For several months, my collage “Ambassador of Peace- We are Friends” hung at the Hecksher Museum of Art. When I went to pick up my piece at the end of the show last week, it was with a very heavy heart. Not so much at the closing of the show, but how the shifting of our world order has given new poignancy to the work
The large hand-cut collage serves as a visual history lesson. It invites the viewer to understand the historical context of America’s over-sized role in the world. Forged during the Post War years, we accepted our banner as leaders of the free world with pride, purpose, and commitment.
The exhibit “The Body Politic” was a timely show, opening in September 2024 as the presidential election loomed in the background. in. World conflicts captured our attention as the debate over the direction of America’s involvement in world events was a key issue.
I could not have imagined that when I went to pick up the piece the world would have turned upside down. That in a few short weeks Trump would upend the global post-war order
America First
We have been battered by a barrage of norm-shattering executive orders and actions that promise to upend eight decades of US internationalism. No recent move tells us more about Trump’s disdain for America’s global reputation than their reckless dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development ( USAID).
This truly reveals the transactional nihilism at the heart of Trump’s foreign policy, which sees no positive purpose for the United States in world affairs.
Our Humanitarian Past
Once upon a time, not that long ago, America was the Leader of the Free World. We united as a country, and our commitment to our allies was absolute.
This was the American Way for nearly 80 years.
Victorious after WWII, the genesis of our foreign policy was forged in post-war America. While much of the world was economically and physically shattered, we had come out of the war as the only major industrial power not severely damaged, the richest country on the earth.
Many once believed that the US had the responsibility to take a leading role in world affairs. If the world was broken, we would fix it.
Promoting freedom and democracy and protecting human rights around the world have been central to U.S. Foreign policy.
Cold War Enemies
The precursor of USAID dates to the early Cold War when the U.S competed with the Soviet Union to win the support from developing and post-colonial nations.
In his 1949 inaugural address, Harry Truman outlined 4 priorities of US foreign policy, The last of these as “ a bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas.”
“The Four Point Program” as it was quickly known, was intended to improve living conditions for half the world’s population and to counter communist propaganda by showing what free societies could deliver. Nations.
WE Are The World
Once upon a time we treated our allies with respect. Our strength as a nation has always been inextricably linked to the strength of our unique system of alliances.
For eighty years Europeans have known that America’s foreign policy and priorities would be consistent with theirs. 76 years ago NATO was born in the aftermath of WWII out of a desire to prevent WWIII. Conceived out of necessity, this enduring alliance was initially forged to prevent Soviet expansionism. The shared democratic values of its members formed a unique bond. An alliance meant to provide reliability in an unreliable world.
After the disastrous meeting in the Oval Office yesterday, it’s as though a nuclear bomb shattered our long-held beliefs and the world order in a single blast.
The fallout will be copious and toxic.