...a belief in American exceptionalism and its
accompanying missionary outlook -- is a recurring theme in
Ted Widmer's
Ark of the Liberties. "In many ways," he asserts, "we still live in
Wilson's world." Whereas Wilson "is often given credit for inventing a
new way of thinking about U.S. foreign policy, it is probably more
accurate to say that he tapped into old feelings that had never
entirely disappeared" ...
Ark of the Liberties is in part a search for the roots of those
Wilsonian impulses, which Widmer traces to pre-Revolutionary days, and
in part a summary of the foreign-policy orientation of administrations
from the country's creation to the present, often as evidenced in
officials' speechifying. The gamut of American history, from George
Washington's farewell address (in which he argued for a foreign policy
of neutrality) to nation-building in Iraq, is on display...
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