Foreign Relations: The Ultimate Self-Interest

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Fulbright's—and others'—talk of U.S. retrenchment often smacks of wishful thinking. The position, declares an Indian official in New Delhi, is best described by a Chinese saying: "The trees want to be still, but the wind doesn't stop." Contemplating the supposedly scattered deployment of U.S. strength in the world, Iowa's Republican Senator Bourke Hickenlooper observes: "That scattering has saved the world situation up to now—it has stopped many a Communist adventure." Says Columbia University's Zbigniew Brzezinski: "The real problem is not overextension but nonassertion of leadership by America. The U.S. is still the No. 1 power. As such, it can't turn away from the responsibilities of its power because things around us are said to be too complicated."

Fulbright would not necessarily disagree with that, although he and other Americans might disagree as to the meaning and extent of "responsibilities." His own formulation: "We need not toughness but tough-mindedness, that is, the willingness and ability to look facts in the face however bitter they may be, to appraise them at their true worth and then to act calmly, judiciously and determinedly."

That seems like sound advice on U.S. foreign policy—as long as everyone agrees on just what the facts are.