Word: foreign
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Unlike the America-in-Decline school of theorists, Fulbright refuses to admit that the United States is doomed to fall from its status as a predominant world power. Instead, he tries to come up with solutions to the problems that complicate U.S. foreign policy. Whether the issue in question is the Middle East, Vietnam or U.S.-Soviet relations, Fulbright sees the dilemma in terms of what can be done about...
Although Fulbright is widely respected for his fairness in foreign policy, the most interesting and disappointing story he tells is about how he could not support Civil Rights legislation in the 1940s. The senator writes that he wanted to support the legislation but adds that he had to come out against it in public because he feared losing an election to Arkansas Gov. Homer Adkins. In what amounts to a poor rationalization of his actions, Fulbright defends his statement that Blacks did not deserve to vote and his opposition to the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board...
...ironic that a senator who was so distinguished for his open-minded analyses of foreign policy was so intolerant when it came to domestic issues...
MANY of the foreign policy problems that Fulbright discusses have been covered in other books by other writers. What is surprisingly new is his call for a drastic movement toward a parliamentary system in the United States. The senator devotes his second chapter largely to the question of how the U.S. political and constitutional systems are incompatible with an effective foreign policy...
According to Fulbright, every four or eight years, the key foreign policy players in the executive branch are replaced, often by people with little or no experience in the field. The result is what Fulbright calls a "government of amateurs." In contrast, a parliamentary system, where the heads of the various executive departments come from the legislature, has the advantages of consistency and continuity of both policies and actors...