The American Century: A Roundtable (Part II)

Abstract

Introduction In a famous editorial published nearly six decades ago Henry Luce envisioned the twentieth century as the American Century and urged the American people to shoulder the burdens that such a destiny required. With a new century at hand, it seems appropriate to assess the record of U.S. foreign policy over the last one hundred years, to ask, in effect, if the American people answered Luce's call and what difference, if any, their contribution has made. With these goals in mind, I invited more than a dozen scholars to contribute brief essays on the subject of the American century. I urged them to identify a topic or theme that runs through all or most of the century and to evaluate its significance for American policy and the world at large. The results, which appear in this and the last issue of the journal, add up to a remarkable collection of essays representing a wide range of views and tackling such diverse topics as the Wilsonian contribution to global democracy, the tension between democracy and capitalism in American policy, the influence of American thinking on the rise of nongovernmental organizations, the Americanization of global culture, and the role of race and gender in American diplomacy. Because I provided the authors with a copy of Luce's famous editorial, that essay was printed at the start of last issue's roundtable. For republication permission we remain grateful to Time Life Incorporated.