Isolationism and World Power

In 1908 the famous journalist and future prime minister of France, Andre Tardieu, came to the United States to lecture at Harvard University, and as a result of his visit, he wrote a book entitled Notes sur les États-Unis. In these notes he declared: “The United States is … a world power. … It is seated at the table where the great game is played, and it cannot leave it.”1 Tardieu's observation was characteristic of many assessments made in the decade from 1898 to 1908. It was almost universally acknowledged that the United States had taken its place on the world stage as a major power. There were obvious reasons for this view. With the acquisition of Hawaii and the Philippines in 1898, the nation had acquired an empire in the Pacific. In naval strength it was surging forward. By 1900 it ranked fourth among the sea powers of the world, and by 1908 it was second only to Britain in capital ship tonnage. Its industrial power was unequaled. At the turn of the century, it led the world in coal, iron, and steel production. Little wonder that the British writer William T. Stead published a book in 1901 with the title The Americanization of the World.