ANALYSIS
The promise made by President Biden and NATO member-states to back Ukraine “as long as it takes” in its war against Russia’s invasion reminds us that history may not repeat, but it does rhyme.
Once more the U.S. has committed itself to winning – or helping win – an era-defining conflict pitting democracy against the forces of evil.
Ukraine asked for American weapons and money to save it from Russian domination, but it did not force U.S. leaders to define the war in terms of cosmic importance. That is, democracy and free markets are at stake not only in Kyiv but also across the globe. Our freedom depends on their freedom. Therefore, the U.S. must donate to the cause.
Framing international relations in such terms has a long pedigree. In his 1949 inaugural address, as the Cold War dawned, President Harry Truman pledged American assistance to the poor and downtrodden so they could avoid falling for the false hope of Communism, an important turning point in the history of “nation-building,” according to historian Nick Cullather.
“These differences between communism and democracy do not concern the United States alone. People everywhere are coming to realize that what is involved is material well-being, human dignity and the right to believe in and worship God,” Truman said.
Therefore, the U.S. was obligated to share its science and industry – its exclusive knowledge on how best to organize society – because the world’s leading democracy knew what others needed. If you were to change the word “Communism” to “autocracy” every time it appears in Truman’s speech, it would sound close to something Mr. Biden might say today about the authoritarian regime in Russia or China.
In this episode of History As It Happens, Ithaca College political theorist Naeem Inayatullah discusses this pattern in the history of U.S. international relations in a bid to explain why the country is endlessly involved in the affairs of others – whether invited or not.
“Maybe this idea of exclusive knowledge is something that every culture has, which acts as a responsibility on its shoulders to share it with the rest of the world,” said Mr. Inayatullah, the author of “Pedagogy as Encounter.”
“But ’share’ is not the right word. The person who owns that sense of exclusivity feels that it is sharing, but from the point of view of others, it may not feel much like sharing.”
Listen to Mr. Inayatullah’s analysis of U.S foreign policy from the Cold War to Ukraine in this episode of History As It Happens.
