At the turn of the 20th century, America found itself with an Empire and fighting an insurgency in the Philippines. The American Empire was the central issue of the 1900 election and opposition to the American effort to quell the Philippine insurgency was widespread. William McKinley would triumph in the election and the United States would eventually win against the insurgency.
In the middle of the 20th century, Harry Truman faced a tough re-election campaign against Thomas Dewey with a split Party. Key Southern Democrats from the right left the Party to protest the support for Civil Rights in the Democratic platform and Henry Wallace led the rebellion from the left as he oppose Truman tougher stance against the Soviet Empire. Truman would pull off the upset and the political left would be left in the political wilderness for entire generation.
Today, America finds itself at a crucial point once again. In the 1900 election, Americans voted for Empire. For the average American, the pride in being a world power proved enough of incentive along with a growing economy to stay with William McKinley. It also meant new foreign policies were needed and Theodore Roosevelt would begin the process of developing new guidelines for American involvement in the world after he replaced the assassinated McKinley.
While American isolationism would still be a significant part of American foreign policy until the Second World War, the 1900 elections began to see two new strands of the American foreign policy being formed- realism and the more idealistic Wilson strain of spreading democracy and American ideals worldwide.
The 1948 election assured that the policy of containment would last beyond the Second World War for an entire generation. For the next several elections, both political Parties were dedicated to the principle of containment and this bi-partisan did not start to break down until the Vietnam War when many in the Democratic Party deserted the consensus. As many of the young anti-war activists became older, they also took command of the Democratic Party. The children of Henry Wallace took control of the Party from the old cold war Hawks of the Truman era. Now we are witnessing the grandchildren of Henry Wallace in full blossom with the new war of terror is in infancy; the real question is whether America can develop a bipartisan consensus.
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