by PATRICK MAZZA
Recalling the democratic vision of William Appleman Williams
This is the first part of a series exploring William Appleman Williams’ vision for regional communities as a way to reclaim democracy from empire. Go to Part 2.
In the late 1950s, when U.S. history generally portrayed the United States as an “exceptional nation” and democratic light to the world, a new school of historians came along to say, no, the U.S. behaves pretty much like any empire in history, serving the interests of its ruling classes, accumulating power to itself.
They were known as the revisionists, as well as the Wisconsin school, because the dean of revisionism, William Appleman Williams, taught there, and his students became major figures in the school. Coming from a left perspective, Williams and his followers saw the U.S. global empire as primarily economic, driven by the imperatives of its capitalist ruling classes for expansion and profit. In his keystone work, Tragedy of American Diplomacy, Williams focused on the Open Door Notes issued in the 1890s during the McKinley Administration.
The European colonial powers were eager to dice up China into exclusive economic zones. In the Notes, the U.S. said no, an open door to free trade and movement of capital must be maintained throughout China. The U.S. economy was already the largest in the world. Its leaders knew the U.S. would have advantage over competitors in a free trade environment.
The Raven for more