43 



Isolationism 



One lively dispute that divided Americans in the period between the 

 two great wars concerned the extent to which this country could re- 

 main aloof from European conflicts. The rise of Nazi Germany made 

 the dispute salient but it was not resolved until Japanese ambitions 

 for Asiatic hegemony precipitated a conflict halfway around the 

 world from the initial theater of war. Thereafter, the ties among the 

 Axis Powers undercut the position of those who favored U.S. isolation. 

 The views of the interventionists were confirmed by events: It became 

 fixed in U.S. foreign policy that the United States had an inescapable 

 role, a compelling interest, and a great power responsibility in assur- 

 ing world peace and stability. During the cold war, this theme domi- 

 nated U.S. dealings abroad. An attempt to withdraw from this re- 

 sponsibility on the mainland of Asia led to the Korean war. The 

 attempt to assert it led to the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. The 

 declining fortunes of the United States in Vietnam led to renewed 

 questioning of the extent of U.S. responsibility for maintaining 

 peace and stability abroad, and even to a denial of such respon- 

 sibility. 



The rationale of great power control over small-country wars and 

 internal disturbances remains ill-defined, but recent events in the 

 Middle East have demonstrated the hazard of a unilateral withdrawal 

 of one great power from the scene, and the perhaps equal hazard of 

 several great powers' committing themselves to opposing causes of 

 small nations. Several lessons can be drawn from this sequence. 

 The most obvious is that the diplomatic reaction to this kind of crisis 

 is necessarily ad hoc and governed by circumstances; rigid adherence 

 to either isolationism or interventionism would invite disastrous 

 consequences. A less obvious but more fundamental lesson is that the 

 most successful kind of diplomacy is that which anticipates, and 

 devises initiatives to keep small crises from developing. It is note- 

 worthy that such successes generate no headlines and create no 

 popular heroes, and are recognized only in a small community. 



U.S. Economic Burdens 



Since World War II the U.S. dollar has remained the primary — 

 and until recently the strong and stable — currency of international 

 commerce. U.S. assistance has been extended to many nations abroad 

 in the form of nuclear deterrence, trained soldiery, and arms ship- 

 ments to treaty allies and developing nations. These economic bur- 

 dens have been increased by U.S. efforts to raise the technological 

 levels of developing countries and by commitments to supply ag- 

 ricultural products to needy countries at less than market value. 

 Efforts to persuade other developed countries to shoulder more of the 

 burden of maintaining an international currency and credit system 

 and to evolve, with the Soviet Union, a less demanding level of 

 armament programs are features of the contemporary economic 

 scene. However, the abrupt rise in world petroleum prices, unease in 

 the Middle East, and persistent ideological and organizational ob- 

 stacles to U.S.-U.S.S.R. cooperation tend to perpetuate the U.S. 

 economic burdens. 



The Changing U.S. Industrial Economy 



The word "developed" applied to the U.S. national economy means 

 that a large territory was settled, and that the predominant form of 



