Article by S. Frederick Starr
In his inaugural address, President James Earl Carter declared that "because we are free we cannot be indifferent to the fate of freedom elsewhere." America's commitment to human rights, he announced, "must be absolute." This assertion, so consistent with the national mood in the post-Vietnam years, was in due course qualified to accord with the demands of America's national security. During the 1980 Presidential campaign, these qualifications were further elaborated. Addressing the United Steelworkers, Secretary of State Edmund S. Muskie explained that the freedoms for which America stood were to be advanced through "an unwavering commitment to our security through a strong defense, solid alliances, and unyielding opposition to aggression." Foreign assistance programs, which earlier had been the chief instruments for promoting human rights, were now seen as instruments "which support the security and progress of other nations around the world, while providing us with the influence we need to advance our interests." In short, an administration that began by denouncing former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's Realpolitik, ended by acknowledging the need for pursuit of the national interest, all the while insisting on its own continued commitment to the human rights policy.
To acknowledge that President Carter significantly qualified his initial position on human rights is not to say that the policy died in his administration, any more than it can be said to have been born with his administration. Competent observers, from de Tocqueville in the 1830's to Dexter Perkins in the 1950's, have underscored the importance of general philosophical principles in the foreign policy of American democracy. What was unique in the Carter policy were the particular rights that were emphasized, the extent to which the American government sought to defend as well as to promote those rights, and, most important, the institutional structure that was established in order to monitor and foster their progress throughout the world. The latter, established through federal legislation, is destined to outlive the Carter era, a monument to its ideals and enthusiasms.
About the Author
S. Frederick Starr. Vice President, Academic Affairs, Tulane University. B.A. 1962, Yale University; M.A. 1964, King's College, Cambridge University; Ph.D. 1968, Princeton University.
Citation
56 Tul. L. Rev. 132 (1981)