Les 2

POLITICAL PERSONALITIES
1901-present day
19 presidents, the ones to be asked on exam
not the most powerful person in the world, outside the US he may seem so, but domestic
political policy is ruled by the Congress (The Senate and the House of Representatives)

he does have a big influence but not the ultimate power, but overseas he does, he has a
military (fleets of 12 next countries combined forms that of the US)
president also commander in chief (physical power)
he cannot declare war, the only organ that can do so is Congress (he needs to explain
why in Congress)
e.g.: Vietnam War was not declared (??)

he has huge amounts of soft power diplomacy, ability to talk to leaders
he also has within the soft power huge financial power/leverage
Treaty with Saddam using their economic muscle to actually make sure that for
instance a particular nation buys American product/buys in American philosophy US
also supports those areas
World War II huge financial support by America to Europe
Ability to save, kill people, and also overseas
At home he can suggest things (Obamacare) health care bill was submitted by the
executive health care bill looked nothing like Obama wanted it to be cuz he has no
power in domestic matters
Hillary Clinton stands a better chance in 2016 to become president

1901 Theodore Roosevelt (T.R.)

significance: first imperial US president
first to look over/oversee an American Empire (1896 Spanish American War)
Cuba invaded and invades the Philippines
Spanish had the power over those areas before
Cuba = not far away opportunities for commercial developments
40-50s: where the rich Americans were employed
late 50s Fidel Castro Cuba for the Cubans

US needed a base in Asia Asia was going to be the new frontier Philippines
US didnt need people, but needed markets
Other empires were already there
Naval base, launch base for China
They are still there (largest American fleet in Asia in Philippines)
US still in Cuba (Guantanamo Bay)
1890s real estate incarcerate people Supreme Court, .. have no jurisdiction there
strictly illegal

before T.R. McKinley got assassinated by some delinquent in US
Roosevelt is Vice President automatically President when sth happens to the
President (= accidental presidency)
LBJ, Geral Ford, and Truman were accidental president
T.R. was a military man big guy, physically mentally he was bright as well unlike
other presidents
He was a writer, thinker
Developed the National Parks System (proto-green guy)
Not only believed in the divine right of US to civilize but also in this Anglo Saxon
American link (that the British and Americans were destined to rule the world)
In todays terms he was a racist he believed in a hierarchy of races (in that period that
was the main belief)
Degree of arrogance within society (normal and higher people) about white supremacy
Reinforced by the thought that the British Empire was still the strongest one in the
world
T.R. was using/abusing the American power
Up until the 1890s the American forces were not that significant
But as a financial economic power they were powerful later military capability too
Cuz direct correlation between military power and commercial power!

UKs power is diminishing and alongside there is their military
Obama announces cuts in the military of US Americans can no longer afford this
massive military power
China became the strongest economic power in the world first time since 1890s US is
overthrown on that matter

As America the US gets more powerful as does the president
US not only because of itself but also because of us they are the strongest power
Spreads its wings to the world to sell its stuff more production than their own
population needs

T.R. was a Republican developed sense that America needs to spread the word of
capitalism, liberty/freedom, democracy

In 1951 they changed the Constitution so that its not only a convention anymore that a
president can no longer be president than for 2 terms (2x 4 years)

T.R. replaced by Taft he got stuck in the bath didnt do a lot
Next president is significant: Woodrow Wilson (democrat): 1912: 2 terms

egotistical smartass: brighter and smarter than anyone else
before presidency he was an academic
takes the US for the 1st time to Europe World War I
he was a thinker, confidence about himself that annoyed people
believer in the rights of the US to put their footprint on the rest of the world by
1912 becoming clear that US is gonna be a massive player in international politics
because of commercial success (other powers are all worried)
huge shift world was Eurocentric up until WWI
wasnt about guy being shot
not about the Germans shooting the French
it was about old imperial powers trying to deal with the economic
power shift in the world
US upsetting old powers
W.Wilson neutral traditional thought until 1917 (no war: before elections)
Then decides to go to war when he was elected again
Security of US was in danger

There was an opportunity that Germans were getting stronger
How viable was it?

National boundaries of US protection of being so separated of the rest of the world
was now diminishing
US needed a big footprint in the world
US stopped messing around and sends troops to Europe
Significant they make a difference; Germans realize that they are not going to win
(not only in terms of manpower but also equipment & money)
racial division in the US army (black and white battalions)
slavery abolished continued in form of segregation
W.W. seen as the savior spent six months in Paris in discussion with the Italians,
French, .. the great Paris peace conference
14 points affectively providing freedom of the seas (boats regardless of their
nationality can negotiate freely), no secret diplomacy, spread the word of democracy
key plans League of Nations huge bureaucracy internationally
first stepping stone to UN
Wilson was the first president in office to go overseas, was hugely criticized for that (6
months away)
Huge political damage back home
Most Americans do not see the connection between their success and their relationships
overseas (only 59% of Americans have a passport, they think they dont need it)
He goes home to die (by the 1920s)

His ideas were picked up 15 years later by FDR (originally from the Netherlands)
Uses many of WW ideas in the 1930-40s

Warren Harding Coolidge Calvin Hoover
(cover whole of the 1920s all Republicans)
Attempted unsuccessfully to break away from the notion of Wilsons internationalism
and offering isolationism (remain separate from old world)
The word insulation is more appropriate able to go forth and dominate (20th C
became known as the American Century)

Wall Street Crash, Great Depression (1928) famine most devastating financial
crash until now
US didnt understand how money worked in this international world, this ignorance led
to the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression (1928) did not come to an end until
WWII
Herbert Hoover was there to watch when all this happened
Government with a light touch
Didnt believe in intervention
Thought that markets have their own natural cycles and that the market will sort itself
out and that eventually the great depression will sort itself out and right itself
Since the 1980s that thought remerged and is the large notion that markets are self-
righting and can adjust their own problems
If it takes 20 years for the markets to change/alter
() Free market/neoliberalism is rubbish in the lifetime of an individual it does affect
a lot

1932 FDR amazing man
he is an interventionist elected on a basis of a plan
not only sort out domestic disaster but also support the rest of the world
shout out loudly on domestic stuff, and keep quiet on international matters otherwise
Americans would not have voted for him

FDR was disabled in media (world full of images) its important that the physical
image of a president is important
So he would not have been elected later on when the television was invented
(Photographed in a disguised way, so not to show disability)
he changed personality, a lot more understanding to others
policies to change (1933) institutions in US to put people to work, closest the US has
become
no socialist but believed in government support for the different nations

military dictatorship in Japan, Hitler coming to power, Mussolini in Italy (fascism)
1st thing FDR did when he saw all this he recognized Stalin and Russians
up until then they had broken relationship with Moscow (14:00)
later presidents
FDR sent ambassador to the USSR
FDRs attempts to find an answer but Europe goes to war again
FDR declared neutrality didnt want to join war again in Europe
Fortunately Japanese bomb Pearl harbor daft act declare war on Germany and all
allies of Japan
FDR now concentrates on a plan for whats gonna happen after the war Churchill and
Stalin
Churchill and FDR plans to stop another World War (III)
NWO new world order bunch of ideas that creates a template for how you run an
international society
The Atlantic Charter forerunner for the New World Order in which we are all sitting
now
Construction of the UN , financial organizations (IMF) created on the back of the Atlantic
Charter originally Woodrow Wilsons plan not FDRs
Immediacy to have a plan because the war was in progress
This plan meant that the USA would lead the world, this was part of the deal
How do you get Churchill to agree on this? most of the nation states were broke the
British were definitely; FDR understood this problem
Atlantic Charter = key plan
In 1948 comes NATO and out of the back of that comes the Marshall Plan (to reconstruct
Europe) happened after FDRs death (1945) and happened when Harry Truman was in
office
Our default position is peace? Not really in the end there is always war
What we do is having a perpetual sense to go to war
FDRs plan was a success
World stops when at war but nowadays when war is going on the world doesnt stop
because the international institutions allow for life to continue (no paralysis)
1 reason for this: from 1945-49 Cold War: between Russians and Americans
breakdown of the relationship between those 2
difficulty of the new president to deal with Stalin
Truman (accidental president) didnt have the skills/didnt understand the things that
Stalin knew better

Truman (democrat)/Dwight Eisenhower (republicans)
1950s decade: most successful period for US in terms of economy

1960s: J. F. Kennedy
This is the time when television becomes important
First president to be live on TV
Youthful, healthy, attractive
He was not healthy (in chronic pain: on drugs to keep him going)
Yet you would not believe it because of the images shown
Paradigm shift : there is a big shift in political/economic matters that is irreversible
Time of Civil Rights; Womens rights
Revolution within universities about lies/mistrust of the government
They were not told the truth about anything
Kennedy image-fronted this challenge

JFK shot in Dallas (TEX) 1963

Next LBJ: () He was the big fixer, also for Civil Rights
1 small issue spoilt it all for him Vietnam

man to have the opportunity to break away from Vietnam War
refused that opportunity Americans thought they were excluding the communist
advance in China
they thought that Vietnam should be for the Vietnamese
US could not effect victory in Vietnam
The notion of fighting the Cold War against USSR
75-80% of the soldiers were black

M.L.King
Said about LBJ: for all the good LBJ did for this society, it got lost for this small nation
called Vietnam