Angelo M. Codevilla: Peace, Without Firing a Shot

In his seminal new book, To Make and Keep Peace Among Ourselves and with All Nations reviewed by Donald D. Devine, Angelo M. Codevilla harks back to the Regan era: “Reagan committed fewer troops than any recent president other than Jimmy Carter and negotiated with the Soviet Union in a way that led to the end of the Cold War in peace, without firing a shot.”

Devine writes that Codevilla believes, “None of the major foreign policy schools get it…. Liberal internationalism denies that nations can be bullies when we understand them better and teach them to be good democrats.”

Codevella’s thinking on John Quincy Adams: “… the first and paramount duty of the government is to maintain peace amidst all the convulsions of foreign wars, and to enter the lists as parties to no cause other than our own.” Summarizing Adam’s thinking, Mr. Devine writes, “If war was required by a vital national interest, the goal was to return to peace as soon as possible… This remained U.S. national policy right up to the 20^th century and the rise of philosophical progressivism in both parties.”

According to Mr. Devine, Mr. Codevilla believes that the goal domestically and internationally is peace, and that is achieved by being strong and minding only our business and not that of others.