Order Description

Compare, analyze, interpret a set of two primary sources:

Henry R. Luce, The American Century (1941), in Foner, Voices of Freedom, 191-194.
Henry A. Wallace, The Century of the Common Man (1942), in Foner, Voices of Freedom, 194-196.
Both of these sources relate to a common theme: the global role of the United States following World War II.

Questions to consider:

Why does Luce think that United States must adopt a global leadership position after 1945? How does his understanding of totalitarianism inform his proposal for the USA?
Why does Wallace think that the United States must cooperate and work together with the Soviet Union? Does his understanding of Soviet Communism underestimate the threat posed by Josef Stalin? Or
is Wallace’s interpretation one that is not guided by an irrational fear of the Soviet Union?
In the end Luce’s interpretation was the one generally adopted by the US government and embraced by most Americans. How did this view shape American foreign policy during the Cold War?