Walter Cronkite: The Most Trusted Man in America

Professor Erik Gartzke

Advocates of U.S. predominance and international stability have pointed with considerable anxiety to relative U.S. decline. Their fears are that atrophying U.S. power will unleash the dogs of war across the globe. Yet chaos can be an opportunity as well as a curse. As this lecture will explain, the mere fear of instability has greatly increased U.S. influence among its friends, even if this has come at some price in terms of power over its adversaries. Never before has the U.S. been in a position of power broker, where it plays a critical role in deciding, rather than imposing, winners in regional conflicts. It is the anxiety of other nations about their protection that allows America more often than ever before to call the shots. Skillful use of this influence requires leadership, diplomacy, and a military that is able rather than active in world affairs.