The slogan of Donald Trump’s campaign has become the mantra for his nationalistic policies as president. And the term comes freighted with history. In this episode: a look back at the America First movement of the 1930s, often described as isolationist, but which also developed an affinity for Adolph Hitler and Fascism. Also: how Donald Trump’s version of America First has changed US economic and foreign policy.
GUESTS
Stephen Kinzer
Paul Miller
Lynne Olson
Stephen Kinzer is a Senior Fellow in International and Public Affairs at the Watson Institute at Brown University. He has also taught at Northwestern University and Boston University. He currently writes a column on World Affairs for the Boston Globe. Kinzer is the author of several books on U.S. foreign policy. He spent more than 20 years as a correspondent for the New York Times, mostly reporting from foreign bureaus.
Paul Miller is the Associate Director of the Clements Center for History, Strategy & Statecraft at The University of Texas at Austin. From 2007 – September 2009, Miller served on the National Security Council staff as Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was also a CIA analyst in the Office of South Asian Analysis, and served in Afghanistan as a military intelligence analyst with the U.S. Army.
Lynne Olson is the author of Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America’s Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941 and several other books that deal with the second world war. Olson is a former correspondent for AP and White House reporter for the Baltimore Sun.
SUGGESTED READING
BY STEPHEN KINZER
When Donald Trump Says His Foreign Policy Is ‘America First’—What Exactly Does He Mean?
The Nation, May 24, 2016
Trump to walk America’s perpetual imperialist-isolationist tightrope
The Hill, January 24, 2017
BY PAUL MILLER
“How President Trump’s Nationalist Foreign Policy Will Affect America”
Duke University, February 2, 2017
Globalism’ Is the Victory of Western Ideals
Foreign Policy, February 10, 2017