History 130 Readings 1-4

Question 1

Games, “Making Colonies and Empires”

Answer 1

Empire involves linked global development.

Link:
European rivalries & global commercial interests led to emergence of American entreprises
Global origins of single North American venture
Transregional ways in which colonies made empires
Empires made & unmade colonies

Question 2

Washington, “Farewell Address” (1796) & Polk, “First Annual Message” (1796)

Answer 2

Isolationist

Question 3

Fitz, “US and the Americas”

Answer 3

Jefferson envisioned a world divided into two hemispheres. Jefferson envisioned the “American system” whereby the US cast off the Old World, ie hemispheric separation.

Question 4

Roosevelt, “National Duties” (1901)

Answer 4

The US is a supreme nation and is spreading freedom and democracy to the uncivilized world (Philippines).

Question 5

Wilson, “World League for Peace” (1917)

Answer 5

Peace without victory and a community of power. The Monroe Doctrine should be adopted globally.

Question 6

Roosevelt, “Arsenal of Democracy” (1940)

Answer 6

US must get weapons to Europe because we face a national security threat if Britain falls.

Question 7

Roosevelt, “Statue of the Union” (1941)

Answer 7

US national security has never been more threatened. We must support people resisting aggression.

Question 8

Thompson, “Wilsonianism and its Critics”

Answer 8

The period during and after WWI was a transition from the US having marginal role in great power politics to doing more than any other nation to shape them.

Examples: projection of power beyond western hemisphere, League of Nations, debitor to creditor

Question 9

Jager, “Competing Empires in Asia”

Answer 9

End of the 19thC Japan and US are great powers in the Pacific. Japan moves towards a continental power while US is a maritime power.

Question 10

Rauchway, “Econmic Catastrophes”

Answer 10

Economic crisis brought an end to global trade networks and accelerated trend toward nationalism.

Question 11

Kennan, “Long Telegram” (1946)

Answer 11

Peaceful coexistence is impossible due to a deep antiwestern reservoir within the Soviet Union.

Question 12

NSC-68 (1950)

Answer 12

Nitze’s Cold War strategy under Truman that expands Kennan’s containment.

Reduce power of USSR, develop military readiness, strengthen relations w/ non-Soviet nations, organize resources of free world

Question 13

Eisenhower, “Farewell Address” (1961) & Kennedy, “Inagural Address” (1961)

Answer 13

American supremacy and US duty to maintain peace through military establishment.

Commitment to fight tyranny, poverty, and war. Must be loyal to old allies and create a peaceful new world.

Question 14

Lawrence, “Fractured World of Cold War”

Answer 14

Cold War was defined by a divided world of the US free world, Soviet bloc, rising China, and third world.

To manage this fractured world, the US tried to confront adversaries and stabilize existing divisions.

Question 15

Holloway, “Escalation of Cold War, 1945-1962”

Answer 15

Nuclear weapons escalated the Cold War. Nuclear deterrence organized US policy.

Question 16

Hanhimaki, “Reconfiguration Relations”

Answer 16

Detente played powerful role between the US and Soviet Union. Under detente, Nixon tried to triangulate US relations with China and Soviet Union.

Question 17

Reagan, “Address to Parliament” (1982)

Answer 17

US mission is to preserve freedom and peace through global democratic development and military strength. Today, we are in an era of crises.

Question 18

Bush, “Address to Congress on Persian Gulf Crisis” (1990)

Answer 18

US must defend civilized values around the world and maintain economic strength at home. US objective in the Persian Gulf is: get Iraq to w/draw from Kuwait, restoration of Kuwait’s legitimate government, and ensure security of Persian Gulf.

The US and Soviet Union (Gorbahchev) are working together and have shared resolve to counter Iraq.

Question 19

Bush, “NSS” (2002)

Answer 19

US uses its strength to create balance of power that favors freedom. US international goals are: political/economic freedom, peaceful relations with state, respect for human dignity.

US military must aussure our allies and deter threats.

Question 20

Trump, “NSS” (2017)

Answer 20

National security strategy based on putting America first in order to preserve peace, uphold liberty, and create enduring advantages for Americans.

Question 21

Biden, “NSS” (2022)

Answer 21

US will work w/ allies to create free, open, prosperous, secure world. China and Russia threaten to reshape international order.

Buildup economy and rely on alliances (NATO)

Question 22

Fischer, “Foreign Policy under Reagan and Bush”

Answer 22

Washington didn’t defeat the Soviet Union nor was Washington irrelevant. While the US played a critical role in ending the war, changes in Soviet polocy were far greater than changes in US policy.

Reagan and Bush administrations shared fundamental goals with Gorbachev.

Reagan played critical role in ending Cold War due to his desire to eliminate nuclear weapons. Reagan’s policy started off hawkish then shifted.

Question 23

Brown, “Gorbachev Revolution”

Answer 23

Gorbachev was a reformer focused on dismantling the Soviet system, common security, and independence to eastern Europe.

Question 24

Ikenberry, “Restructuring the International System after Cold War”

Answer 24

End of Cold War made the American-led liberal hegemonic order the primary order.

Question 25

Haas, “Present at the Disruption: How Trump Unmade US Foreign Policy”

Answer 25

Building has not been a central aim of Trump’s foreign policy. Trump’s disruption will the US and the world worse off. Trump’s lack of foreign policy has left US less capable and reliable to allies.

Question 26

Sargent, “Pax Americana”
vs Tooze, “End of the American Century?’

Answer 26

End of Pax Americana: Continental conquest and early industrialization combined in mid-20thC with disparate impacts of WWII to make US exceptional. Over second half of 20thC, US became less exceptional.

vs

Exaggeration to think it is the end of the American world order. Two pillars of US global power, military and financial, are still in place.