Beyond Guns and Steel: Reviving the Nonmilitary Instruments of American Power
Military Review › Vol. 88 Nbr. 3/4, June 2008
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Summary
From * The first brave stand taken by Harry Truman with the doctrine of containment; to * The Helsinki Accords under Gerald Ford; to * The elevation of human rights under Jimmy Carter; to * The muscular words and deeds of Ronald Reagan; to * The masterful endgame diplomacy of George H. W. Bush. In important respects, the great struggles of the 20th century-World War I and World War II and the Cold War-covered over conflicts that had boiled and seethed and provoked wars and instability for centuries before 1914: ethnic strife, religious wars, independence movements, and, especially in the last quarter of the 19th century, terrorism.
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Extract
Beyond Guns and Steel: Reviving the Nonmilitary Instruments of American Power
Remarks as delivered verbatim by secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Manhattan, Kansas, 26 November 2007
IT IS BOTH AN HONOR AND A PLEASURE to be part of the Landon Lecture series-a forum that for more than four decades has hosted some of America's leading intellectuals and statesmen. Considering that, I at first wondered if the invitation was in fact meant for Bill Gates.It is a pleasure to get out of Washington, D.C., for a little while. I left Washington in 1994, and I was certain, and very happy, that it was the last time I would ever live there. But history, and current events, have a way of exacting revenge on those who say "never." I've now been back in the District of Columbia for close to a year, which reminds me of an old saying: For the first six months you're in Washington, you wonder how the hell you ever got there; for the next six months, you wonder how the hell the rest of them ever got there.Looking around the world today, optimism and idealism would not seem to have much of a place at the table. There is no shortage of anxiety about where our nation is headed and what its role will be in the 21st century.But I can remember clearly other times in my life when such dark sentiments were prevalent. In 1957, when I was at Wichita High School East, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, and Americans feared being left behind in the space race and, even more worrisome, the missile race.In 1968, the first full year I lived in Washington, was the same year as the Tet offensive in Vietnam, where America...See the full content of this document
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