History 261 Section 10A: Documents on "The American Century"

 

Chapter Ten of the Foner book and the Oscar-winning film Best Years of Our Lives ask what Americans were fighting for, at home and abroad, in World War II. For Section 10A, also read these primary documents (all discussed in Foner's chapter) by four prominent American leaders who sought to shape the debate about the meaning of freedom and the type of nation that should emerge from the war.

 

**Henry Luce, "The American Century" (1941) (Editorial by the publisher of Life Magazine and champion of "free enterprise" who became an influential advocate of Cold War containment policy)

 

**Henry Wallace, "Century of the Common Man" (1942) (Speech by the Vice-President who would become a prominent critic of America's Cold War policies, formally titled "The Price of Free World Victory")

 

**A. Philip Randolph, "The March on Washington Movement" (1942)

 

**Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Economic Bill of Rights" (1944) (From the 1944 State of the Union Address)