2 Views of President Wilson's Policy
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Although it is clear that Henry Kissinger, in his book Diplomacy, does not approve of every foreign policy or attitude of President Woodrow Wilson, it is just as clear that there is much in Wilson and his policy which Kissinger admires. It might be fair to say that Kissinger believed Wilson had the right idea with respect to the role of the United States in the world, but that Wilson simply went too far with it and in too much of a crusader's passion. Kissinger may certainly agree with Frank Ninkovich's assessment that Wilson, despite his excesses, was the first modern leader to see clearly the threat war had for all of civilization, but Kissinger would also likely argue that Wilson's excesses would inevitably get the United States entangled in situations which could provoke such world-threatening war. Obviously, Kissinger was no peacenik, no dove. Neither was he a saint in foreign affairs; he will not be seen as a Wilsonian idealist concerned with spreading the ideals of America abroad. In fact, Kissinger's influence in history will forever be associated with the brutality of American bombing of Southeast Asia in league with Nixon, and, again with Nixon, with the ouster of the legally elected leader Allende from Chile by CIA-backed forces in that country. It is worthwhile to keep in mind the blood on Kissinger's hands as he uses those hands to write his analysis of Woodrow Wilson and Wilson's idealism and foreign policy. Kissinger would seem to be disagreeing somewhat
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est of the world.
Ninkovich apparently would agree with that assessment of Wilson's vision of America's global role in bringing about international peace and democracy, but Kissinger's analysis exposes some of the contradictions and even the absurdity of Wilson's position.
In the first place, as Kissinger points out, Wilson was hardly the starry-eyed idealist. Wilson was willing to use means which were hardly idealistic in order to achieve his idealistic ends. At the same time, he envisioned the League of Nations which, although a disaster itself, evolved into the United Nations. Still, he is known best as a leader who took the nation into a war (however inevitably) in order to bring about peace, a contradiction not unique among modern leaders.
Kissinger's most telling analysis seems to be in the area of the justifications Wilson used for his arguments for both war and idealism. The contradictions in Wilson's justifications seem to suggest a man either cynical about what he was saying, or profoundly unaware of how blatant and even ridiculous those contradictions were.
For example, Wilson seems to be using words in an almost Alice in Wonderland way to argue for his policies. This may not be entirely unique for modern le
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Approximate Word count = 1311
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)
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