We found in the age of trumpets important to choose your words carefully so i want to tell you why i find them to be both wilson experts but of a different quality and a different tone and tenor. To my mind the professor knock has done more than anyone to tell us what Woodrow Wilson had to deal with. To tell us the history and most moment of Woodrow Wilson, what he confronted and how he confronted it and these developments of his own thinking in the world he lived in. Professor tony smith as the other side of that coin has done more than anyone to tell us why this matters. So frankly every president since wilson has not been a question of them or of whether or not they are will sony and but rather how much. Animated Woodrow Wilson in particular of democracy in so much of professor smiths work in the subject of his book tonight will continue to guide American Foreignpolicy today, one might even say would continue to haunt american policy today. What Woodrow Wilson said will not help us understand what professor smith will help us understand before going away helps drive america today. Which is why i am particularly pleased to have the author of this book why wilson matters which i have to tell you is a darn good book to come here and explain it to us and then you can buy your own copy so without further ado, officer smith, the floor is yours. [applause] i think everythings working. I think jeff said kind ofintroduced me in a way that also introduced my family who i am happy to see here tonight. My sister and i grew up in Richmond Hills in the heart of the metroplex. And my friend karen pressure jones here used to go with me to luanne, those of us who are old enough to mention luanne we where we were champions of the north texas putsch. That was some time ago since luannes closed in 1970 but im sure. [inaudible] the Lakewood Ranch used to swoop in because they would be drinking under age. Karen and i were too but we thought they were calling attention to a widespread problem in dallas. It was all right around here and im glad to see that a few of you know these places. Ive known tom for a long time, tom knox through who just kindly introduced. Jim hollis felt who is a professor in Political Science at the John Chandler center for political study, someone ive also known for a long time and im glad to see him here. Then to meet jeff ingle is a real treat since ive heard about him for a long time and i saw that there was a reference to a book he and tom had just published which i might as well count into cells for you. It sounds interesting, im waiting for my copy. When life strikes the president death and illness in the white house. I noticed neither of the bush president s is in it. Nor is jimmy carter. So i guess there are two people who were immune but it looks like its going to be a wonderful. Well, those of you get up early and watch cbs news may see when charlie rose says the world in 90 seconds. Im going to have to give you wilsons world this evening in 2400 seconds which is about 40 minutes which i think we should keep ourselves too if i can. This is an excellent time to be discussing Woodrow Wilson. April 6 is the centennial of the declaration of war against germany. The result of which was that an army by the summer of 1918 of 1. 8 million american soldiers were in europe. 126,000 died, 204,000 were wounded. This pales in comparison with european losses, Something Like 11 million young europeans lost their lives. 27 million others including ottomans who died. But the bottom line on this was that despite the fact that our losses relative to the europeans were slight, the american contribution was decisive. Its quite possible the germans would have won the war had United States not intervene when it did and how it did. The result was to make Woodrow Wilson the presiding figure at the peace conference that opened in paris early in 1919. And then finally the person who was most responsible for the creation of the league of nations in april 1919, the covenant announced in april 1919. So we are in for two years of centennials, april 2017 to april 2019. Passing by what was called the armistice but what in fact was a german surrender in november of 1918. Well, this war left huge marks on the 20th century. In fact, most historians give it more weight than they give the second world war. However near and more horrific that may seem to us. The reason is it unleashed several forces. The bolshevik revolution being the most obvious but as a response to the revolution, the rise of fascism in italy and nazi germany. After that we can shift our days to the world that was under the domination of western imperialism and most notably, china. This then was the beginning of the rise of what was later called third world nationalist revolutionary movements. The impact of these three forces is still felt with us today but in a way, communism and fascism are more or less ideologies. The one thing that is less commonly brought up is wilsonianism. The reason its so important is that it still is with us today. In fact, its been with us ever since fdr entered the white house in 1933 were particularly since the german invasion of poland in 1939. Fdr was close to wilson and his secretary of state cordell o was in fact much closer. So the transposition of will sony and thinking into American Foreignpolicy came about very easily with the outbreak of world war ii. All this said, not much is known or appreciated about Woodrow Wilson. In fact, i would say he is if not perhaps he can win at the most important president whos forgotten or dislikes. He was certainly very much dislike in his own time by people who opposed the war and to be repay the favor by punishing them. The liberal left which had supported his presidency and indeed supported the war was shot his refreshing of dissidents to the war, people he labeled dissidents. We call the. Mainly germanamericans. Who were opposed but also irish americans who were opposed to the war. People who were socialists or pacifists whom he imprisoned or allowed a vigilant, vigilante groups to take out after. And then African Americans who retreated very badly indeed. Theres a threepart pbs series thats going on now about world war ii. In many ways i dont think its particularly good but what is particularly good is the way it focuses on the crackdown of wilson on these people. Or his disregard as with the africanamericans. The dislike of wilson though continued far past the war itself. The United States did not enter the league of nations by a vote in the senate march 1920, confirmed later. And it was solidly rejected also by the American Public in the president ial election of november that year. When a republican was returned to the white house the first of three republicans coolidge and hoover. It was only when fdr came back that wilson came into office that wilson began to be remembered. But even at that time he was despised by the intellectual movement. Walter whitman, george cannon, john maynard kane, ch car, the list could go on and on. He was also dislikes by as time went on, the left in the United States. They saw him as a person who actually was talking about peace and democracy as a front for pressing American Economic interests abroad with a strong military. In other words, this was kind of a system approach. It was widespread in american universities in the 1960s particularly in the 1970s. But the right didnt like him either. The right didnt like him because he was for strong government and because he, well, if you were a realist, seemed too idealistic and too much of a moralist. The bottom line on this was that wilson was simply not appreciated and once most recently has been opposed of course byafricanamericans. Those who have followed black lines matter may know that they their occupations of princeton where wilson was a student there and the professor and then president until early in the 20th century. It was in politics, he didnt like to call it Political Science it was politics. At any rate, black lies lies matter as the legitimate question, if youre wilsons most famous statement was that he wanted to make the world safe for democracy, why didnt you make the world safe or democracy in america . Okay. And that gets to something jim reminded me of a minute ago. My book is entitled why wilson matters. Leave it or not, Princeton University had contacted me and said could you change the title . Were going to be occupied if you leave a title like that in. I thought why are we going to be occupied . Because its positive. Could you change it to Something Like does wilson matter . So i have some explaining to do i think. The explanation goes to a book i published in 1994. Again with princeton called americas mission, the United States and worldwide spread of democracy. And what this book introduced was the idea that the cold war had been one essentially not thanks to our military power and our economic power alone much as this was true. But also because the contents between liberal internationalism and proletarian internationalism and ideological struggle, a struggle almost of faith if you will had been one by the liberal internationalists. Liberal internationalism is a polite turn term for wilsonianism. Since nobody likes wilson, nobody wanted to use his term so liberal internationalism was kind of a collage phrase for him. What i pointed out was that what one the cold war was liberal internationalism. It wasnt either thecontainment policy nor was it the military. It was a combination of things. I asked i dont know how many of you picked it up that there would be a flyer distributed this evening at the opening and the first of these the first point on this flyer is what i called the virtuous diamond of liberal internationalism. Its a combination of democracy, multilateralism , economic openness, and American Leadership. Before before together result in either a regional or an International Zone of peace. The a great promise that takes us back actually to the enlightenment. People didnt want to recognize that this was will sony in. What does this have to do with Woodrow Wilson. He didnt leave a very good record that was coherent of his aching. In1918, 1919. Largely because he had a terrible stroke. He had a series of strokes since he was a young man and finally was not able to finish his philosophy of politics which he wanted to do after he left the white house. He started it with like 20 pages that were written. At any rate, what i tried to do was to reestablish what wilson might have said had wilson been able to put together the pieces of the puzzle as the puzzle lay before him area in 1918, 1919. And the answer is to look at his analysis of germany. Germany for him was a malignant country. And it was malignant for a combination of reasons. It was authoritarian, it was militaristic. It was imperialist, it was protectionist. And as a result of all these things, in balance of power terms. When you put all this together, you have what he called the perfect flower of war. Now, the important thing to keep in mind here is that not all authoritarian governments are necessarily for wilson malignant. Germany however was capable of putting all this together although he was careful to separate the german people from what he called the German Imperial government. So that when the United States declared war on germany, the United States declared war, not these governments of the United States. Not against the german people but against the German Imperial government. The government was at the origin of the problem. Now if we look at the second citation of the handout that i have for you, you will see what is the most famous declaration that wilson ever made, its when he asked the congress in early april 1917 for a declaration of war saying the world was to be made safe for democracy, peace must be planted on the tested foundations of political liberty. The steadfast concert of peace can never be maintained except by a partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic government could be trusted to keep faith within it or to observe its covenants. It must be a league of honor, a partnership of opinion. Only free people can hold their purpose and honor steady to a common end and prefer the interest of mankind to narrow it interests of their own. Here then is the origin that the ideas that underlay the league. It would come together predominantly as a group of democratic nations. There was a slight problem in this. Ill get to that problem later. Let me switch back to the 1940s if i can, skip ahead to the 1940s. The 1940s is the wilsonian decade. Here we have a system which integrates the leading capitalists economies into a form of regulated capitalism that creates the greatest version of growth and prosperity among these countries in world history. Some people say its like 19th century with the british but i dont think statistics will bear that out. Technically, and i think this was the Gold Standard of it all, was the occupation of japan and germany which converted these two highly authoritarian militaristic countries into guess what . Democracies. And in the case of germany it mattered particularly because that allowed the Marshall Plan look forward to the european union. It also set the framework for the nato or nato which was created in 49. To put all these things together, some people would throw the un in but i think thats somewhat lessimportant. And you get again the virtuous diamond. A place in which American Leadership is indispensable but the fact that the United States is a democracy, that is closest allies are all democracies, that they are joined together in a collective military situation, that they trade with each other and they do so through multinational networks of an extraordinary sort never before seen in world history, by countries that are not acting under authoritarianorders to do this , this is really quite an accomplishment and it completely fulfills what it was that the president was looking for i think in 1919. Now the third quote here is an astonishing quote. Its a quote from mikhail gorbachev. 75 years after the United States the claremore on germany, the cold war over, gorbachev came to the United States and he went to fulton missouri. And there on the anniversary of Winston Churchills famous address in 1946 saying that an iron curtain was falling across europe, gorbachev three years, or nearly 3 years after the fall of the berlin wall declared that the end of the cold war was a victory for common sense, reason, democracy. The United Nations should create structures which are authorized to impose sanctions to make use of other means of compulsion from the rights of minority groups especially are being violated. He went on to underscore the universality of human rights, the acceptability of International Interference for wherever human rights are violated. In a democracy cant exist not only as the antithesis of totalitarianism. This means this movement from the national to the international arena. On todays agenda is not just the union of democratic states but also the democratic we organize community. Its really quite an extraordinary statement. Well, it seems like im going over my own notes here. During the 1990s there when my book came out, i took my ball off the eyes of what was going on with liberal internationalism. I was at a very liberal university and i started writing the book on foreign policy, the engender, all us liberals are into that. So in 1997 i was at the Wilson Center in washington in 1998, i was at the council of Foreign Relations in new york and i sort of miss what was going on in liberal International Relations theory during the 1990s. Finally my book came out with harvard in 2000 and i was having book talks right in the middle of it all, 9 11 happens. Following 9 11, ive seen something really to me out of the blue. And that was the bush dollar. Ive got the doctrine down here and im not going to read all the books doctrine, dont worry about this but. Weve got citations from the bush doctrine which are very meaningful. What they argue is something that at first in 2003 i wasnt quite clear what was going on. I knew that the language was will sony in. But there was something wrong about the accent. It was like going from i dont know, texas to england. And you understand whats being said but you dont quite understand theres something about it thats peculiar. Well, the bush doctrine said all the right things. We go backto the virtuous diamond , it was all there. Open markets. Cooperation among allies. Us leadership. World peace. And so in the fourth entry ive got here for your take away pages, i have the Opening Statement by george w. Bush which is replete with these words and then his final statement in the pursuit of our goals our first imperative is to clarify what we stand for. The United States must defend liberty and justice area. Because these principles are right and true for all people everywhere. No nations owns these aspirations. And if i can find my pages, no nation is exempt from them. America must stand firmly for the nonnegotiable demands of human dignity, and rule of law, limits on the power of the state, free speech, freedom of worship, equal justice, respect for wome