The Future Image of America
| DOI | 10.1177/106591296101400354 |
| Author | Ross N. Berkes |
| Date | 01 September 1961 |
| Published date | 01 September 1961 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
35
THE
FUTURE
IMAGE
OF
AMERICA
ROSS
N.
BERKES
University
of
Southern
California
One
of
the
greater
ironies
of
the
mid-twentieth
century
may
well
be
the
wide
gap
between
the
image
we
want
to
present
to
the
world
of
ourselves
and
our
role,
and
the
image
that
actually
prevails,
at
least
throughout
the
free
world.
It
is
to
our
credit
that
we
are
aware
of
this
gap,
and
that
we
seem
willing
and
even
anxious
to
bridge
it.
Most
of
our
response
seems
largely
to
have
assumed
that
the
gap
is
the
product
of
inadequate
public
relations,
or
of
the
Machiavellian
superiority
of
communist
propaganda.
On
either
hand,
the
emphasis
has
been
on
improving
the
presentation
of
our
case
far
more
than
on
changing
that
case,
and
we
have
developed
a
fixation
that
the
world
at
large
simply
does
not
understand
us.
The
historical
watershed
of
this
conclusion
was
probably
the
Korean
War,
a
war
which
the
future
should
evaluate
as
a
fairly
magnificent
gesture
of
sacrifice
combined
with
self-interest.
Nevertheless,
a
careful
study
of
the
pre-
vailing
reaction
in
the
United
Nations
will
lead
to
the
conclusion
that
grati-
tude
for
our
initiative
and
sacrifice
was
offset
by
a
general
fear
that
we
would
use,
or
were
trying
to
use,
Korea
as
an
excuse
to
reopen
the
Chinese
civil
war.
The
Korean
War
is
inserted
here
to
illustrate
the
persisting
ambiguity
of
our
position-even
when
faced
with
an
overt
situation
of
villainy
on
the
other
side.
We
will
be
judged
not
by
what
we
do,
but
by
conceptions
of
what
we
intend,
and
it
is
precisely
in
the
realm
of
intentions
that
we
have
developed
our
own
vulnerabilities.
Probably
the
greatest
burden
we
must
bear
in
the
struggle
to
improve
our
image
abroad
is
the
very
thing
we
are
most
tempted
to
boast
about:
our
standard
of
living.
The
more
sensitive
people
are
to
the
vast
discrepancies,
the
less
tolerant
they
tend
to
be
of
the
usual
mode
of
explanation,
which
more
often
than
not
rests
the
case
on
the
virtues
of
the
American
character
and
political
philosophy.
That
the
Russians
and
the
Chinese-and
particularly
the
latter-are
struggling
to
achieve
something,
places
them
in
the
context
of
dynamic
historical
processes.
Thus
they
seem
to
be
a
part
of
the
future,
whereas
in
contrast
we
look
as
if
we
are
part
of
the
past.
An
affluent
society
cannot
readily
communicate
its
hopes
and
its
fears
to
a
struggling
world.
There
is
in
our
position
throughout
the
world
a
certain
falseness
which
places
us
at
a
considerable
disadvantage.
The
object
and
justification
of
our
energy
and
interest
in
foreign
affairs
is
mainly
the defeat
of
international
communism.
Most
of
our
interest
and
activities
in
the
United
Nations
through-
out
its
history
have
reflected
just
such
a
conception
of
its
potentialities,
to
say
nothing
of
our
recent
aid
programs.
Thus
once
again,
the
test
is
not
so
much
what
we
do,
but
the
intent
of
our
activities.
Up
to
this
point
it
has
been
my
intention
to
convey
the
view
that
our
efforts
to
secure
a
friendlier
press,
so
to
speak,
in
the
world
at
large
is
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