The Wilsonian tradition and its limits (1914-1945)

Extract

[...] The US had wanted initially a "world order", not just a regional, Atlantic one. It is important to recall that today, despite the frequent idea according to which the US would have forced the Atlantic Alliance on the Europeans with the view of controlling them: it was much more complex. The Americans are convinced they have won over the Kaiser in 1919 (not altogether true, but certainly the US played at the time already a big role) and against Hitler: they derive from that huge self-confidence still today. [...]

[...] And liberal democracy, which was a major constitutive part of the world order envisioned by Wilson, did not succeed everywhere in Europe: Italy became fascist in 1922, Germany became Nazi in 1933, Russia was communist since 1917; central Europe became mostly totalitarian or at least authoritarian in the 30ies. The Second World War in 1939 was also the result of the failure of Wilsonism. Roosevelt: Wilsonism revisited and modified Franklin Delano Roosevelt had been secretary of the Navy in the Wilson Administration. He was, like Wilson, a member of the Democratic Party. [...]

[...] All the same, the peace settlement of 1919 (Treaty of Versailles) was largely drawn along those lines. The failure of Wilson Wilson practiced engagement, but also, contradictorily, American exceptionalism: he refused to be called "allied" of France or GB: only "Associate". The war aims of F and GB were for him too selfish. But that kind of moralism does not seat well with practical politics. And the lack of American engagement led to a lack of real engagement on the part of the Europeans in the new system . [...]

[...] The original idea was to control Germany in close agreement and cooperation with Moscow. That changed only because a soon as 1946 it became evident that the Soviets did not intend to play ball, but were seeking to create a communist German State controlled by them, counting on the fact that the US would not keep its soldiers in Europe for a long time after the war and would not wish to occupy Germany for a long time (which certainly was their earlier intention). [...]

[...] The Wilsonian tradition and its limits (1914-1945) President Wilson (1913-1920) renounced isolationism, which was the American tradition since Monroe: in agreement with his progressive agenda, he believed the US had to act abroad. He promoted a new internationalist doctrine. But he failed to convince either the foreign partners of the US, or, at home, Congress; his failure led to a modified version of US engagement in the world in 1945: lessons derived from the experience of 1919 were taken into account by Roosevelt. [...]