How America Got It Right: The U.S. March to Military and Political Supremacy

by Bevin Alexander

At last, a historian tells the truth about America’s role in the world—refuting the lies of anti-American propagandists.

Left-wing critics—both at home and abroad—relish blasting our country for being the world’s sole superpower, or even an “imperialist” power.

But as acclaimed military historian Bevin Alexander shows in How America Got It Right , these criticisms are completely off the mark. Alexander reveals how the United States has done and continues to do exactly the right thing in military and foreign affairs. As the world’s dominant political force and military power, he says, we are the only nation that will actually go into the world and strike down evil. And we must not shirk that responsibility—especially because we cannot rely on our so-called allies to defend our freedoms.

Alexander tells the dramatic and sometimes surprising story of how, from the American Revolution to the War on Terror, America’s core principles and ideals have shaped our march to economic, military, and political supremacy.

How America Got It Right

•How in the War on Terror we’re simply repeating the process of World War II—going wherever we have to in the world to destroy those who threaten our safety

•How unpatriotic critics of American foreign policy fail to understand the clear threats we now grapple with—but how our leaders get it

•How America boldly—and correctly—asserted this nation’s unique status to the world long before we had the military strength to back up our daring proclamations

•How, at almost every turn, our leaders demonstrated remarkable foresight that enabled America to become the world’s dominant power

•How a policy of securing other people’s freedom is in fact grounded in American tradition, not a dangerous departure from precedent

As Americans debate what our nation’s role in world affairs should be, Alexander shows how—far from overreaching or bumbling into situations in which we shouldn’t be involved—the United States has properly embraced its role as world leader. Covering more than two centuries of history, How America Got It Right refutes those critics who suggest that America has somehow gone off course or overextended itself.

Indeed, according to Alexander, our government has got it right. America’s critics have got it wrong, because what they are hoping for—peace without a price—will never come to pass.



We saw early in our colonial history that—because of our isolation from Europe, and because of the immense wealth and bounty of our land—we had the opportunity to build the greatest, freest, and most prosperous nation ever to arise on earth. We spent the first century and a quarter of our independent existence in creating this great nation. But to protect this treasure, we found that we needed to establish the world’s paramount military structure and become the world’s preeminent political power. This book is the story of America’s march to economic, military, and political supremacy, and the ideals that have guided us along the way. — From How America Got It Right

Genres: History, Military History

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Bevin Alexander is an American military historian and author. He served as an officer during the Korean War as part of the 5th Historical Detachment. His book Korea: The First War We Lost was largely influenced by his experiences during the war.

Bevin has served as a consultant and adviser to several groups due to his military expertise, including work for the Rand Corporation, work as a consultant for military simulations instituted by the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command, and as director of information at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. .

He was formerly on the president’s staff as director of information at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va., and is a retired adjunct professor of history at Longwood University, in Farmville, Virginia.

Reviews

[Tom Sulcer · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's highly instructive, on reading this sharp and impartial critique of foreign policy, is not that America's foreign policy decisions are consistently excellent, but rather that it's a mixed bag. Perhaps I'm being cynical, but the title "How America Got It Right" suggests America is a savvy world player. So I was surprised to read healthy doses of frank criticism of past presidential decisions. So the book tries to appeal to flag-waving patriots, but offers a tough history lesson. The real title should be: "How America Is Sometimes Right And Sometimes Wrong" but this might have discouraged sales?

Bevin Alexander is an authoritative military historian. His book covers a lot of ground. He's frank, non-partisan. He grades past presidents on specific decisions. From recent history...

Successes: Nixon reining in Israel after the six-day war by threatening to cut off supplies; Reagan's military build-up; Reagan's diplomacy with the Soviets; Reagan's policy leading to dismantling of the Soviet Union; Bush I's organizing multilateral effort to oust Saddam from Kuwait; Bush I's first Gulf War; Bush I's decision was to oust Saddam from Kuwait was "completely justified" according to Alexander.

Failures: Carter's granting permission to Shah of Iran to enter US for medical treatment which triggered the takeover of the US embassy in Teheran; Carter's failed Iran hostage rescue; Reagan's allowing 241 marines to be killed in Lebanon by suicide truck bomber; Reagan's allowing Arafat to escape to Tunisia despite Israeli northwards military push into Lebanon; Bush I's inaction when Balkans began disintegrating; Bush I's not pursuing Saddam after liberating Kuwait and ending first Gulf War prematurely; Clinton's "Blackhawk Down" fiasco in Somalia caused by failing to send in heavily armored troops and angering warlord Aydid; Clinton's failure to prevent genocide in Rwanda; Bush II's second Gulf war was a mistake.

Alexander shows why nations want nuclear weapons. There's a huge cost savings -- having a nuclear bomb provides freedom from attack because no non-nuclear state will attack one with atomic weaponry. So nations can reduce their conventional forces significantly and save money. He also shows how public perceptions can have a powerful effect on leaders. For example, the shelling of a marketplace in Sarajevo, in which television audiences worldwide saw innocent people being killed, prompted president Clinton to finally do something "because he saw that inaction would lower his numbers in the next poll" writes Alexander.

For me, the lesson of Alexander's excellent book is that America's foreign policy is mediocre. America's foreign policy is largely a function of presidential skill. None of America's recent presidents have had a spotless record. Most have had a mediocre record. I see this as highly troubling in a world with dangerous stateless actors struggling to get weapons of mass destruction.

My personal sense is that America's rise to global power was not based on diplomatic smarts or foreign policy skill; rather, America had a strong legal system built on individual rights and a government based on popular sovereignty. The legal system encouraged investment, protected property, rewarded invention. The result is a perfect climate for business growth. Since there were few natural enemies in a resource-rich land protected by vast oceans, America grew into an industrial powerhouse. When wars came, America could overwhelm adversaries by outproducing them with more tanks, guns, uniforms, bullets.

But in the future America's relative economic advantage will deteriorate, in my view. Rising nations are copying America's blueprint for democratic capitalism and will challenge its economic hegemony. And America in the 21st century can no longer get by with mediocre foreign policy making, with occasional goofs, with incompetent presidents, with distracted short-term decision making. I argue that America needs a smarter, tougher, shrewder foreign policy architecture, and I don't think this can happen unless there is substantial political reform which requires, in my view, a Second Constitutional Convention. My book "Common Sense II: How to Prevent the Three Types of Terrorism" (Amazon & Kindle, 184 pages) offers a terrorism prevention strategy for America. It will prevent all types of terrorism, including smuggled nuclear bombs. It is brief, rational, non-religious, written by a citizen for citizens, non-technical. It's plain logic from one citizen to another. It is serious reform. I urge people who care about America to read my book.

Alexander's book is sharp, incisive, critical, well-written and instructive, with a somewhat misleading title, and makes the case, in my view, that America's foreign policy needs serious repair. I challenge Mr. Alexander to debate the merits of my strategy to prevent terrorism.

[Bojan Tunguz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an unabashedly unapologetic review of America's political and military rise to the foremost prominence in the world. That being said, Alexander is more than willing to acknowledge America's faults, both great and small, like slavery and Korean war. However, he doesn't dwell on them but sees America's history as an overall steady progress in the right direction. Many of the historical facts in the book will be familiar to anyone who studied American history, but Alexander manages to bring some fresh insights. Thanks to this, the book reads like a novel, and several chapters are veritable page turners. It's a history book that is a great entertaining read as well. I highly recommend it.

[Stephanie]

One of my favorite professors at Longwood wrote this book.