Reading: “The Consensus” from The Debate Over Vietnam.
The overall purpose of this article is to show you how the United States historically developed a consensus (general understanding or agreement) about international relations from its inception until the early phases of the Vietnam War. The article will briefly outline the history of U.S. “foreign policy” from the early Republic to the 1930s. It will then “zero in” on events from the 1930s until the beginning of the Vietnam War. Understanding the dynamics of this consensus is vital to our understanding of what happened during the 1960s.
Read each section very carefully and then answer the questions offered as a way to complete this assignment and hopefully, promote classroom discussion.
Section One: This first section describes the international scene during the decade of the 1930s. Toward the latter part of this section, the author states that while President Roosevelt was beginning to “bite his fingernails” over these events, most Americans were indifferent to the world situation. They were enjoying the “luxury of indifference.”
For your part, after reading section one; analyze what was taking place in Europe and Asia during this explosive decade. Why was the “world on fire?” What exactly was going on in the world?
Section Two: By looking back throughout the pages of American history, the author attempts to historically explain to you why Americans were rather “indifferent” during the 1930s. read this section carefully and then analyze the historical roots of American isolationism.
Explain: a). How did it manifest itself during the 19th Century;
b). How and why did we depart from it during the early 20th Century;
c). Why did the Americans desire to return to it by the 1930s? Finally, what was the American attitude during the 1930s?
Section Three: This section discusses how the “proponents” of a more energetic foreign policy before World War II successfully “broke” the American attitude of isolationism. They were so successful, states the article, that by October 1945, Gallop Poll “reported that better than seven out of ten Americans believed that the country should take an active role in world affairs.” The proponents relied on two principle arguments.
Read this section carefully and be ready to detail these two principle arguments as they related to national security.
Section Four: This section discusses the origins and nature of the Cold War and how the U.S. was able to maintain the consensus (the two principles) against the Soviet Union. In conjunction with this, the author reveals in the last half of this section how the U.S. presidency had changed between 1935 and 1965. Please read carefully and then explain how the two principles were applied to the Soviet Union to form a consensus to oppose Soviet aggression.
Also, reflect on the ways in which this consensus contributed to the drastic changes of the American presidency between 1935 and 1965.
Section Five: A summary. What is the author attempting to point out to the reader? Your general analysis and thoughts about this reading.
