American Foreign Policy

17 Pages 4175 Words

America's role in international politics and global governing

1
AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY: THE NEXT 25 YEARS
Mr. Raymond Price, President of The Economic Club, New York City
October 1, 2001
_______________________________________________________
Good evening.
I’m delighted to be here, and I was certainly flattered when Noel
asked me to deliver this inaugural lecture in the Mary Belknap series
– partly because of my admiration for the FPA, but especially
because of my respect and affection for my friend Mary Belknap.
She has done so much to make this institution what it is today, and
she’s such a warm and wonderful human being. Mary, thanks so
much for everything.
And Bob, thank you for those very kind words. I also
appreciate your kind mention of my former boss and mentor, and
friend for the last 27 years of his life, President Nixon. I can
remember when there were fewer such words..FOREIGN POLICY ASSOCIATION
Considering tonight’s announced topic, the next quarter
century, that time frame does, for me, have a certain resonance. It
was just over a quarter century ago – on August 9, 1974 – that
President Nixon became, rather abruptly, a former president.
So before I get to the core of what I want to talk about tonight,
let me tell you a couple of Nixon stories that may have at least an
indirect relevance to that core. Each in a different way involves the
relationship between a leader and his or her country, and its place in
the world.
In the spring of ‘67, just a month after I joined his staff, he and I
took off together on a three-week study trip through Asia – the
second of four such foreign trips he took then, each to a different part
of the world, in preparation for what might become a campaign and
then might become the presidency. We visited Japan, the
Philippines, Thailand, South Vietnam, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan,
Singapore, India and Pakistan, and came back by way of Iran and
S...