The Foreign Service Journal, February 2004

faculties at leading universities, despite his distinguished diplomat- ic career. He also frequently offered critical evaluations of acad- emic studies that challenged long- held shibboleths of the community into which he had entered. Not the least of these were his reservations concerning our readi- ness to embrace messianic notions about this nation’s global responsi- bilities in pursuit of its foreign pol- icy objectives. Throughout his aca- demic career, Kennan most emphatically rejected an image of ourselves as “teachers and redeemers to the rest of humanity,” in particular, illusions of “unique and superior virtue on our part.” He declaimed eloquently on more than one occasion, as for instance in Around the Cragged Hill: “We are, for the love of God, only human beings, the bearers, like our ancestors, of all the human frailties. Divine hands may occasionally reach down to support us in our struggles, as individuals with our divided nature, but no divine hand has ever reached down to make us, as a national community, any more than what we are, or to elevate us in that capaci- ty over the remainder of mankind.” Observing that the American role in policy formula- tion should be predicated on “modesty and humility,” he noted that as a people we have never exhibited an over- abundance of either attribute, and urged that we forsake any preten- sions at “Manifest International Destiny” in conducting relations with other nations. Despite his lack of academic credentials, Kennan was fre- quently invited to participate in seminars and to “perform” as a visiting professor, in which capac- ity his critical policy observations were welcomed among the “pro- fessional” academics. Kennan, always the master historian, searched wide- ly for the root causes of American exceptionalism. He identified one specific source, Wilsonianism, which inspired the American belief that a messianic role beckoned — to create an international order in which liberal democratic values would prevail. President Franklin Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” message to Congress in January 1941 was of a similar genre. Throughout his academic involvement, Kennan called for a greater tolerance for differing cultural and politi- cal values. The ambassador urged avoidance of pater- nalism and “the imperialism of our ideas.” In questioning policies infected with self-regarding postures of superiority, Kennan came under public criticism by academic peers. Some held him to be “quirky;” others viewed the ambassador as an incur- able romantic opposed to realpolitik principles. Kennan remained steadfast in his views, however. They are reflected in his commentaries in three for- eign policy subject areas: (1) the place of military con- siderations in the shaping of foreign policy; (2) exces- sive dependence on global legal norms and interna- tional conventions; and (3) the basic weaknesses of U.S. policies vis-à-vis the Soviet Union preceding World War II and immediately after. These were not variations on a single theme, but, rather, the unfolding and maturing of perspective by a philosopher-states- man with strong credentials for admission to the com- munity of scholars. The Rule of Law and the Military George Kennan drew particular attention to the American fondness for legal principles as a paradigm to guide U.S. policies abroad. Adherence to legal princi- F O C U S 36 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 4 Dr. William H. Lewis, a retired Foreign Service Reserve officer, is a fellow at the Center for Strategic and Inter- national Studies. During his Foreign Service career, he held senior positions in the Departments of State and Defense, and also served on numerous White House task forces and military missions to the Middle East and sub- Saharan Africa. Following retirement from the Service, he held faculty positions at the University of Michigan, Georgetown University and Boston University, and was the organizer and initial director of The George Washing- ton University’s Security Policy Studies Program (gradu- ate level). He is the author or editor of more than a dozen publi- cations, including Riding the Tiger: The Middle East Challenge After the Cold War (Westview, 1993) and The European Union-Maghrebian Dialogues: Echoes of Disappointments Past (CSIS, 2001). Despite his lack of academic credentials, Kennan was frequently invited to participate in seminars and to “perform” as a visiting professor.