American Visions of Europe: Franklin D. Roosevelt, George F. Kennan, and Dean G. Acheson

by John Lamberton Harper

• ISBN13: 9780521566285
• ISBN10: 0521566282
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-06-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book is a biographical study of three American statesmen, concentrating on the development of their distinct attitudes and political programs with respect to the problem of Europe in American foreign policy: Roosevelt's partial internationalism, aiming at the retirement of Europe from world politics while avoiding American entanglement; Kennan's partial isolationism, aspiring to restore Europe's centrality and autonomy through temporary American engagement; and Acheson's accommodating interventionism, establishing the United States as a permanent power in Europe at the behest of European and American interests. The purpose of the book is to explain how and why they arrived at very different solutions to the problem of internecine conflict in Europe, and to show the continuing relevance of their ideas. Three learned and elegantly written portraits are set against the background of the dramatic events and foreign policy controversies of the twentieth century.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(6)
PART ONE
Franklin Roosevelt, Europe, and American diplomatic culture, 1882-1932	7	(41)
The Roosevelt administration and the European Question, 1933-1941	48	(29)
The Roosevelt solution, 1941-1945	77	(58)
PART TWO
George F. Kennan: the sources of estrangement, 1904-1944	135	(48)
Three worlds instead of two: Kennan and Europe, 1944-1950	183	(52)
PART THREE
Dean Acheson, 1893-1947: a Victorian for all seasons	235	(43)
Acheson and Europe, 1949-1953: a statesman's progress	278	(53)
Conclusion	331	(12)
Bibliography	343	(20)
Index	363