Thank God They're on Our Side: The United States and Right-Wing Dictatorships, 1921-1965 / Edition 1

by David F. Schmitz

Overview

Despite its avowed commitment to liberalism and democracy internationally, the United States has frequently chosen to back repressive or authoritarian regimes in parts of the world. In this comprehensive examination of American support of right-wing dictatorships, David Schmitz challenges the contention that the democratic impulse has consistently motivated U.S. foreign policy.
Compelled by a persistent concern for order and influenced by a paternalistic racism that characterized non-Western peoples as vulnerable to radical ideas, U.S. policymakers viewed authoritarian regimes as the only vehicles for maintaining political stability and encouraging economic growth in nations such as Nicaragua and Iran, Schmitz argues. Expediency overcame ideology, he says, and the United States gained useful—albeit brutal and corrupt—allies who supported American policies and provided a favorable atmosphere for U.S. trade.
But such policy was not without its critics and did not remain static, Schmitz notes. Instead, its influence waxed and waned over the course of five decades, until the U.S. interventions in Vietnam marked its culmination.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807847732
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	05/31/1999
Edition description:	1
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.88(d)

About the Author

David F. Schmitz holds the Robert Allen Skotheim Chair of History at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. He is author of The United States and Fascist Italy, 1922-1940.

Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction. Our Sons of Bitches
Chapter 1. Peace Must First Be Riveted: The Republican Response to Revolution and Dictatorship
Chapter 2. The Origins of the Good Neighbor Policy: The Quest for Order in Latin America
Chapter 3. From Accommodation to Appeasement to War: The Roosevelt Administration and Fascism in Europe
Chapter 4. Disreputable Governments or Allies?: The Truman Administration and Right-Wing Dictatorships
Chapter 5. Thank God They're on Our Side: Eisenhower, Dulles, and Dictators
Chapter 6. New Frontiers?: Kennedy, Johnson, and the Return to Intervention
Epilogue. Carter, Kirkpatrick, and Right-Wing Dictators
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

This is a powerful, important book. Schmitz's masterful study illuminates the lamentably close ties between the U.S. government and right-wing regimes, forcing us to reexamine our assumptions about the very nature of American foreign policy.—William O. Walker III, Florida International University

In this highly original, prodigiously researched study, David F. Schmitz dispassionately chronicles the dark side of America's mission in the twentieth century—a disturbing indictment of policy makers who, in all too many instances, favored the establishment of foreign governments run by fascists and mass murderers rather than by divers hybrid New Dealers. Thank God They're on Our Side is, quite simply, the most powerful rebuttal to the 'triumphalist' school that has appeared since the end of the Cold War.—Thomas J. Knock, Southern Methodist University or, author of To End All Wars: Woodrow Wilson and the Quest for a New World Order)

Editorial Reviews

Quite simply, the most powerful rebuttal to the 'triumphalist' school that has appeared since the end of the Cold War.

Thomas J. Knock, Southern Methodist University

Schmitz's masterful study illuminates the lamentably close ties between the U.S. government and right-wing regimes.

William O. Walker III, Florida International University

"Quite simply, the most powerful rebuttal to the 'triumphalist' school that has appeared since the end of the Cold War.

Thomas J. Knock, Southern Methodist University"

"Schmitz's masterful study illuminates the lamentably close ties between the U.S. government and right-wing regimes.

William O. Walker III, Florida International University"

From the Publisher

Despite its avowed commitment to liberalism and democracy, the US has frequently chosen to back repressive or authoritarian regimes around the world. This examination of American support of right-wing dictatorships challenges the convention that the democratic impulse has consistently motivated US foreign policy. It shows that US policymakers viewed authoritarian regimes as the only vehicles for maintaining political stability in many nations, and traces the waxing and waning of such policies over the course of five decades. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews