September 2009 Page 55 conflict over the direction of nuclear targeting, he declared that Air Force leaders were "smart and ruthless ... it's the same way as the Communists; it's exactly the same techniques." • Burke's inside "Dope" newsletter to top Navy commanders where he declared that hair-trigger nuclear response capabilities and preemptive nuclear strategies were "dangerous for any nation" because they could initiate a "a war which would not otherwise occur." This is the first in a series of electronic briefing books that will document moments during the Cold War when top officials considered radical changes in the U.S. nuclear posture, involving significantly smaller strategic forces. More powerful forces and conflicting policy imperatives defeated these proposals, but they are nonetheless worth revisiting because their proponents raised searching questions about nuclear strategy that were never properly addressed during the Cold War. For more information, contact: William Burr 202-994-7000 http://www.nsarchive.org

The Diary of Anatoly Chernyaev, 1989 National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 275 The National Security Archive has published its fourth installment of the diary of Anatoly Chernyaev, the man who was behind some of the most momentous transformations in Soviet foreign policy in the end of the 1980s, in his role as ’s main foreign policy aide. In addition to his contributions to and new thinking, Anatoly Sergeevich was and remains a paragon of openness and transparency, providing his diaries and notes to historians who are trying to understand the end of the Cold War. This section of the diary, covering 1989––the year of miracles––is published here in English for the first time. For more information, contact: Svetlana Savranskaya 202-994-7000 http://www.nsarchive.org

Soviet Withdrawal from Afghanistan National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 272 Twenty years ago, the commander of the Soviet Limited Contingent in Afghanistan Boris Gromov crossed the Termez Bridge out of Afghanistan, thus marking the end of the Soviet war that lasted almost ten years and cost tens of thousands of Soviet and Afghan lives. As a tribute and memorial to the late Russian historian, General Alexander Antonovich Lyakhovsky, the National Security Archive has posted on the Web a series of previously secret Soviet documents including Politburo and diary notes published here in English for the first time. The documents suggest that the Soviet decision to withdraw occurred as early as 1985, but the process of implementing that decision was excruciatingly slow, in part because the Soviet-backed Afghan regime was never able to achieve the necessary domestic support and legitimacy. The Soviet documents show that ending the war in Afghanistan, which Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev called "the bleeding wound," was among his highest priorities from the moment he assumed power in 1985 -- a point he made clear to then-Afghan Communist leader Babrak Karmal in their first conversation on March 14, 1985. Already in 1985, according to the documents, the Soviet Politburo was discussing ways of disengaging from Afghanistan, and actually reached the decision in principle on October 17, 1985. For more information, contact: Svetlana Savranskaya and Thomas Blanton 202-994-7000 http://www.nsarchive.org

Page 56 Passport September 2009 The Vassiliev Notebooks The Cold War International History Project has recently published the Vassiliev Notebooks, a collection of detailed notes on Soviet intelligence activities in the United States from 1930-1950. The 1,115-page collection was complied by former KGB officer and journalist Alexander Vassiliev during his two years of research in the KGB archive. Drawing upon operational files, personnel files, and other KGB documents, the notebooks shed new light upon important aspects of early Cold War history. Though Vassiliev's access was not unfettered, the pages of densely handwritten notes that he was able to take comprise additional evidence on such topics as Alger Hiss, the Rosenberg case, and "Enormous," the massive Soviet effort to gather intelligence on the Anglo- American atomic bomb project. The notebooks can be accessed on-line at the web page of the Cold War International History Project at: http:// www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=topics.documents&group_id=511603

Global Cold War: New Parallel History Project (PHP) Collections on The PHP is pleased to announce its latest documentary collections. Prof. Surjit Mansingh from American University in Washington, DC portrays Indo-Soviet relations in the Khrushchev-Nehru era from an Indian perspective. Drawing on hitherto unknown archival evidence, she argues that despite their contrasting views on international affairs, Jawaharlal Nehru and Nikita Khrushchev managed to establish a mutually beneficial relationship between their countries. Mansingh's essay is accompanied by selected documents from the National Archives of India and the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, made available by the PHP for the first time. Covering the same period from a different angle, Dr. Andreas Hilger from Hamburg University follows up on his previous work on Indo-Soviet relations under Stalin. He characterizes Soviet policies toward India as hampered by a number of structural, ideological, and economic factors. Hilger's essay is based on documentary evidence from the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History (RGANI), the Archive of the Parties and Mass Organizations of the Former GDR (SAPMO), and the Political Archives of the German Foreign Office. For further information, visit the web pages: http://www.php.isn.ethz.ch/collections/colltopic. cfm?lng=en&id=96318 and http://www.php.isn.ethz.ch/collections/colltopic.cfm?lng=en&id=56154

George Kennan Papers The Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library at Princeton University is pleased to announce the completion of the processing of the George F. Kennan Papers. Kennan, a diplomat and historian, is best known for his "Long Telegram" and the subsequent "X" article in Foreign Affairs in which he advocated a new course in U.S.-Soviet relations that became known as "containment." Kennan was involved in diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union throughout most of his distinguished career in the U.S. Foreign Service and, as a historian at the Institute for Advanced Study, he analyzed the Soviet Union's history and politics. The processing project, funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), integrated the 16 linear foot collection that had been open since the 1970s with over 100 linear feet of previously-restricted material. Beginning on March 17, 2009, all of the papers became available for research use. The majority of the new material dates from 1950 to 2000 and is composed of an extensive correspondence file and writings file, including his diaries and unpublished works. For more information on the collection, please see the finding aid at: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/n009w2294. The Mudd Manuscript Library is open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and until 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday evenings during the academic year. Summer hours are 8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Monday through Friday and until 7:15 p.m. on Wednesdays. No appointment is necessary, but registration, including the presentation of photo identification, is required to use the holdings. Further information about conducting research at Mudd library can be found at the following website: http://www.princeton.edu/~mudd/research/. For further information, contact: [email protected]

New Evidence on 's Chollima Movement and First Five-Year Plan (1957-1961) The Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) is pleased to announce a new publication from the Wilson Center's North Korea International Documentation Project: New Evidence on North Korea's Chollima Passport September 2009 Page 57 Movement and First Five-Year Plan (1957-1961). The collection was specially prepared for the joint NKIDP-United States Institute of Peace conference, the 2009 "'New DPRK Revolutionary Upsurge'--A Blast from the Past or a New Path?" and contains newly obtained documentary evidence on North Korean political and economic developments in the late 1950s from Polish, (East) German, Chinese, and Czech archives. The 25 documents contained in the reader shed new light on the events surrounding the launch of the Chollima movement, a campaign designed to increase production and to subordinate individual thoughts and actions to the needs of the collective. The Chollima movement took its name from a mythical winged horse that could travel 1,000 li, or 400 km, in one day, and exhorted the North Korea people to work as hard as the legendary horse. The documents place recent government efforts to revive the Chollima movement into a broader historical context. New Evidence on North Korea's Chollima Movement was assembled and edited by NKIDP Coordinator James Person, with indispensable assistance from Tim McDonnell, Bernd Schaefer, Gregg Brazinsky, and Jakub Poprocki. Like all NKIDP publications, it is available for download free of charge from the CWIHP website. For further information, visit the web page at: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=topics. home&topic_id=1409.

CIA Declassified Histories of the Vietnam War The CIA has released six volumes that describe the CIA's role in Indochina during the Vietnam War. Written by Thomas L. Ahern, Jr., these histories are based on extensive research in CIA records and on oral history interviews of participants. The release totals some 1,600 pages and represents the largest amount of Vietnam- era CIA documents yet declassified. These histories can be accessed on-line at: http://www.foia.cia.gov/vietnam.asp.

3. Announcements:

CFP: "Cold War Politics and American Ethnic Groups" The Journal of American Ethnic History, the official journal of the Immigration and Ethnic History Society, announces its call for article submissions for a special issue on "Cold War Politics and American Ethnic Groups." The overall goal of this special issue is to study the experience of American ethnic groups, political refugees, and immigrants during the Cold War period from a variety of perspectives. The volume seeks to uncover the diverse ways in which American ethnic groups were affected by the foreign relations, intelligence, and defense strategies of both the U.S. and the communist regimes. This issue also aims to discuss the effect that certain ethnic groups had or tried to have on American foreign policy and what techniques they used for this. In addition, the issue explores how Cold War politics shaped internal dynamics within American ethnic and immigrant communities. Defining the Cold War era as the continuing opposition between the U.S. and the USSR, the historical period covered in this volume spans from the late 1940s until the end of the 1980s. We strongly encourage submissions that use sources from recently opened archives both in the U.S. and former-communist countries. We are looking for historically based studies that use primary materials from within the ethnic groups themselves. Submissions covering both European and non-European ethnic groups are welcome. Deadline for receipt of manuscripts is December 1, 2009. Please address all manuscript submissions and questions to: Ieva Zake, Guest Editor Assistant Professor Department of Sociology Rowan University Glassboro NJ 08028 856-256-4500, ext. 3515 [email protected]

Page 58 Passport September 2009 CFP: 2010 Policy History Conference Columbus, Ohio, June 2010 The Journal of Policy History and the Institute for Political History are holding the sixth biennial Conference on Policy History at the Hyatt on Capitol Square Hotel in Columbus, Ohio from June 3-6, 2010. We are currently accepting paper proposals on all topics regarding the history, development, and implementation of public policy; American political development; and comparative historical analysis. We encourage the submission of complete sessions, but individual paper proposals are welcome. The editors of the Journal of Policy History encourage conference presenters to submit their papers for possible publication. For questions regarding conference content or program information, please contact David Robertson at [email protected], Amy Bridges at [email protected], or Paula Baker at [email protected]. Please direct general inquiries to the conference coordinator, Cynthia Stachecki, at policyhistoryconference@gmail. com. Paper proposals must be received by December 30, 2009. Proposals must include one (1) copy of each of the following: 1. Panel/Paper Description and Contact Information Page This document should be the first page of your paper or panel proposal. The Panel/Paper Description and Contact Information Page Template can be downloaded from the conference web page at: http://www.slu.edu/ departments/jph/2010%20Call%20for%20Papers.html. 2. A one (1) page summary of each paper 3. A one (1) page C.V. of each panelist Please send materials to: Policy History Conference Journal of Policy History Saint Louis University 3800 Lindell Blvd. P. O. Box 56907 St. Louis, MO 63156-0907

CFP: Perspectives on Cross-Cultural History Saint Louis University, March 19-20, 2010 The Study Group on Cross-Cultural History and the History Department at Saint Louis University invite proposals for papers that explore the changes that take place when different cultures interact. The chronological range is from the 16th to the 20th centuries. We are also interested in the theoretical underpinnings of studying such interactions. Proposals should include the following: a one-page abstract of the paper, name and institutional affiliation of the author, the author's brief c.v., postal address, phone number, and e-mail address. For panel proposals, please include a one-page description of the session's themes. Complete proposals should be e-mailed as attachments in MS Word to [email protected]. The deadline for submissions is November 15, 2009. Contact e-mail: [email protected]

Encyclopedia of US-Latin American Relations We are seeking contributors to the Encyclopedia of US-Latin American Relations, a comprehensive multivolume reference work consisting of over 800 entries to be published in 2010. Entries provide historical context to people, events, organizations, policies, treaties, and conflicts central to the political history of the Western Hemisphere and detail the political-cultural interconnections between the U.S. and the countries of Latin America, including Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. The A-Z volume is intended for a broad audience in universities and public libraries, ideal for use by students, professors, and general readers. For more information, contact: Thomas Leonard

Passport September 2009 Page 59 University of North Florida [email protected]

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars 2010-2011 Fellowships The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars announces the opening of its 2010-2011 Fellowship competition. The Center awards approximately 20-25 academic year residential fellowships to individuals from any country with outstanding project proposals on national and/or international issues. Topics and scholarship should relate to key public policy challenges or provide the historical and/or cultural framework to illuminate policy issues of contemporary importance. Applicants must hold a doctorate or have equivalent professional experience. Fellows are provided stipends (which include round trip travel), private offices, access to the Library of Congress, Windows based personal computers, and research assistants. The application deadline is October 1, 2009. For more information and application guidelines please contact the Center at: [email protected]. 202-691-4170 (phone) 202-691-4001 (fax) http://www.wilsoncenter.org/fellowships.

Fellowship at the Institute For Advanced Study School of Historical Studies, Princeton, NJ The Institute For Advanced Study, School of Historical Studies, is an independent private institution founded in 1930 to create a community of scholars focused on intellectual inquiry, free from teaching and other university obligations. Scholars from around the world come to the Institute to pursue their own research. Those chosen are offered membership for a set period and a stipend. The Institute provides access to extensive resources including offices, libraries, subsidized restaurant and housing facilities, and some secretarial services. Open to all fields of historical research, the School of Historical Studies' principal interests are the history of western, near eastern and Asian civilizations, with particular emphasis upon Greek and Roman civilization, the history of Europe (medieval, early modern, and modern), the Islamic world, East Asian studies, the history of art, the history of science, philosophy, modern international relations, and music studies. Candidates of any nationality may apply for a single term or a full academic year. Residence in Princeton during term time is required. The only other obligation of Members is to pursue their own research. The Ph.D. (or equivalent) and substantial publications are required. Information and application forms may be found on the School's web site, www.hs.ias.edu. For further information, contact: Marian Zelazny Administrative Officer (609) 734-8300 [email protected] School of Historical Studies Institute for Advanced Study Einstein Drive Princeton, NJ 08540

Abe Fellowship Competition The Social Science Research Council (SSRC), the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (CGP), and the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) announce the annual Abe Fellowship competition. The Abe Fellowship is designed to encourage international multidisciplinary research on topics of pressing global concern. The Abe Fellowship Program seeks to foster the development of a new generation of researchers who are interested in policy-relevant topics of long-range importance and who are willing to become key members of a bilateral and global research network built around such topics. Applicants are invited to submit proposals for research in the social sciences and related fields relevant to any of the following three themes: 1) Traditional and Non-Traditional Approaches to Security and Diplomacy Page 60 Passport September 2009 Topic areas include transnational terrorism, internal ethnic and religious strife, infectious diseases, food safety, climate change, and non-proliferation, as well as the role of cultural initiatives in peace building. 2) Global and Regional Economic Issues Topic areas include regional and bilateral trade arrangements, globalization and the mitigation of its adverse consequences, sustainable urbanization, and environmental degradation. 3) Role of Civil Society Topic areas include demographic change, immigration, the role of NPOs and NGOs as champions of the public interest, social enterprise, and corporate social responsibility. Research projects should be policy relevant, contemporary, and comparative or transnational. Terms of the fellowship are flexible and are designed to meet the needs of Japanese and American researchers at different stages in their careers. The program provides Abe Fellows with a minimum of three and maximum of 12 months of full-time support over a 24 month period. Part-time residence abroad in the United States or Japan is required. Applicants must hold a Ph.D. or the terminal degree in their field, or equivalent professional experience. Applications from researchers in professions other than academia are encouraged. For further information and to apply, contact: http://fellowships.ssrc.org/abe [email protected]

National Humanities Center Fellowships Research Triangle Park, North Carolina The National Humanities Center offers 40 residential fellowships for advanced study in the humanities during the academic year, September 2010 through May 2011. Applicants must hold doctorate or equivalent scholarly credentials. Young scholars as well as senior scholars are encouraged to apply, but they must have a record of publication, and new PhDs should be aware that the center does not support the revision of a doctoral dissertation. In addition to scholars from all fields of the humanities, the center accepts individuals from the natural and social sciences, the arts, the professions, and public life who are engaged in humanistic projects. The center is also international and gladly accepts applications from scholars outside the United States. Most of the center's fellowships are unrestricted. Several, however, are designated for particular areas of research. These include environmental studies and history; English literature; art history; French history, literature, or culture; Asian Studies; and theology. Fellowships are individually determined, the amount depending upon the needs of the fellow and the center's ability to meet them. The center seeks to provide at least half salary and also covers travel expenses to and from North Carolina for Fellows and their dependents. Located in the Research Triangle Park of North Carolina, near Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh, the center provides an environment for individual research and the exchange of ideas. Its building includes private studies for fellows, conference rooms, a central commons for dining, lounges, reading areas, a reference library, and a fellows' workroom. The center's noted library service delivers books and research materials to fellows, and support for information technology and editorial assistance are also provided. The center locates housing for fellows in the neighboring communities. Fellowships are supported by the center's own endowment, private foundation grants, alumni contributions, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Applicants submit the center's form, supported by a c.v., a 1,000-word project proposal, and three letters of recommendation. You may request application material from Fellowship Program, National Humanities Center, P.O. Box 12256, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709- 2256, or obtain the form and instructions from the center's web site at http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/. Applications and letters of recommendation must be postmarked by October 15, 2009. For further information, contact: [email protected].

Visiting Scholars Program Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center University of Oklahoma The Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center at the University of Oklahoma seeks applicants for its Visiting Scholars Program, which provides financial assistance to researchers working at the Center's archives. Awards of $500-$1000 are normally granted as reimbursement for travel and lodging. The Center's holdings include the papers of many former members of Congress, such as Robert S. Kerr, Fred

Passport September 2009 Page 61 Harris, and Speaker Carl Albert of Oklahoma; Helen Gahagan Douglas and Jeffery Cohelan of California; Sidney Clarke of Kansas; and Neil Gallagher of New Jersey. Besides the history of Congress, congressional leadership, national and Oklahoma politics, and election campaigns, the collections also document government policy affecting agriculture, Native Americans, energy, foreign affairs, the environment, the economy, and other areas. Topics that can be studied include the Great Depression, flood control, soil conservation, and tribal affairs. At least one collection provides insight on women in American politics. Most materials date from the 1920s to the 1990s, although there is one Nineteenth Century collection. The Center’s collections are described on the World Wide Web at http://www.ou.edu/special/albertctr/archives/ and in the publication titled A Guide to the Carl Albert Center Congressional Archives (Norman, Okla.: The Carl Albert Center, 1995) by Judy Day, et al., available at many U. S. academic libraries. Additional information can be obtained from the Center. The Visiting Scholars Program is open to any applicant. Emphasis is given to those pursuing postdoctoral research in history, political science, and other fields. Graduate students involved in research for publication, thesis, or dissertation are encouraged to apply. Professional researchers and writers are also invited to apply. The Center evaluates each research proposal based upon its merits, and funding for a variety of topics is expected. No standardized form is needed for application. Instead, a series of documents should be sent to the Center, including: (1) a description of the research proposal in fewer than 1000 words; (2) a personal vita; (3) an explanation of how the Center's resources will assist the researcher; (4) a budget proposal; and (5) a letter of reference from an established scholar in the discipline attesting to the significance of the research. Applications are accepted at any time. For more information, contact: Archivist Carl Albert Center 630 Parrington Oval University of Oklahoma Norman, OK 73019 (405) 325-5835. FAX: (405) 325-6419

4. Upcoming SHAFR Deadlines:

The Stuart L. Bernath Lecture Prize The Stuart L. Bernath Lecture Prize recognizes and encourages excellence in teaching and research in the field of foreign relations by younger scholars. The prize of $1000 is awarded annually. Eligibility: The prize is open to any person under forty-one years of age or within ten years of the receipt of the PhD whose scholarly achievements represent excellence in teaching and research. Nominations may be made by any member of SHAFR or of any other established history, political science, or journalism department or organization. Procedures: Nominations, in the form of a letter and the nomineeís c.v., should be sent to the Chair of the Bernath Lecture Committee. The nominating letter should discuss evidence of the nominee is excellence in teaching and research. The award is announced during the SHAFR luncheon at the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians (OAH). The winner of the prize will deliver a lecture during the SHAFR luncheon at the next yearís OAH annual meeting. The lecture should be comparable in style and scope to a SHAFR presidential address and should address broad issues of concern to students of American foreign policy, not the lecturerís specific research interests. The lecturer is awarded $1,000 plus up to $500 in travel expenses to the OAH, and his or her lecture is published in Diplomatic History. To be considered for the 2009 award, nominations must be received by February 28, 2010. Nominations should be sent to: Walter Hixson, University of Akron, Department of History, Arts & Science Building 216, 302 Buchtel Common, Akron, OH 44325-1902 (email: [email protected]).

The Stuart L. Bernath Scholarly Article Prize The purpose of the prize is to recognize and encourage distinguished research and writing by young scholars in the field of diplomatic relations. The prize of $1,000 is awarded annually to the author of a distinguished

Page 62 Passport September 2009 article appearing in a scholarly journal or edited book, on any topic in United States foreign relations. Eligibility: The author must be under forty-one years of age or within ten years of receiving the Ph.D. at the time of the articleís acceptance for publication. The article must be among the first six publications by the author. Previous winners of the Stuart L. Bernath Book Award or the Myrna F. Bernath Book Award are ineligible. Procedures: All articles appearing in Diplomatic History will be automatically considered without nomination. Other nominations may be submitted by the author or by any member of SHAFR. The award is presented during the SHAFR luncheon at the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians. To nominate an article published in 2009, send three copies of the article and a letter of nomination to Lien- Hang T. Nguyen, University of Kentucky, Department of History, 1715 Patterson Office Tower, Lexington, KY 40506-0027. Email: [email protected]. Deadline for nominations is February 1, 2010.

The Stuart L. Bernath Book Prize The purpose of the award is to recognize and encourage distinguished research and writing by scholars of American foreign relations. The prize of $2,500 is awarded annually to an author for his or her first book on any aspect of the history of American foreign relations. Eligibility: The prize is to be awarded for a first book. The book must be a history of international relations. Biographies of statesmen and diplomats are eligible. General surveys, autobiographies, editions of essays and documents, and works that represent social science disciplines other than history are not eligible. Procedures: Books may be nominated by the author, the publisher, or any member of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations. A nominating letter explaining why the book deserves consideration must accompany each entry in the competition. Books will be judged primarily in regard to their contributions to scholarship. Winning books should have exceptional interpretative and analytical qualities. They should demonstrate mastery of primary material and relevant secondary works, and they should display careful organization and distinguished writing. Five copies of each book must be submitted with a letter of nomination. The award will be announced during the SHAFR luncheon at the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians. The prize will be divided only when two superior books are so evenly matched that any other decision seems unsatisfactory to the selection committee. The committee will not award the prize if there is no book in the competition which meets the standards of excellence established for the prize. To nominate a book published in 2009, send five copies of the book and a letter of nomination to SHAFR Bernath Book Prize Committee, Department of History, Ohio State University, 106 Dulles Hall, 230 West 17th Avenue, Columbus OH 43210. Books may be sent at any time during 2009, but must arrive by December 1, 2009.

The Norman and Laura Graebner Award The Graebner Award is a lifetime achievement award intended to recognize a senior historian of United States foreign relations who has significantly contributed to the development of the field, through scholarship, teaching, and/or service, over his or her career. The award of $2,000 is awarded biannually. The Graebner Award was established by the former students of Norman A. Graebner, professor of diplomatic history at the University of Illinois and the University of Virginia, to honor Norman and his wife Laura for their years of devotion to teaching and research in the field. Eligibility: The Graebner prize will be awarded to a distinguished scholar of diplomatic or international affairs. The recipientís career must demonstrate excellence in scholarship, teaching, and/or service to the profession. Although the prize is not restricted to academic historians, the recipient must have distinguished himself or herself through the study of international affairs from a historical perspective. Procedures: Letters of nomination, submitted in triplicate, should (a) provide a brief biography of the nominee, including educational background, academic or other positions held, and awards and honors received; (b) list the nomineeís major scholarly works and discuss the nature of his or her contribution to the study of diplomatic history and international affairs; (c) describe the candidateís career, note any teaching honors and awards, and comment on the candidateís classroom skills; and (d) detail the candidateís services to the historical profession, listing specific organizations and offices and discussing particular activities. Self- Passport September 2009 Page 63 nominations are accepted. Graebner awards are announced at SHAFR’s annual meeting. The next deadline for nominations is March 1, 2010. Submit materials to Marc Gallicchio, Department of History, Villanova University, 403 St. Augustine Center, 800 Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, PA 19085. Email: [email protected]).

Arthur S. Link-Warren F. Kuehl Prize for Documentary Editing The Link-Kuehl Prize is awarded for outstanding collections of primary source materials in the fields of international or diplomatic history, especially those distinguished by the inclusion of commentary designed to interpret the documents and set them within their historical context. Published works as well as electronic collections and audio-visual compilations are eligible. The prize is not limited to works on American foreign policy, but is open to works on the history of international, multi-archival, and/or American foreign relations, policy, and diplomacy. The award of $1,000 is presented biannually (odd years) to the best work published during the preceding two calendar years. The award is announced at the SHAFR luncheon during the annual meeting of the American Historical Association. Procedures: Nominations may be made by any person or publisher. Send three copies of the book or other work with letter of nomination to Jeffrey P. Kimball, Miami University, 724 Melinda Drive , Oxford, OH 45056. Email: [email protected]. To be considered for the 2011 prize, nominations must be received by November 15, 2010.

The Myrna F. Bernath Book Award The purpose of this award is to encourage scholarship by women in U.S. foreign relations history. The prize of $2,500 is awarded biannually (even years) to the author of the best book written by a woman in the field and published during the preceding two calendar years. Eligibility: Nominees should be women who have published distinguished books in U.S. foreign relations, transnational history, international history, peace studies, cultural interchange, and defense or strategic studies. Membership in SHAFR is required. Procedures: Books may be nominated by the author, the publisher, or any member of SHAFR. A nominating letter explaining why the book deserves consideration must accompany each entry in the competition. Books will be judged primarily in regard to their contribution to scholarship. Three copies of each book (or page proofs) must be submitted with a letter of nomination. The award is presented during the SHAFR luncheon at the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians. The deadline for nominations for the 2010 prize is December 1, 2009. Submit required materials to Frank Ninkovich, St. Johns University, History Department, St. John Hall Room 244-G, St. John’s University, 8000 Utopia Parkway, Queens, NY 11439. Email: [email protected]).

5. Recent Publications of Interest

Arato, Andrew. Constitution Making Under Occupation: The Politics of Imposed Revolution in Iraq (Columbia, 2009). Bedford, Kate. Developing Partnerships: Gender, Sexuality, and the Reformed World Bank (Minnesota, 2009). Bischof, Guenter, and Ursula Mathis-Moser, eds. Acadians and Cajuns: The Politics and Culture of French Minorities in North America (Acadiens et Cajuns : Politique et culture de minorités francophones en Amérique du Nord), Canadiana Oenipontana, Vol. IX (Innsbruck, 2009). Bischof, Guenter, Fritz Plasser and Barbara Stelzl-Marx, eds. New Perspectives on Austrians and World War II, Contemporary Austrian Studies, Vol. XVII (Transaction, 2009). Bunt, Gary R. iMuslims: Rewiring the House of Islam (North Carolina, 2009).

Page 64 Passport September 2009 Calder, Kent E. Pacific Alliance: Reviving U.S.-Japan Relations (Yale, 2009). Carlisle, Rodney. Sovereignty at Sea: U.S. Merchant Ships and American Entry into World War I (Florida, 2010). Carter, Ralph G., and James M. Scott. Choosing to Lead: Understanding Congressional Foreign Policy Entrepreneurs (Duke, 2009). Case, Holly. Between States: The Transylvanian Question and the European Idea during World War II (Stanford, 2009). Cohen, Stephen F. Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War (Columbia, 2009). Connery, Christopher, and Hortense Spillers. The Sixties and the World Event (Duke, 2009). Divine, Donna Robinson. Exiled in the Homeland: Zionism and the Return to Mandate Palestine (Texas, 2009). Dwyer, John J. The Agrarian Dispute: The Expropriation of American-Owned Rural Land in Postrevolutionary Mexico (Duke, 2008). Elias, Robert. The Empire Strikes Out: Baseball and the Rise (and Fall) of the American Way Abroad (New Press, 2009). English, Richard. Terrorism: How to Respond (Oxford, 2009). Ettinger, Patrick. Imaginary Lines: Border Enforcement and the Origins of Undocumented Immigration, 1882-1930 (Texas, 2009). Fletcher, Laurel E., and Eric Stover. The Guantánamo Effect: Exposing the Consequences of U.S. Detention and Interrogation Practices (California, 2009). Gaeta, Paola. The UN Genocide Convention: A Commentary (Oxford, 2009). Goldman, Shalom L. Zeal for Zion: Christians, Jews, and the Idea of the Promised Land (North Carolina, 2010). Greenberg, Ela. Preparing the Mothers of Tomorrow: Education and Islam in Mandate Palestine (Texas, 2009). Haynes, John Earl, Harvey Klehr, and Alexander Vassiliev. Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America (Yale, 2009). Hendrickson, David C. Union, Nation, or Empire: The American Debate over International Relations, 1789–1941 (Kansas, 2009). Hilton, Matthew. Prosperity For All: Consumer Activism in an Era of Globalization (Cornell, 2009). Jones, Howard. Blue and Gray Diplomacy: A History of Union and Confederate Foreign Relations (North Carolina, 2010). Kastor, Peter J., and François Weil. Empires of the Imagination: Transatlantic Histories of the Louisiana Purchase (Virginia, 2009). Kelsay, John. Arguing the Just War in Islam (Harvard, 2009). Laderman, Scott. Tours of Vietnam: War, Travel Guides, and Memory (Duke, 2009). Litvak, Meir, and Ester Webman. From Empathy to Denial: Arab Responses to the Holocaust (Columbia, 2009). McCrossen, Alexis. Land of Necessity: Consumer Culture in the United States-Mexico Borderlands (Duke, 2009). Merrill, Dennis. Negotiating Paradise: U.S. Tourism and Empire in Twentieth-Century Latin America (North Carolina, 2009). Milam, Ron. Not a Gentleman's War: An Inside View of Junior Officers in the Vietnam War (North Carolina, 2009). Paterson, Thomas G., J. Garry Clifford, Deborah Kisatsky, Shane J. Maddock, and Kenneth J. Hagan. American Foreign Relations: A History, Vol. 1: To 1920; Vol. 2: Since 1895 (Wadsworth, 2009). Pease, Donald E. The New American Exceptionalism (Minnesota, 2009). Pegler-Gordon, Anna. In Sight of America: Photography and the Development of U.S. Immigration Policy (California, 2009). Piehler, G. Kurt, and Sidney Pash, eds. The United States and the Second World War: New Perpectives on Diplomacy, War, and the Home Front (Fordham, 2009). Prados, John. Vietnam: The History of an Unwinnable War, 1945–1975 (Kansas, 2009). Ram, Haggai. Iranophobia: The Logic of an Israeli Obsession (Stanford, 2009). Roberts, Timothy Mason. Distant Revolutions: 1848 and the Challenge to American Exceptionalism (Virginia, 2009). Schwab, Stephen Irving Max. Guantánamo, USA: The Untold History of America’s Cuban Outpost (Kansas, 2009). Seigel, Micol. Uneven Encounters: Making Race and Nation in Brazil and the United States (Duke, 2009).

Passport September 2009 Page 65 Skya, Walter A. Japan's Holy War: The Ideology of Radical Shinto Ultranationalism (Duke, 2009). Springer, Devin R., James L. Regens, and David N. Edger, Islamic Radicalism and Global Jihad (Georgetown, 2009). Steuer, Kenneth A. Pursuit of an Unparalleled Opportunity: The American YMCA and Prisoner of War Diplomacy Among the Central Power Nations During World War I, 1914-1923 (Columbia, 2009). Sweig, Julia E. Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford, 2009). Takeyh, Ray. Guardians of the Revolution: Iran and the World in the Age of the Ayatollahs (Oxford, 2009). Taylor, Jay. The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China (Harvard, 2009). Tønnesson, Stein. Vietnam 1946: How the War Began (California, 2009). von der Goltz, Anna. Hindenburg: Power, Myth, and the Rise of the Nazis (Oxford, 2009). Walker, William O., III. National Security and Core Values in American History (Cambridge, 2009). Walzer, Michael, and Nicolaus Mills, eds. Getting Out: Historical Perspectives on Leaving Iraq (Pennsylvania, 2009). Wittner, Lawrence S. Confronting the Bomb: A Short History of the World Nuclear Disarmament Movement (Stanford, 2009). Young, John. Twentieth Century Diplomacy: A Case Study in British Practice, 1963-76 (Cambridge, 2008).

George Bush Presidential Library Research Grants

The Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at the Bush School of Government & Public Service wishes to announce two research grant programs to assist research at the George Bush Presidential Library. The Peter and Edith O’Donnell Research Grant supports research in any field using holdings from the Bush Library. The Korea Grant Program, made possible by the Korea Foundation, focuses on Asia, particularly Korea, also using records available at the Bush Library. Awards are open to researchers at all stages of projects, and range from $500 to $2,500. Applications are due November 1, 2009 for use during the 2010 calendar year. Further information, including an application, can be found at the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs Website: http://bush.tamu.edu/scowcroft/grants/.

Interested parties are strongly encouraged to contact the George Bush Presidential Library archival staff to discuss research proposals before submitting an application. Contact information can be found at: http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/research/faq.php.

Page 66 Passport September 2009 Passport NON-PROFIT ORG. Mershon Center for International Security Studies U.S. POSTAGE The Ohio State University 1501 Neil Avenue PAID Columbus, OH 43201 [email protected] HANOVER , PA 17331 Permit No. 4

For more SHAFR information, visit us on the web at www.shafr.org The Last Word

Page 68 Passport September 2009