11. America First: The Past and Future of an Idea
- Author:
- Melvyn P. Leffler and William Hitchcock
- Publication Date:
- 09-2018
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR)
- Abstract:
- Like many historians, I was stunned a couple of years ago when Donald Trump started campaigning on the platform of America First. For me, America First was associated with the insularity, isolationism, unilateralism, nativism, anti-Semitism, and appeasement policies that President Franklin D. Roosevelt struggled to overcome in 1940 and 1941. Why, I asked myself, would anyone want to associate himself with that discredited movement, a movement that seemed eviscerated after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941? Did Trump understand or know about that movement?
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, History, and Diplomatic History
- Political Geography:
- United States