Henry Luce, Wendell Willkie, and Nicholas Spykman: Three American Non-Governmental Projects of US World Leadership

Keywords: World War II, strategic studies, US world leadership projects, Henry R. Luce, Wendell Lewis Willkie, Nicholas John Spykman

Abstract

The purpose of the research paper is to prove and show the contribution of Henry R. Luce, Wendell Lewis Willkie, and Nicholas John Spykman to the theoretical development and practical implementation of the US international strategy during World War II, as well as the American vision of the postwar world order and America’s role in it.

The scientific novelty is in considering the projects of American world leadership, proposed by Luce, Willkie, and Spykman, in terms of their strategic potential at the stage of formation of domestic and international conditions for the establishment of the USA as an international leader. The contribution of the theoretical insights of the country’s intellectual elite to the American foreign policy strategy is analyzed in the paper and its role in the practical implementation of the ideas of the US world leadership is determined. The texts of Luce, Willkie, and Spykman are proposed to be included in scientific circulation as historical sources, and the views of the abovementioned figures are to be analyzed within the framework of intellectual history approaches.

Conclusions. The historical merit of Luce, Willkie, and Spykman was in the fact that during a turning point in the world and American history, they made an extremely important contribution to the national bank of international strategic ideas. The non-governmental projects of American world leadership proposed by them fulfilled several functions during World War II.

First, in the conditions of the traditional prevalence of isolationist sentiments in American society, the media work of Luce and Willkie and the popularization of Spykman’s academic advances directly or indirectly served as ‘rear’ information support for the US government, which was preparing the country to enter the war or continued trying to maintain the public’s faith in the vital necessity of continuing hostilities against Germany and its allies.

Secondly, the analyzed projects contributed to the political elite and the country’s leadership’s awareness of the need to develop a new global foreign policy strategy and rethink the role of the USA in the war and the post-war world. At a time when the country’s official leaders did not have enough intellectual resources in the domestic power infrastructure to produce actively ideological and strategic developments, Luce, Willkie, and Spykman filled that vacuum with new visions.

Thirdly, Luce, Willkie, and Spykman offered unique approaches to rethinking the national foreign policy tradition, namely the ideas, symbols, and images that it contained. Subsequently, it became possible to instrumentalize them in the new post-war realities.

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Published
15.10.2024
How to Cite
Hryshchenko, T., & Kotliar, O. (2024). Henry Luce, Wendell Willkie, and Nicholas Spykman: Three American Non-Governmental Projects of US World Leadership. Eminak: Scientific Quarterly Journal, (3(47), 329-351. https://doi.org/10.33782/eminak2024.3(47).743
Section
Modern History