Savior of Europe

Wilson was the first sitting American President ever to venture out of the Western Hemisphere. He left the U.S. on December 4, 1918 to conclude the treaty that ended World War 1 in person. He got a hero’s welcome. Beinart writes: “When Wilson disembarked, Europe’s battered masses . . . . Continue Reading »

American liberators

In his The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris , Peter Beinart describes a Wilson-era American action that sounds vaguely familiar. Wilson was convinced that what Latin Americans wanted was identical to what he wanted for themselves, but he was happy to let them choose, so long as they . . . . Continue Reading »

Immigration and Patriotism

Neuhaus makes the cogent observation that American patriotism has been regularly refreshed by the influx of immigrants who find that the American dream is still realizable: “Perhaps taken-for-granted Americanism needs to be regularly refreshed by the Americanism of those who discover America . . . . Continue Reading »

Imperial America

Back in 1975, Richard Neuhaus wrote in Time Toward Home that “America is an imperial power,” elaborating that “Suppose we could drop from our history all our self-images, ideals, notions of destiny and everything else that makes up what we have called America’s public piety. . . . . Continue Reading »

Judaism and Globalization

In his American Providence: A Nation with a Mission , Stephen Webb describes Arnold Toynbee as a “prophet” who foretold the rise of religious pluralism that inhabits Religious Studies departments and is the religious drive behind globalization. Toynbee saw that religion was the central . . . . Continue Reading »

Catholic Reformation

Subtract the Hegelianism, and Nicholas Boyle ( Who Are We Now?: Christian Humanism and the Global Market from Hegel to Heaney ) gives a profound insight into recent church history: “The theology of the spirit, which Hegel rightly saw as the distinctive new impetus which the Reformation gave . . . . Continue Reading »

Paranoid style

For all of Hofstadter’s partisan distortions, he was right to note that paranoia, anxious defensiveness, characterizes American politics. But this paranoia is more deeply rooted in American character and institutions that Hofstadter imagined. America has regularly seen itself as the guarantor . . . . Continue Reading »

American exceptionalism

In The Intellectual Construction of America: Exceptionalism and Identity From 1492 to 1800 , Jack Greene reviews the literature on “American exceptionalism,” and takes exception to the common notion that this theme is a 19th or 20th century phenomenon. He opposes the “current . . . . Continue Reading »

Evolving Constitution

The notion that the Constitution has to grow with the nation is often seen as an innovation of the twentieth century. Yet, similar arguments were being aired early in the 19th century. Henry Clay, erstwhile ally of Jefferson and Madison, stated a form of “National Republicanism” that . . . . Continue Reading »