A Covenant with Power: America and World Order from Wilson to Reagan

267 Pages·1984·4.907 MB·English

by  Lloyd C. Gardner

A Covenant with Power

A Covenant with Power
America and World Order
from Wilson to Reagan
Lloyd C. Gardner
New York Toronto
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1984
Copyright ® 1984 by Lloyd C. Gardner
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Gardner, Lloyd C.. 1934-
A covenant with power
Includes index.
I. t’nited States Foreign relations 20th century.
2, Liberalism United States History 20th century
1. Title.
£744.03425 1984 327.73 83.13149
ISBN 0-19-503357.4
Printing (last digit). 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
TO THREE GREAT TEACHERS
David Jennings
Ben Spencer
and the memory of W. Roy Diem

Acknowledgments
Books grow in different ways, of course. This one resulted, in part,
from outside stimulus, and in part from a desire to rethink earlier
positions. Several people may not recognize their contributions, but
they are there. These include Richard Immerman, William Stueck,
Michael Schaller, Michael Kren, John Rossi, and David Schmitz. I
am especially grateful to Thomas Knock of Princeton for sharing his
ideas with me about Woodrow Wilson. At Rutgers several colleagues
do double duty as friends and sources of information. These include
Michael Adas, Sam Baily, Warren Susman, and Warren Kimball.
The last two read the entire manuscript, and kept pulling me back to a
clearer definition of the problem. Walter La Feber, who first urged me
to produce a “think-piece” on Wilson, never admits to being bored by
my demands on his patience and gifts as a critic, through which,
ama/.ingly we remain not only on speaking terms but great good
friends. Thanks, as always, to Thomas McCormick and William
Appleman Williams. Some of these essays were first delivered, in
primitive form, as lectures at Adelphi University, and Free University
of Berlin, Lafayette College, New College in Sarasota. Florida, Ohio
Wesleyan University, and New College, Oxford. Finally, a special
word of gratitude to Sheldon Meyer, whose confidence in American
historians must be unmatched among publishers, and to his col­
league, Leona Capeless.
East Brunswick, N.J. L.C.G.
September 1982-March 1983

Contents
Introduction xi
1 Woodrow Wilson and the Liberal Covenant with
Power 3
2 Franklin Roosevelt and the Crisis of Legitimacy 29
3 The Battle over Eastern Europe 52
4 The New Anti-Comintern Pact: Western Europe and the
NATO Protectorate 79
5 Stopping the Slow Process of Strangulation: The Korean
War, Europe, and America 101
6 The Perils of Liberation 124
7 Vietnam: The Whole World Is Watching 148
8 The Burden of Richard Nixon 173
9 On Board the Pequod: The Search for a 1980s’ Foreign
Policy 198
A Note on Sources and Suggestions for Further
Reading 235
Index 241