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Article: Henry Stimson's clue. (evolution of US foreign policy after World War II)
- Article from:
- World Policy Journal
- Article date:
- September 22, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 World Policy Institute. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In his new book, The American Century: The Rise and Decline of the United States as a World Power (1997), the historian Donald W. White reminds us of "Henry Stimson's clue." As White tells it, the wise old former colonel and cabinet secretary had an idea for deciphering the mystery of how American foreign policy might evolve after the Second World War. Writing in his 1948 memoir, On Active Service in Peace and War, Stimson, and coauthor McGeorge Bundy, declared that "no private program and no public policy, in any sector of our national life, can now escape from the compelling fact that if it is not framed with reference to the world, it is framed with perfect futility." ...