How Must America Practice Diplomacy?

How Must America Practice Diplomacy?, Heritage Foundation, Understanding America Series, Essay Number Six, March 3, 2011. "The purpose of American diplomacy never changes: It is to secure the national interests of the United States. The fundamental American interest is to ensure that America remains independent and governed by the American people."

Eisenhower and Washington

Like Washington, Eisenhower's Farewell Address Counseled Balance, Heritage Foundation Foundry, January 17, 2011. "Fifty years ago, on January 17, 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his famous Farewell Address. The speech ranks, as Eisenhower intended it to, with Washington’s Farewell Address as a masterpiece of American rhetoric, of balance, and of prudent, far-seeing counsel. It is the fate of such masterpieces to be much quoted but seldom read. On this anniversary, therefore, before you read further, we encourage you to read the speech."

The Lost Prudential Tradition

Eisenhower, Washington, Lincoln, and Prudence, Contentions, January 14, 2011. "As commentators are beginning to note, Monday marks the 50th anniversary of Eisenhower’s Farewell Address, and the following Thursday marks the same anniversary for Kennedy’s inaugural, two classics of American rhetoric that could hardly be further apart and still remain in the same genre. It is a long way from Ike’s measured and noble praise of balance to Kennedy’s inspiring but unrestrained call to “pay any price.” It’s usual to say that the 1960s didn’t really began until Kennedy was assassinated, if not later, but the transition from Eisenhower’s restraint to Kennedy’s rhetorical lack of it may mark the transition more effectively than the murder in Dallas."

George Washington, First Principles, and Foreign Policy

Yes, the Founding Fathers Have Foreign Policy First Principles, Heritage Foundation Foundry, August 26, 2010. "James Downie, standing in for Jonathan Chait at The New Republic, believes that The Heritage Foundation’s view of the relationship between first principles and foreign policy is wrong, and contrary to George Washington’s vision. Inevitably, he seeks to prove his point by quoting Washington’s Farewell Address. His case would be even less persuasive if he’d read a little more, or a little more thoroughly."

Washington's First Farewell Address

Happy in the Confirmation of Our Independence and Sovereignty, Heritage Foundation Foundry, July 3, 2009. "On December 23, 1783, General George Washington resigned his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Army to Congress, which met then in the State House in Annapolis. . . . And his words were great ones, worthy of appreciation then, and of remembrance now."