Status Updates From The American Spirit: Who We...

“…history is philosophy taught with examples.” (P.57)

Foreign intervention is not a favored policy in America, and has led to all kinds of disasters, especially since this speech. Perhaps it reveals an overconfidence in the wake of the Cold War. Another revealing thing is that the author looks to Mandela, not any 20th century American statesman, as exemplary of heroic political action. But the end of the speech is a salutary call for civic virtue and sacrifice.

Humans, especially those in a body politic, need to feel a part of something larger. What will that be for us? Americans are not generally given to idealism and don't have a history of uniform political doctrines. We are a practical people; we try things and try to understand why they don't work. What's odd is that McCullough then agrees with Wilson that America has responsibilities to the rest of the world.

The address to Union college highlights an American vision that values openness, reflected in the architecture and layout, as well as a non-sectarian spirit with practical additions to the curriculum (engineering). Given in 1994, it also highlights an uncertainty about the identity and the future of America after the Cold War. Truman had confidence in the triumph of free men over tyranny, but what happens next?