In June 1994, more than 40 years later, with the Cold War now finally won, Schlesinger was back for more with a Times op-ed that sounded the usual alarm. "The Cold War produced the illusion that traditional isolationism was dead and buried," he wrote, but of course -- this is, after all, the Times -- it was actually alive and kicking. The passing of the Cold War had "weakened the incentives to internationalism" and was giving isolationists a new opening, even though in "a world of law requiring enforcement," it was incumbent upon the United States to be the lead enforcer.
The warning resonated. Although the Times does not normally give commencement addresses much attention, it made an exception for Madeleine Albright's remarks to graduating seniors at Barnard College in May 1995. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations had detected what she called "a trend toward isolationism that is running stronger in America than at any time since the period between the two world wars," and the American people were giving in to the temptation "to pull the covers up over our heads and pretend we do not notice, do not care, and are unaffected by events overseas." In other circumstances in another place, it might have seemed an odd claim, given that the United States had just wrapped up armed interventions in Somalia and Haiti and was on the verge of initiating a bombing campaign in the Balkans.
Still, Schlesinger had Albright's back. The July/August 1995 issue of Foreign Affairs prominently featured an article of his entitled "Back to the Womb? Isolationism's Renewed Threat," with Times editors publishing a CliffsNotes version on the op-ed page a month earlier. "The isolationist impulse has risen from the grave," Schlesinger announced, "and it has taken the new form of unilateralism."
His complaint was no longer that the United States hesitated to act, but that it did not act in concert with others. This "neo-isolationism," he warned, introducing a new note into the tradition of isolationism-bashing for the first time in decades, "promises to prevent the most powerful nation on the planet from playing any role in enforcing the peace system." The isolationists were winning -- this time through pure international belligerence. Yet "as we return to the womb," Schlesinger warned his fellow citizens, "we are surrendering a magnificent dream."
Other Times contributors shared Schlesinger's concern. On January 30, 1996, the columnist Russell Baker chipped in with a piece called "The New Isolationism." For those slow on the uptake, Jessica Mathews, then a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, affirmed Baker's concerns by publishing an identically titled column in the Washington Post a mere six days later. Mathews reported "troubling signs that the turning inward that many feared would follow the Cold War's end is indeed happening." With both the Times and the Post concurring, "the new isolationism" had seemingly reached pandemic proportions (as a title, if nothing else).
Did the "new" isolationism then pave the way for 9/11? Was al-Qaeda inspired by an unwillingness on Washington's part to insert itself into the Islamic world?
Unintended and unanticipated consequences stemming from prior U.S. interventions might have seemed to offer a better explanation. But this much is for sure: as far as the Times was concerned, even in the midst of George W. Bush's Global War in Terror, the threat of isolationism persisted.
In January 2004, David M. Malone, president of the International Peace Academy, worried in a Times op-ed "that the United States is retracting into itself" -- this despite the fact that U.S. forces were engaged in simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among Americans, a concern about terrorism, he insisted, was breeding "a sense of self-obsession and indifference to the plight of others." "When Terrorists Win: Beware America's New Isolationism," blared the headline of Malone's not-so-new piece.
Actually, Americans should beware those who conjure up phony warnings of a "new isolationism" to advance a particular agenda. The essence of that agenda, whatever the particulars and however packaged, is this: If the United States just tries a little bit harder -- one more intervention, one more shipment of arms to a beleaguered "ally," one more line drawn in the sand -- we will finally turn the corner and the bright uplands of peace and freedom will come into view.
This is a delusion, of course. But if you write a piece exposing that delusion, don't bother submitting it to the Times.
Andrew J. Bacevich is a professor of history and international relations at Boston University. His new book is Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country.
Copyright 2013 Andrew Bacevich
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