Explicating the Roots of U.S. Foreign Policy

On August 13, Ted Widmer, director of Brown University’s John Carter Brown Library and former speechwriter for Bill Clinton, discussed his new book, Ark of the Liberties: America and the World, and entertained questions from an audience at the New America Foundation. After a brief introduction by Steve Clemons, director of the American Strategy Program, Dr. Widmer laid out a narrative on the way America’s unique founding circumstances shaped out national outlook and actions for the past two centuries. An MP3 audio recording can be downloaded below, while video is available at right.

America’s founding population, the Puritans, was in many ways a culture of religious extremists. They were propelled to leave Europe and settle in what would become the United States because of their adherence to religious prophecies that saw America as a new world ready to host the founding of a righteous civilization. These millennial views would later become the root of the United States’ view of itself as a unique nation, invested with divine providence to promote freedom and liberty in the world.

Yet these noble goals have often been in opposition to the actions of the United States, creating a tension that has defined much of American foreign policy over the past centuries. American professions of liberty abroad while allowing slavery at home and willingness to engage in hostile acts while claiming peaceful motives are a common theme in the American history.

American belief in the United States’ role to spread freedom continues to this day, with the Obama campaign couching much of its language in a religious tone and appealing toward a Christian imperative to care for the sick and free the oppressed. Even the invasion of Iraq is now defended as a mission to bring freedom to the Iraqi people. As America stands at another crucial juncture in its history, it continues to root its vision of its place in the world in the hopes and views of its puritan founders.

A question and answer session followed with questions on the underpinnings of the militarization of US foreign policy, the continuing importance of providential self perception in American politics, and the continuing failure of civilian oversight on military spending.

-Ian McAllister, Research Intern, American Strategy Program
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Participants

Featured Speaker

• Ted Widmer
  
Director, John Carter Brown Library, Brown University
Senior Research Fellow, American Strategy Program, New America Foundation
Author, Ark of the Liberties: America and the World

• Steve Clemons
Director, American Strategy Program, New America Foundation
Publisher, www.TheWashington Note.com