Public Opinion and Policy-Making in the United States

Abstract

IN WRITING on public opinion and foreign policy, one is soon forced to make a choice. Two traditional alternatives offer themselves; each is premised upon a set of values the acceptance of which has been rendered the more seductive by generations of felicitous parti pris. One view is based upon the assumption that public opinion, the common man, can be and must be the final arbiter in matters of public policy-foreign policy included. Thus Sir Norman Angell: His [the common man's] opinion is the final court of appeals in politics.... It was he who defeated Wilson in America. . . . John's common sense can often be a better guide than the expert's learning.' Such imperatives of aspiration spring from the optimism of our democratic tradition: man is perfectible, educable, responsible. One looks with alarm at the decisive intervention of interests in the formulation of foreign policy, is deeply troubled by the growth of a professional foreign-policy-making elite, and foresees the ultimate failure of any policy that does not have the full support of public opinion. conduct of modern war requires the enrollment of every citizen in the military effort. The conduct of foreign policy, if it is to assure peace and prosperity, requires the same kind of free cooperation.2 The public can and must be made to see its own interest in the decisions of foreign policy. The public can and must be educated, can and must be given the facts. Barriers of ignorance and prejudice can and must be overcome. But a recital of aspirations about the role of public opinion