| Woodrow Wilson never wavered in his belief that "Americanism," his term for the Americanization of the international mind, constituted the best path to progress at home and abroad. Accepting the myth of American exceptionalism, he believed that America should not become entangled with Europe lest its character become eroded. A new foreign policy, "thoroughly American" in purpose, had to be devised. Wilson sought acceptance of American democratic values by other societies in order to "redeem" them. This would permit American leadership in the world without involving the United States in the Old World's diplomacy and wars. Wilson's faith in American exceptionalism is evident in his ideas about how to regenerate the world through the proliferation of democracy. He translated the experiences of America's democratic growth into principles that were universally applicable throughout the world. Wilson believed that if the twentieth-century world was to be open, safe and free, then it must become more like America. Democracy had to be based on "civic manhood," the cultural and political requisite of political stability. "Civic manhood," the quintessential virtue of mature races and the cornerstone of Americanism, involved a demonstrated commitment to Anglo-Saxon culture; an observance of progressive change from above; a faith in free enterprise; and an embrace of Protestant Christianity. Wilson considered the propagation of this blueprint for nation-building to be America's mission in the world. Americanism transcended Anglo-Saxonism, the "White Man's Burden," and the Social Gospel movement. While its dimensions were complex and often contradictory, the objective of Americanism was simple: the fusion of American and world conceptions of progress, security, and prosperity through the worldwide extension of American-style democracy. Wilson first articulated his view of America's mission in the world in association with the Philippine question. He believed it was critical to keep Philippine policy in line with America's redemptive mission in the world. Failure to do so would yield disastrous consequences for democracy in the Philippines and America's credibility as "redeemer nation."... |
