American Presidents and the United Nations

John Allphin Moore, Jr. is a professor of history emeritus, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He is co-editor of the Encyclopedia of the United Nations, co-author of The New United Nations, and has written or co-authored articles and books on topics ranging from UN studies to American political history.Jerry Pubantz is a professor of political science and the founding dean of the international honors college at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is co-editor of the Encyclopedia of the United Nations, the co-author of The New United Nations, and the author of other works on the world body and American foreign policy.

Praise for American Presidents and the United Nations: Internationalism in the Balance "This carefully researched and clearly written study presents a comprehensive assessment of how U.S. presidents have engaged in international diplomacy through the United Nations from its founding to the present. With judicious and painstaking attention to detail, the authors explain American challenges and successes with the United Nations, providing a frank assessment of future prospects for cooperation. The instructive, engaging case studies are essential reading for scholars and classes on American foreign policy and international relations."-- Meena Bose, The Peter S. Kalikow Center for the Study of the Presidency, Hofstra University"Moore and Pubantz have not only written a much-needed text capturing the historical trends and ideological themes in U.S. international engagement, but they have revealed the critical role American presidents have played in altering the political commitments and diplomatic tenor at the United Nations. For students, scholars, and the public, their book provides a compact and compelling look at the competing political forces and the dominant personalities structuring the ‘liberal international order’ during the past seventy-five years. Detailing the two-decades-long trend of U.S. presidents preferring unilateral over multilateral diplomacy, they also show that President Trump's rejection of international allies and institutions was more a continuation and culmination than a complete departure. Despite the fact that many of the world's current crises are global in nature--from the coronavirus pandemic and climate change to economic inequality and racial justice--the authors rightly conclude that a revitalization of American-led international institutions, with the U.N. playing a key role, is not a given because public opinion remains divided over their effectiveness in promoting peace and prosperity."--Lara Brown, Director, The Graduate School of Political Management, George Washington University "American Presidents and the United Nations: Internationalism in the Balance should be an indispensable part of any personal library focusing on international affairs or American politics. Much of the 20th and 21st centuries have involved starts and stops in creating an institutional manifestation of international community, and the world greatest power for most of this time has been the United States. Often over the past 75 years, the UN has been both a real institution constantly evolving to address global issues and a symbol in American politics. American presidents have variously considered it the U.S.’s tether to the world, a useful place to exercise leadership, a flawed but necessary part of international diplomacy, or, in the last few years, a hostile place thwarting American interests. In the end, the UN is what one Secretary of State, Lawrence Eagleburger, once told my students: ‘If the UN did not exist, we would have to invent it.’ For it to survive, we do not have to invent it, but we do have to reform it to reflect the realities of a new and much more globalized world. This new book captures this history, this debate, and this reality. "--Shelton L. Williams, President, The Osgood Center for International Studies, Washington, D.C.

• PrefaceChapter 1 IntroductionThe President and the United NationsPresidential WorldviewsSome DefinitionsThe Liberal International OrderIdealismRealismNeoconservatismNeoliberalism and its Critics from the LeftPopulismThe American Debate about the United Nations and World AffairsThe United Nations at Three-Quarters of a CenturyTraditional and Contemporary Arrangements of International PoliticsChapter 2 Building and Maintaining the Postwar Order: FDR to Jimmy CarterPeace and Security in the Nuclear AgeArms Control and DisarmamentMaintenance of Peace and SecurityEnvisioning a Better WorldConclusionChapter 3 Ronald Reagan: The Shining City on the HillReagan and the WorldRonald Reagan and the UN: Phase OneThe Evil EmpireThe Middle East, Reagan, and the UNIran–ContraGorbachevReagan and the UN: Phase TwoConclusionChapter 4 The New World Order: George H.W. Bush and Bill ClintonReaching an Apex in MultilateralismPresident Bush and the Gulf WarPeacekeepingDemocratic EnlargementPeacekeeping ReduxUN ReformConclusionChapter 5 George W. Bush: Challenging Collective SecurityGod’s Will Be DoneDistaste for International Organizations and AgreementsSeptember 11, 2001Democracy and the End of TyrannyIraq WarThe Quartet and a Roadmap to PeaceThe Other Side of George W. BushThe Missed OpportunityConclusionChapter 6 Barack Obama: Pragmatism in the Service of a Future Global Order"Hardheaded at the Same Time as We’re Bighearted": The Niebuhrian PresidentFour Speeches and a PrizeAmerica’s Retreat from UN EngagementThe Middle EastEnding Two WarsPalestinian–Israeli DisputeArab SpringRussia–U.S. Confrontation in the Security CouncilCurbing Iran’s Nuclear ProgramClimate ChangeConclusionChapter 7 Donald Trump: The Impulses of Nativism and IsolationismThe Crisis of 2020America’s Retreat from MultilateralismStruggles Within the AdministrationDisrupting the Middle East QuagmireThe Korean CrisisConfronting ChinaTrumpism, the UN, and the Future ConclusionEpilogueIndex