“Voices of Freedom” Response

As the end of World War II seemed inevitable, Americans began to look at the United States' role in a post-war world. There was an undoubted need to differentiate the United States from fascist governments in Europe and the Soviet power in Russia. The United States had seen its mission in Europe and Asia as a successful; moreover, the United States was now the paragon for democratic globalization and deliverer from oppressive tyrants. As the documents will show, American exceptionalism, despite its universal claims of acceptance, was a matter of perspective domestically as African-American citizens of the United States did feel the liberation or FDR’s Four Freedoms.

Henry R. Luce’s The American Century certainly emphasizes that the United States' role in the postwar world will be as not only a world leader but as the world leader. He notes that the world’s interconnectedness after World War II allows for American freedom to transcend all borders. The United States' influence will extend into “a significant degree an American Century” (Luce). In addition, Luce indicates that the United States that “adequate production for all mankind…is characteristically an American promise” (Foner, 2012, pg. 934) for the world at large as the US is uniquely capable of doing so.

In contrast, Charles H. Wesley’s “The Negro Hs always Wanted the Four Freedoms,” serves as a stark reminder that freedom abroad is precipitated by freedom at home as well.  Wesley asserts that Negroes of the era want to believe in the Four Freedoms as FDR outlined them, but fail to see the application at home. Instead, they observe the real hypocrisy present in the United States' aims as a global power. When the US seeks to spread its freedom, the author asks if it is the freedom “to exploit…the colored peoples in India, China, Africa, Malaya in the usual ways?” (Foner, 2012, pg. 935) It is certainly evident that American global freedom as Luce perceived it was in contrast to the way Wesley viewed. Considering the realities of segregation and racism that was unresolved domestically, Wesley, Luce in a way, note that American Exceptionalism is desirable if it is ultimately combined with a US-led global peace.

Reference

Foner, E. (2012). Give Me liberty!: An American History (Seagull Third ed.). New York: W.W. Norton.