William Appleman Williams The Tragedy Of American Diplomacy

William Appleman Williams’ essay The Tragedy of American Diplomacy centers around America expansion, and the idealistic and economic motivators which inspired it. Williams frames his narrative with his critique of the idea that expansion was one of the main ways in which America could extend its virtues throughout the world, and create a new era of peace. He decides the true tragedy of American diplomacy is that actions undertaken in the name of humanitarianism, self determination, and peace actually work in opposition to those ideals and instead turn the United States into an oppressive force abroad. While the United States may have desired to help others, they believed the only way they could do so was if they maintained authority over the nations they helped. The reason this occurred, Williams argues, is because expansionism has a large role in American mythos but both policy makers and citizens refuse to reconcile expansion with the idea of becoming an empire. He examines …show more content…
Economic expansion became “both a means and an end” for American foreign policy makers (129). It was seen as a way to broaden markets, and to spread peace through prosperity. However, Williams explains, by expanding a U.S. economic system throughout the world they made it very difficult for other countries to maintain an economy independently (15). U.S. interference altered the power dynamic in other countries, which was usually detrimental to the other nations. Williams notes that other countries were also very well aware of this power imbalance, which furthered the tensions between the U.S. and other political bodies. Yet no matter how much the smaller nation fought, the power imbalance still existed, and the powerful U.S. superpower could easily destroy and terrorize those who fought against it. It was only until another world superpower came into the picture that smaller nations were able to fight