“We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our well-being is dependent on the well-being of other nations far away...we have learned to be citizens of the world”[i] declared President Franklin Roosevelt at his fourth inaugural address in January 1945. Roosevelt believed a U.S. retreat from global leadership in the post war period invited future war. Every U.S. president since embraced this choice. Until Donald Trump.

On his inauguration day, President Trump announced to the world: “From this moment on, it’s going to be America first.”[ii]  American foreign policy under Trump has led to deterioration in the strength of global institutions Americans built and a weakening of alliances Americans forged.

America’s rise to globalism in the 20th century came in fits and starts. It began with attempts at imperialism in the 1890’s, late entry into World War I followed quickly by retreat from President Wilson’s plans to reform post war international politics through the League of Nations. The price paid for that retreat was the 85 million lives lost in the Second World War.

Untouched by the ravages of World War II, only the U.S. possessed the resources and the will to invest in what President Truman called “the sensible machinery for the settlement of disputes among nations.”[iii] Under American leadership, political, economic and military alliances designed to prevent a repeat of failures of the interwar period were established. The United Nations, the Bretton Woods Institutions (IMF, World Bank), NATO and the European Coal & Steel Community (later the EU) promoted open markets, individual rights and the rule of law. This post war international system provides both forum and recourse for the settlement of disputes among nations.

Truman reminded allies and adversaries of the U.S. commitment to lead this emerging institutional structure at his 1949 inaugural: “In this time of doubt, they [nations of the world] look to the United States as never before for goodwill, strength and wise leadership.”[iv] Four years later, President Eisenhower implored Americans “To meet the challenge of our times, destiny has laid upon our country the responsibility of the free world’s leadership”[v]. Eisenhower returned to this theme of global engagement again at his second inaugural: “No nation can longer be a fortress, lone and strong and safe. And any people, seeking such shelter for themselves, can now build only their own prison.”[vi]

U.S. commitments to lead reached its zenith in President Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural when he pledged that Americans “shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty.”[vii]  The limits of American power were soon laid bare by the political and economic instabilities of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Future American presidents emphasized the need for burden sharing among allies in pursuit of a stable international order, but never did they depart from the decision to lead.

“We cannot afford to do everything” acknowledged President Nixon at his second inaugural in January 1973 while at the same time reaffirming that “Unless we in America work to preserve the peace, there will be no peace.”[viii] This litany of commitment, first formulated by Franklin Roosevelt, echo in every inauguration through President Obama. While post war presidents represented very different political ideals, on the issue of U.S. leadership of the Western alliance, they did not differ.

These sentiments stand in sharp contrast to those communicated by Trump on his inauguration day in 2017: â€œEvery decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers.”[ix] Trump’s “America First” agenda frames every interaction as a transaction in which there is a winner and a loser. This is not the American Exceptionalism President Reagan had in mind when he invoked the pilgrim text imagining America as a shining “city upon a hill” in his 1989 farewell address.[x]

When other nations join the U.S. to address collective interests and solve global issues, we achieve better outcomes, sooner and at lower cost. Trump is correct to demand other countries “pay their share.” Every president since Nixon has made this point. But his mindset and his method do more harm than good. U.S. interests are not more secure today than they were four years ago. 

Trump’s vision of “America First”, acting in its own interests at the expense of other nations, creates a leadership vacuum that will not long be empty. Without a strong stable actor in “a world in which law is often weak and common norms of behavior absent”[xi], he ensures that global leadership will transition to nations eager to assume the mantle. History has taught us, and every post war president has recognized, this is not a world America can look forward to.

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[i] President Franklin Roosevelt, Fourth Inaugural Address, January 20, 1945

[ii] President Donald Trump, Inaugural Address, January 20, 2017

[iii] President Harry Truman, President Truman’s Address to Opening Session of the United Nations Conference on International Organization at San Francisco, April 25, 1945, United States Department of State Bulletin.

[iv] President Harry Truman, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1949

[v]President Dwight Eisenhower, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1953

[vi] President Dwight Eisenhower, Second Inaugural Address, January 21, 1957

[vii] President John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961

[viii] President Richard Nixon, Second Inaugural Address, January 20, 1973.

[ix] President Donald Trump, Inaugural Address, January 20, 2017

[x] President Ronald Reagan, Farewell Address, January 11, 1989 and John Winthrop, “A Model for Christian Charity”, 1630

[xi] Eliot Cohen, “Trump’s Character Betrays Him”, The Atlantic, October 24, 2019