2 - Faith, Dominion, and Managerialism: The Particularistic Markers of the Notion of American Exceptionalism in the 1950s

Summary

Introduction

In the 1950s, American Exceptionalism was informed by three distinct particularistic components: faith, dominion, and managerialism. The particularistic markers of the notion of American Exceptionalism dictated the course of US foreign policy in the 1950s. American policymakers dealt with the threat posed by the Soviet Union by putting together policies aimed at securing the supremacy of the United States in the international order. American Exceptionalism was underscored by the faith in the supreme moral values of the United States. In order to operationalize these values in an effective manner, there was a need to give a quasi-religious quality to the expansion of the geopolitical reach of the United States. The faith in the supreme moral values of the United States was needed for legitimizing the dominion over the American sphere of inf luence. The large scope of responsibilities that the United States acquired as a result of the outcome of World War II created a new relationship between the private and the public sectors, aimed at managing the international political system in an effective manner.

The Faith in the Supreme Moral Values of the United States

There are two important components regarding the significance of faith in the development of US foreign policy during the 1950s. First, faith was seen as an instrument for improving the world in the postwar conflict context. Second, faith allowed the American political establishment to see the Cold War as a spiritual battle between two totally opposed systems: communism and Western capitalism. Communism symbolized evil, while the American system symbolized good. The North American configuration of Christianity legitimized America's mission as a force for good in the wider world. It was believed that there could be a confluence between “both the best of American democracy and the best of Christianity,” embodying values such as “compassion, tolerance and belief in justice and equality.”1 The Christian faith, as practiced by the descendants of the British settlers who made their way to North America in the seventeenth century, was seen as an instrument in order to improve the world. American and Christian values were seen as a workable platform for world government.