Letter to the Editor - 09.08.2002

The Washington Times

Wilson Was Not The First President To Take Russia Seriously

I appreciated Matthew Fontaine’s review of “The First Cold War: The Legacy of Woodrow Wilson in U.S.-Soviet Relations” by Donald E. Davis and Eugene P. Trani (“The first cold warrior,” Op-Ed, Tuesday). Some readers, however, could misread the emphasis on Wilson’s leadership as dismissing the role of other U.S. presidents – as though Wilson’s predecessors were unconcerned with Russia and his successors followed his blueprint in prosecuting the Cold War. Such a misperception should not be necessary to appreciate Wilson’s greatness as president.

The review opens with this statement: “During the early 20th century, Imperial Russia did little to capture the attention of the United States.” In fact, President Theodore Roosevelt condemned Russian anti-Semitism in his 1904 annual message to Congress. In 1912, under President Taft, the United States abrogated a decades-old trade treaty because of czarist policies against Russian Jewry.

Later in the review, Mr. Fontaine suggests that the “result” of Wilson’s Russia policy “formed the basis of American Cold War policy after World War II.” The precursors of the real Cold War struggle between the Soviet bloc and the West, including the League of Nations experiment, provided scant guidance to the pioneers of U.S. containment policy (nuclear and political) in the 1940s and 1950s. Those shaping American foreign policy in the post-Soviet environment have inherited equally few tricks from the bipolar Cold War model.

Notably, as the U.S. Government pursues the integration of Russia and other post-Soviet successor states into Western institutions, religious freedom remains a topic of interest. The commitment of Wilson’s predecessors and the creativity of his successors has ensured a post-Soviet society that increasingly recognizes the values of tolerance, pluralism, and rule of law. This has been at least one constant in American policy toward Russia and the world, stretching back to Jefferson and beyond. 

SHAI A. FRANKLIN
Director of governmental relations
NCSJ: Advocates on behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia