About the Book
Designed to encourage critical thinking about history, this reader uses a carefully selected group of primary sources and analytical essays to allow students to test the interpretations of distinguished historians and draw their own conclusions about the history of American foreign policy. This text serves as an effective educational tool for courses on U.S. foreign policy, recent U.S. history, or 20th Century U.S. history. Some of the new literature spotlights cultural relations, and the ways in which culturally constructed attitudes about class, gender, race, and national identity have shaped American's perceptions of the world and subsequently its overseas relationships.
Table of Contents:
Note: Each chapter concludes with Further Reading.
1. APPROACHING THE STUDY OF AMERICAN FOREIGN RELATIONS.
Essays.
Thomas J. McCormick: The World-System, Hegemony, and Decline. Walter L. Hixson: Culture, National Identity, and the Myth of America. Laura McEnaney: Gender Analysis and Foreign Relations. Michael L. Krenn: The Adaptable Power of Racism. Melvyn P. Leffler: National Security, Core Values, and Power. J. Garry Clifford: Bureaucratic Politics and Policy Outcomes. Further Reading.
2. WOODROW WILSON, THE FIRST WORLD WAR, AND THE LEAGUE FIGHT.
Documents.
1. The First Lusitania Note Demands That Germany Halt Submarine Warfare, 1915. 2. President Woodrow Wilson Asks Congress to Declare War Against Germany, 1917. 3. Senator Robert M. La Follette Voices His Dissent, 1917. 4. Wilson Proclaims U.S. War Aims: The Fourteen Points, 1918. 5. Articles 10 Through 16 of the League of Nations Covenant, 1919. 6. Wilson Defends the Peace Treaty and League, 1919. 7. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Proposes Reservations to the League Covenant, 1919. 8. The Chinese Reformer Tsi C. Wang Recalls the Shandong Question and China’s May Fourth Movement, 1927.
Essays.
Thomas J. Knock • From Peace to War: Progressive Internationalists Confront the Forces of Reaction. Robert W. Tucker • A Passionate Visionary Stumbles Into War. Erez Manela: Wilsonianism and Anti-Colonial Nationalism: A Dream Deferred. Further Reading.
3. THE INTERNATIONAL HISTORY OF THE TWENTIES.
Documents.
1. Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes Advocates Naval Disarmament, 1921. 2. The Isolationist Chicago Tribune Denounces Europe’s Folly, 1921. 3. Debts and German Reparations: Hughes Calls on Private Experts for Help, 1922. 4. The Argentine Writer Manuel Ugarte Identifies the United States as the “New Rome,” 1923. 5. “Trade Follows the Film,” 1925. 6. Journalist Carlton Beals Reports on Augusto César Sandino’s Revolution, 1928. 7. U.S. Advertisers Pedal America’s Big Brands to Europe, 1929. 8. The U.S. Department of Commerce Maps the European Market, 1933.
Essays.
Frank Costigliola • U.S. Cultural Expansion in an Era of Systemic Upheaval. Victoria de Grazia• Empire by Persuasion: American Mass Consumption in Europe. Thomas F. O’Brien: Empire by Coercion: U.S. Corporate and Military Power in Latin America. Further Reading.
4. U.S. ENTRY INTO WORLD WAR II.
Documents.
1. Senator Gerald P. Nye Cites the Lessons of History and Advocates Neutrality, 1936. 2. President Franklin D. Roosevelt Proposes to “Quarantine” Aggressors, 1937. 3. Japan Envisions a “New Order” in Asia, 1938. 4. Stanley K. Hornbeck Urges Economic Sanctions Against Japan, 1938. 5. Ambassador Joseph C. Grew Warns Against Economic Sanctions, 1939. 6. FDR Proposes Lend-Lease Aid to Great Britain, 1940. 7. Roosevelt Orders the U.S. Navy to “Shoot on Sight,” 1941. 8. Japan Proposes Two Diplomatic Options to the United States, November 1941. 9. Washington Reject Japan’s Proposals and Reaffirms the Open Door, November 1941. 10. Roosevelt Delivers His War Message to Congress, 1941.
Essays.
Gerhard Weinberg • The Global Threat and the Case for War. Walter LaFeber • The Economic Origins of the Pacific War. Further Reading.
5. DEFEATING THE AXIS, PLANNING THE PEACE: THE SECOND WORLD WAR.
Documents.
1. Roosevelt Promises a Second Front, 1942. 2. Marshal Joseph Stalin Conveys Impatience over a Second Front, 1943. 3. Roosevelt and Stalin Discuss the “Four Policemen” at the Teheran Conference, 1943. 4. British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill and Stalin Cut Their Percentages Deal, 1944. 5. The Yalta Protocol of Proceedings, 1945. 6. The Yalta Agreement on Soviet Entry into the War Against Japan, 1945. 7. Roosevelt’s Anger with Stalin, 1945. 8. Roosevelt’s Last Letter to Churchill, 1945.
Essays.
Warren F. Kimball • Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Successful Wartime Diplomacy. John Harper • The Failure of Roosevelt’s Wartime Diplomacy. Further Reading
6. THE ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR.
Documents.
1. The Franck Committee Predicts a Nuclea
About the Author :
Dennis Merrill, a professor of history and department chair at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, received his Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut. He is the author of Bread and the Ballot: The United States and India's Economic Development, 1947-1963. The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations honored him with a Stuart L. Bernath Article Prize, and he has received two Fulbright awards to India. His current research interests focus on U.S.-Third World relations during the Cold War and the history of international tourism. Thomas G. Paterson, professor emeritus of history at the University of Connecticut, graduated from the University of New Hampshire (B.A., 1963) and the University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D., 1968). He is the author of Soviet-American Confrontation (1973), Meeting the Communist Threat (1988), On Every Front (1992), Contesting Castro (1994), America Ascendant (with J. Garry Clifford, 1995), and A People and a Nation (with Mary Beth Norton et al., 2001). Tom is also the editor of Cold War Critics (1971), Kennedy's Quest for Victory (1989), Imperial Surge (with Stephen G. Rabe, 1992), The Origins of the Cold War (with Robert McMahon, 1999), Explaining the History of American Foreign Relations (with Michael J. Hogan, 2004), and Major Problems in American Foreign Relations (with Dennis Merrill, 2010). With Bruce Jentleson, he served as senior editor for the Encyclopedia of American Foreign Relations (1997). A microfilm edition of The United States and Castro's Cuba, 1950s-1970s: The Paterson Collection appeared in 1999. He has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of American History and Diplomatic History. A recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, he has directed National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminars for College Teachers. In 2000 the New England History Teachers Association recognized his excellence in teaching and mentoring with the Kidger Award. Besides visits to many American campuses, Tom has lectured in Canada, China, Colombia, Cuba, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Russia, and Venezuela. He is a past president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, which in 2008 honored him with the Laura and Norman Graebner Award for "lifetime achievement" in scholarship, service, and teaching. A native of Oregon, Tom is now informally associated with Southern Oregon University.
