Philip Nash
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780813178394
- eISBN:
- 9780813178387
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813178394.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The ambassadorship of Clare Boothe Luce (Italy, 1953–1956) is the focus of this chapter. Editor, playwright, journalist, congresswoman, and, later, pundit, Luce was one of the most accomplished ...
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The ambassadorship of Clare Boothe Luce (Italy, 1953–1956) is the focus of this chapter. Editor, playwright, journalist, congresswoman, and, later, pundit, Luce was one of the most accomplished American women of the twentieth century. Marrying publishing mogul Henry R. Luce in 1935, Luce formed half of a highly influential Republican power couple. President Dwight D. Eisenhower named Luce ambassador to Italy in 1953, making her the first woman envoy to a major US ally. Known for her rapier wit, Luce was a controversial hire. In early Cold War Italy, shestruggled mightily against the Italian Left, with limited success. But she played a key role in helping resolve the dispute over Trieste, and with her combination of intelligence, diligence, and access to the president, Luce proved an effective ambassador. Her bizarre appointment and immediate withdrawal as ambassador to Brazil in 1959 is also discussed.Less
The ambassadorship of Clare Boothe Luce (Italy, 1953–1956) is the focus of this chapter. Editor, playwright, journalist, congresswoman, and, later, pundit, Luce was one of the most accomplished American women of the twentieth century. Marrying publishing mogul Henry R. Luce in 1935, Luce formed half of a highly influential Republican power couple. President Dwight D. Eisenhower named Luce ambassador to Italy in 1953, making her the first woman envoy to a major US ally. Known for her rapier wit, Luce was a controversial hire. In early Cold War Italy, shestruggled mightily against the Italian Left, with limited success. But she played a key role in helping resolve the dispute over Trieste, and with her combination of intelligence, diligence, and access to the president, Luce proved an effective ambassador. Her bizarre appointment and immediate withdrawal as ambassador to Brazil in 1959 is also discussed.
Stephen J. Whitfield
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807830109
- eISBN:
- 9781469602332
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/9780807869710_kazin.7
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter examines Henry R. Luce's 1941 editorial that heralded the start of an “American Century” and argues that the vision expressed by the publisher was remarkably liberal in its time and has ...
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This chapter examines Henry R. Luce's 1941 editorial that heralded the start of an “American Century” and argues that the vision expressed by the publisher was remarkably liberal in its time and has proved to be a prophetic one. Published in the February 17 issue ofLife, Luce invoked the extension of the American influence, inspired by democratic ideals and the promise of prosperity, amid the shock of economic crisis at home and the threat of World War II. He formulated a definition of national purpose that demonstrated the wider struggle to celebrate the nation's virtues and to reclaim its past. This chapter distills the meaning of Americanism based on Luce's vision and considers his editorial as a defining moment of patriotic expression and reflection, a document of exceptionalism rather than of domination. Finally, the chapter looks at the two themes of what American intervention could offer the world according to Luce: freedom of speech and of worship and an end to poverty and misery.Less
This chapter examines Henry R. Luce's 1941 editorial that heralded the start of an “American Century” and argues that the vision expressed by the publisher was remarkably liberal in its time and has proved to be a prophetic one. Published in the February 17 issue ofLife, Luce invoked the extension of the American influence, inspired by democratic ideals and the promise of prosperity, amid the shock of economic crisis at home and the threat of World War II. He formulated a definition of national purpose that demonstrated the wider struggle to celebrate the nation's virtues and to reclaim its past. This chapter distills the meaning of Americanism based on Luce's vision and considers his editorial as a defining moment of patriotic expression and reflection, a document of exceptionalism rather than of domination. Finally, the chapter looks at the two themes of what American intervention could offer the world according to Luce: freedom of speech and of worship and an end to poverty and misery.
William O. Walker III
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781501726132
- eISBN:
- 9781501726149
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501726132.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
The introduction shows how Henry R. Luce in his 1941 essay, “The American Century,” gave concrete form to the security ethos: the belief that, for its own safety, the United States should provide ...
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The introduction shows how Henry R. Luce in his 1941 essay, “The American Century,” gave concrete form to the security ethos: the belief that, for its own safety, the United States should provide political and economic leadership and act as the indispensable Good Samaritan around the world. For Luce, longstanding fear of foreigners was unacceptable. The United States should heed a providential calling to serve as a beacon of hope for peoples everywhere. In practical terms, especially after 1945 as the Cold War took hold, U.S. officials acted to create a broadly-based free-world society in which modernization was possible. Success in this undertaking depended on whether they could establish credibility with those Washington presumed to lead.Less
The introduction shows how Henry R. Luce in his 1941 essay, “The American Century,” gave concrete form to the security ethos: the belief that, for its own safety, the United States should provide political and economic leadership and act as the indispensable Good Samaritan around the world. For Luce, longstanding fear of foreigners was unacceptable. The United States should heed a providential calling to serve as a beacon of hope for peoples everywhere. In practical terms, especially after 1945 as the Cold War took hold, U.S. officials acted to create a broadly-based free-world society in which modernization was possible. Success in this undertaking depended on whether they could establish credibility with those Washington presumed to lead.
William O. III Walker
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781501726132
- eISBN:
- 9781501726149
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501726132.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This book discusses how U.S. officials, influenced by publisher Henry R. Luce in an essay in Life magazine in 1941, strove to create an American Century at the close of World War II, and beyond. The ...
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This book discusses how U.S. officials, influenced by publisher Henry R. Luce in an essay in Life magazine in 1941, strove to create an American Century at the close of World War II, and beyond. The United States, Luce held, must seek comprehensive leadership, that is, global hegemony. The advent of the Cold War hastened that undertaking. Communist victory in China’s civil war in 1949 and the start of the Korean War in June 1950 made the Cold War international. U.S. officials implemented the dual strategy of global containment and multilateralism in trade and finance in order to counter Soviet influence. By the late 1950s, however, a changing world, which the nonaligned movement epitomized, was questioning U.S. leadership and, thus, the appeal of the American Century. International crises and adverse balance of payments meant trouble for Luce’s project in the early 1960s. The debacle of 1968 for Lyndon Johnson, as seen in relations with allies, the Vietnam War, and a weak dollar, cost him his presidency and curtailed the growth of the American Century. Richard Nixon then attempted to revitalize U.S. leadership through détente with the Communist world. At most, there remains today a quasi-American Century, premised largely on military power.Less
This book discusses how U.S. officials, influenced by publisher Henry R. Luce in an essay in Life magazine in 1941, strove to create an American Century at the close of World War II, and beyond. The United States, Luce held, must seek comprehensive leadership, that is, global hegemony. The advent of the Cold War hastened that undertaking. Communist victory in China’s civil war in 1949 and the start of the Korean War in June 1950 made the Cold War international. U.S. officials implemented the dual strategy of global containment and multilateralism in trade and finance in order to counter Soviet influence. By the late 1950s, however, a changing world, which the nonaligned movement epitomized, was questioning U.S. leadership and, thus, the appeal of the American Century. International crises and adverse balance of payments meant trouble for Luce’s project in the early 1960s. The debacle of 1968 for Lyndon Johnson, as seen in relations with allies, the Vietnam War, and a weak dollar, cost him his presidency and curtailed the growth of the American Century. Richard Nixon then attempted to revitalize U.S. leadership through détente with the Communist world. At most, there remains today a quasi-American Century, premised largely on military power.
