“Foreigners” and anti-communism

In the overall American approach to global affairs, World War I symbolized first and foremost a reduction of Europe and its main powers almost to the level of nonrational charges. Europe, wherefrom the light that Jefferson spoke of had originally gone forth, had debased itself through and orgy of blood and hatred. It was up to America – a victor in the war and, when it ended, undoubtedly the strongest power in the world – to set things right. President Woodrow Wilson, an interventionist reformer at home and abroad and a (political) scientist who saw America’s mission as creating an international order that prevented war between the great powers in the future, focused on two main problems: nationalism and revolution. Understanding his approaches to this twin challenge is crucial for understanding American foreign policy discourse right up to the end of the twentieth century.

[[ Source: Arne Westad, Odd; The Global Cold War; Cambridge University Press, 2005. Page: 16. ]]