We had dinner with a European friend the
other night and he spent most of the evening wondering how the America he had
grown up with had become so inward looking, so isolationist. It’s no wonder he
was confused. He and I are part of the post-WW II generation when the United
States assumed, more or less by default, a global leadership role with programs
like the Marshall Plan, NATO, AID and strong support for
international institutions. To be honest, the options for the rest of the world
weren’t all that appealing. Americans might be overbearing monoglots with scant
interest in or regard for the nuances of global relationships. But they weren’t
Russian.
Even
as Europe and other parts of the world recovered, grew stronger and developed
their own agendas no one doubted that the United States remained pre-eminent.
Of course there were leaders like Nehru, Nasser, Tito or even Charles De Gaulle
who often clashed with the US and challenged that pre-eminence. But few people
seriously suggested that the Americans retreat back to North America, pull up
the draw bridge and forget about the rest of the world. Like it or not the US
acted as a type of security blanket for much of the world.
Now,
with the Trump administration retreating from a global role as fast as it can a
lot of people in my generation are wondering just how this happened. How can
the United States throw off the role of leadership so casually? Who will fill
the vacuum? Where did this isolationism come from?
Actually,
it is not a recent arrival at all. It has always been there, has always been
part of the American fabric. What Trump is spouting now is nothing new. People
forget that until WW II America was a deeply isolationist country. All during
the 1930s large America First organizations sprang up fuelled by the incendiary
pro-Hitler, pro-Mussolini, anti-Semitic radio broadcasts of Father Charles Coughlin
and were adored by millions across the country. It took the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor and Hitler’s declaration of war on the United States to turn the
tide.
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| America First rally in the 1930s |
But
all Father Coughlin did, like Trump, was to tap into a deep well spring of distrust
and enmity that many in the New World felt toward the Old World. ‘Who needs
them and all their problems? We’ve got more than enough to take care ourselves?
To hell with them.’ In a country founded and strengthened by waves of
immigrants it is ironic that the first manifestation of this mood was in the
1840s when a powerful anti-immigrant force called derisively the Know
Nothings sprang up and became a political force suppressed only by the
outbreak of the Civil War in 1860.
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| Know Nothing motto from 1840s |
‘Not
our problem’ was the dominant American theme for most of WW I. Woodrow Wilson
was re-elected in 1916 on a pledge to keep America out of the war. It was only
the result Germany’s declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare that finally
brought the Americans into the war in 1917. But then, led by Republican Sen.
Henry Cabot Lodge, the country rejected the League of Nations – the center
piece of Wilson’s post-war plans.
 |
| League of Nations? You must be joking. |
After
WW II these nativist instincts were suppressed but never went away. As long as
the Cold War raged there was general – even if reluctant – agreement that
American military and economic presence all over the world was necessary to
counter the Russian threat.
With
the end of the Cold War and its bi-polar global power structure, the rise of
China along with other regional economic powers like the European Union, and
seemingly endless inconclusive military conflicts the post-WW II global
consensus began to fracture along old, familiar lines. Trump – like other
so-called nativist populists around the world – recognized and capitalized this
trend. In the 1930s the code word was cosmopolitan, i.e.
internationalist, multi-lingual, and worst of all Jewish. Now the term globalization encompasses
all those old phobias – along with many new ones - and has become the code word
for all the country’s problems – especially by aggrieved white males.
Jobs
lost in the Midwest? Blame globalization. America out-voted in the UN and other
international organizations? Blame the ingrates that come with globalization? Good
money poured down the rat hole of so-called international aid? What a joke!
Disaster relief? Only if they side with the US on many other issues. So-called
allies disagreeing with the US? Nothing but a bunch of poncey ingrates! All
they want to do is bleed us dry!
Lost
in these diatribes is the small fact of continuing American domination of much
of the world’s economy despite the undoubted rise of China. American financial
institutions, tech companies, pharmaceutical companies, entertainment
companies, and many others span the globe. The power of the American Treasury
Department and the US Dollar is unparalleled. In many ways the Secretary of
the Treasury has more international power than the president. Because of the
unique position of the Dollar as the world’s reserve currency the Treasury
Department has the ability to levy heavy fines and sanctions against
international banks that are seen to violate American regulations on things
like money laundering and terrorist financing.
In
large part the election this November will reflect this sharp divide. Those who
value positive American engagement with the rest of the world will most likely
vote for former Vice President Joe Biden. Those for whom global engagement
spells nothing but trouble and want to build walls and pull up the draw bridge
will undoubtedly side with President Trump. The stakes – and not just for
America – are high. We shall see.
