ABSTRACT
A special quality to take cognizance of is that American foreign policy, unlike that of most major European powers of the past or present, is based on considerations of rigid morality to a much greater extent than can be considered balanced. Morality requires a different, and one must say, almost a contrary posture: steadfastness to principles, firmness of action and ideology, willingness to make sacrifices. The problem of militarism and antimilitarism in American foreign policy is not a military problem, but a psychological and sociological one. Earlier public attitudes toward militarism were largely shaped in the general esteem for civilian government. The prelude to America's entry into World War One, so brilliantly described by Walter Millis, well illustrates the pendulum of militarism and antimilitarism which was the traditional hallmark of policy making when America had a civilian political elite.
