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Center for America's Purpose
Pathfinder
Pathfinder:
“Thanks to my reading,” General James Mattis explains, “I have never been caught flat-footed by any situation, never at a loss for how any problem has been addressed before. It doesn’t give me all the answers, but it lights what is often a dark path ahead.”
General Mattis is describing how a broad base of knowledge can help people think critically, solve problems and handle the unexpected. These qualities are especially important when it comes to foreign and defense policy. Yet for many Americans, there are gaps in understanding the history, context, means and ends of U.S. foreign and defense policy. Since its founding in 2014, the Sagamore Institute’s Center for America’s Purpose has worked to fill these gaps by applying the lessons of history to the challenges of today and by reminding the American people that the United States is a force for good in the world. Pathfinder is the Center’s newest tool in this effort to fill some of the gaps in our understanding of America’s purpose and role in the world—and to provide some light for the path ahead, to borrow the phrase used by General Mattis.

Sagamore Institute Senior Fellow Alan Dowd , who leads the Center for America’s Purpose, serves as curator of the Pathfinder collection. The product of insights from dozens of former diplomats, policymakers, retired military officers, foreign-policy practitioners, historians, political scientists, and scholars, Pathfinder resources are grouped under two broad “pathways”: The FOUNDATIONS & FUNDAMENTALS pathway shines light on some of the basics about America’s role in the world—the roots and origins, arguments and debates, tensions and contradictions that have forged U.S. foreign policy and national security strategy over the centuries. The CHALLENGES & THREATS pathway points the lamp toward some of the current trends and enduring tests in U.S. foreign and defense policy. Each pathway is broken down into subsections for ease of reference, and each includes a feature we call “stepping stones”—essays aimed at offering a little background about a particular topic.
Readers will notice that this collection of books, speeches, primary-source documents and essays doesn’t reflect an exclusively idealist or realist, liberal or conservative, isolationist or interventionist, nationalist or globalist stance on foreign and defense policy. Rather, Pathfinder represents a mix of those views—not unlike America itself.
- FOUNDATIONS & FUNDAMENTALS
- CHALLENGES & THREATS
John Jay, Federalist No. 4: The Fleets of America
Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 68: The Dangers of Foreign Influence
Constitution of the United States of America
George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
Thomas Jefferson, Dreams of the Future, 1816
James Monroe, The Monroe Doctrine, 1823
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1835
Abraham Lincoln, The Last Best Hope, 1862
Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, 1863
Theodore Roosevelt, Citizenship in a Democratic Republic, 1910
Theodore Roosevelt, In the Interest of Humanity, 1904
Martin Luther King, A Special Job for Mankind, 1965
Paul Kennedy, Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, 1987
Samuel Huntington, The U.S.—Decline or Renewal?, 1988
Ronald Reagan, Freedom Man, 1989
Paul Johnson, Modern Times, 1992 edition
Edmund Morris, Theodore Rex, 2001
Walter Russel Mead, Special Providence, 2001
John Lewis Gaddis, Surprise, Security and the American Experience, 2004
Niall Ferguson, Colossus, 2004
William Odom & Robert Dujarric, America’s Inadvertent Empire, 2004
Michael Mandelbaum, David’s Friend Goliath, 2006
Josef Joffe, The Default Power, 2009
Stephen Ambrose & Douglas Brinkley, Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy since 1938, 2011
Robert Kagan, The World America Made, 2012
Henry Nau, Conservative Internationalism, 2013
Robert Kaplan, In Defense of Empire, 2014
Robert Kagan, Superpowers Don’t Get to Retire, 2014
Robert Kaplan, America Is Fated to Lead, 2014
Dick Cheney & Liz Cheney, Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America, 2015
Stepping Stones
Declinism, 2007; History Lessons, 2010; The Myth of America’s Decline, 2012; The Face of America, 2014; Mission Statements, 2016; A Whittled Big Stick, 2019
Learning from War
George Washington, The Urgent Need for Men and Supplies, 1777
Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, 1865
Ulysses S. Grant, The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, 1885
Theodore Roosevelt, Preparedness, 1897
William McKinley, Message Requesting a Declaration of War, 1898
Theodore Roosevelt, Preparedness without Militarism, 1914
Theodore Roosevelt, The Danger of Making Unwise Peace Treaties, 1914
Woodrow Wilson, War Address: A Fearful Thing, 1917
Franklin Roosevelt, The Great Arsenal of Democracy, 1940
Eleanor Roosevelt, The First Pearl Harbor Address, 1941
Franklin Roosevelt, War Address: A Day of Infamy, 1941
Winston Churchill, America’s Olympian Fortitude, 1941
Franklin Roosevelt, Fireside Chat: The Task We Face, 1942
Dwight Eisenhower, The Great Crusade, 1944
Franklin Roosevelt, D-Day Prayer, 1944
Winston Churchill, Sinews of Peace, 1946
George Kennan, The Long Telegram, 1946
Harry Truman, Free Peoples Look to Us, 1947
Hans Morgenthau, Politics among Nations, 1948
Dwight Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, 1948
NSC 68: United States Objectives and Programs for National Security, 1950
Douglas MacArthur, No Substitute for Victory, 1951
George Kennan, American Diplomacy, 1951
T. Harry Williams, Lincoln and His Generals, 1952
Winston Churchill, Never Despair, 1955
John Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 1961
Douglas MacArthur, Duty, Honor, Country, 1962
Barbara Tuchman, The Guns of August, 1962
Burke Davis, Marine: The Life of Lt. Gen. Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller, 1964
DOD, The Pentagon Papers, 1967
Richard Nixon, Asia after Vietnam, 1967
David Halberstam, The Best and the Brightest, 1972
James Webb, Fields of Fire, 1974
Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars, 1977
Ronald Reagan, The Boys of Point Du Hoc, 1984
Ronald Reagan, Tear Down This Wall, 1987
David Cannadine, Ed., The Speeches of Winston Churchill, 1989
Billy Mossman, Ebb and Flow, 1990
Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway, We Were Soldiers Once…And Young, 1992
Gerhard Weinberg, A World at Arms, 1994
Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy, 1994
H.R. McMaster, Dereliction of Duty, 1997
Richard J. Stillman, General Patton’s Timeless Leadership Principles, 1998
Samuel Huntington, The Lonely Superpower, 1999
Robert Kaplan, Kissinger, Metternich and Realism, 1999
Derek Leebaert, The Fifty Year Wound, 2002
Robert Kaplan, Supremacy by Stealth, 2003
John Lewis Gaddis, The Cold War: A New History, 2005
Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 2005
Fouad Ajami, The Foreigner’s Gift, 2006
Annelise Anderson & Martin Anderson, Reagan’s Secret War, 2009
William Stueck, The Korean War at Sixty, 2011
Michael Lind, Why We Went to War in Vietnam, 2012
Robert Gates, Duty, 2014
A.J. Baime, The Arsenal of Democracy, 2014
Barack Obama, We Tell This Story, 2014
David Rothkopf, National Insecurity, 2014
Victor Davis Hanson, The Second World Wars, 2017
John Lewis Gaddis, On Grand Strategy, 2018
Barry Gewen, The Inevitability of Tragedy, 2020
Robert Kagan, A Superpower, Like It or Not, 2021
Hal Brands & Peter Feaver, The Myth of American Militarism, 2021
Stepping Stones
Thirteen Years: The Causes and Consequences of the War in Iraq, 2003; V-O Day, 2011; America at War, 2015; Lead Together, Bleed Together, 2016; Tet, 2017; Lessons and Leftovers of the Great War, 2018; A Question of Intervention, 2018; A High Price, 2018; Defending a Dirty Word, 2018; Jackpot, 2019; Post-Truth and Consequences, 2019; Weighing the Soleimani Strike, 2020
Waging Peace
Woodrow Wilson, The 14 Points, 1918
Henry Cabot Lodge, The 14 Reservations, 1919
Franklin Roosevelt, The Four Freedoms, 1941
Franklin Roosevelt & Winston Churchill, Atlantic Charter, 1941
George Marshall, The Responsibility of Victory, 1945
George Marshall, What Must Be Done, 1947
Marshall Plan, 1948
Michael J. Hennelly, Leadership Lessons from General George C. Marshall, 2018
David Rolls, George Marshall: Defender of the Republic, 2019
North Atlantic Treaty, 1949
Reinhold Niebuhr, The Irony of American History, 1952
Harry Truman, Farewell Address, 1953
Dwight Eisenhower, Our Foreign Policy, 1953
Dwight Eisenhower, A Chance for Peace, 1953
Dwight Eisenhower, The Battle for the Free World, 1959
Dwight Eisenhower, A Farewell Warning, 1961
John Kennedy, A Sea of Peace or a Theater of War, 1962
John Kennedy, Let Them Come to Berlin, 1963
Richard Nixon, A New Relationship with the People’s Republic of China, 1971
Richard Nixon, Peace in Asia and Peace in the World, 1972
The Helsinki Accords, 1975
Gerald Ford, To Promote Peace and Progress, 1975
Jimmy Carter, Human Rights and Foreign Policy, 1977
George H.W. Bush, The Cause of Freedom, 1990
Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man, 1992
George H.W. Bush, We Must Give Them Hope, 1992
George Shultz, Turmoil and Triumph, 1995
George H.W. Bush & Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed, 1998
David Halberstam, War in a Time of Peace, 2001
Max Boot, Savage Wars of Peace, 2002
Robert Kaplan, Imperial Grunts, 2005
Richard Reeves, Daring Young Men, 2010
Robert Kagan, Nation-Building: Our National Pastime, 2011
William Inboden, Religious Freedom and National Security, 2012
Retired Flag Officers, The Need for Strategic Investments in Diplomacy and Development, 2017
Condoleezza Rice & Philip Zelikow, To Build a Better World, 2019
Stepping Stones
NATO after Kosovo, 1999; The Exertions of Better Men, 2005; NATO at 60, 2009; No Better Friend, 2009; A Freedom Problem, 2009; A World Worth Fighting For: The Power and Promise of the Atlantic Charter, 2011; To Bolster Failed States, Support Freedom, 2012; A Helping Hand for the Commander-in-Chief, 2012; The Special Relationship Deepens, 2013; Our Friends in France, 2016; Bearing the Burden, 2017; A Confluence of Interests and Ideals, 2018; In Defense of Foreign Aid, 2019
Challenges & Threats
Deterring Great Power War
Mark Helprin, Rich Country, Strong Arms, 2008
Keith Payne, The Great American Gamble, 2008
Adam Lowther, Learning to Love the Bomb, 2009
Robert Kaplan, The Geography of Chinese Power, 2010
Mark Helprin, Thinking About the Unthinkable—Again, 2010
John J. Mearsheimer, The Gathering Storm: China’s Challenge to U.S. Power in Asia, 2010
Adam Lowther & Alan Dowd, The Myths of Nuclear Drawdown, 2015
P.W. Singer & August Cole, Ghost Fleet, 2015
Walter Russell Mead, Why Russia and China Are Joining Forces, 2019
Mark Milley, Great-Power Competition or Great-Power War, 2020
Robert Kagan, China’s Dangerous Taiwan Temptation, 2020
Niall Ferguson, Cold War II, 2020
Walter Russell Mead, Beijing’s Neocommunism, 2020
Mark B. Schneider, The Massive Expansion of China’s Strategic Nuclear Capability, 2021
Niall Ferguson, How Cold War II Could Turn Into World War III
Stepping Stones
Cold War II?, 2001; A Focused Competitor, 2009; Rogue Russia, 2012; The Not-So Pacific, 2012; Shield and Sword, 2015; Cooperation or Conflict in the Arctic?, 2016; NATO Takes the Fifth, 2018; The Power of a Little Fear, 2018; The Preserve, Prevent and Persuade Doctrine, 2018; A Message to Manila and Beijing, 2019; Defending Taiwan and Deterring China, 2020; The Bear Is Not Bluffing, 2020; The China Challenge, 2020; Shrinking Bomber Fleet Not Enough to Deter Our Enemies, 2020
Defending & Updating the Liberal International Order
Ronald Reagan, Fostering Democracy, 1982
Ronald Reagan, To Prevent, Not to Provoke, Wider Conflict, 1987
Ronald Reagan, Democracy’s Next Battle, 1992
Bill Clinton, A National Security Strategy of Engagement and Enlargement, 1994
Samuel Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, 1996
Bill Clinton, A Responsibility to Preserve Peace, Freedom and Stability, 1999
George W. Bush, Address to Congress after the 9/11 Attacks, 2001
Tony Blair, Address to Parliament after the 9/11 Attacks, 2001
George W. Bush, An Axis of Evil, 2002
Tony Blair, We Are Bound Together, 2003
John Lewis Gaddis, Surprise, Security and the American Experience, 2004
Robert Kagan, The Return of History, 2008
Tony Blair, We Cannot Tolerate the Intolerable, 2009
Barack Obama, We Can Do Whatever We Set Our Mind To, 2011
Mark Helprin, Iran’s Mortal Threat, 2011
Tony Blair, Indifference Is Not Sensible Policy, 2014
James Mattis, Views on Global Challenge, 2015
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, The World Needs a Policeman, 2016
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, The Will to Lead, 2016
Daniel Fried, The Free World Is Still Worth Fighting For, 2017
Daniel Fried, The Free World, 2017
Robert Kagan, The Jungle Grows Back, 2018
Anna Mitchell & Larry Diamond, China’s Surveillance State Should Scare Everyone, 2018
DIA, Iran Military Power
DOD, Military and Security Developments Regarding the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
Robert Kagan, The Strongmen Strike Back, 2019
John Ikenberry, The Next Liberal Order, 2020
Joe Biden & Boris Johnson, A New Atlantic Charter, 2021
The Biden Administration, 2022 National Security Strategy
Joe Biden, Be Not Afraid, 2022
Stepping Stones
System Administrator, 2015; Democracy on the Defensive, 2015; Keeping the Open Seas Open, 2015; Rediscovering America’s Purpose, 2015; Nervous Systems, 2016; To Quarantine or Heal, 2017; America’s Inward Turn, 2017; Iran’s Global Threat, 2018; Holding Back the Chaos, 2018; Built to Last, 2018; A Corroding Democratic Order, 2019; Out of Order, 2019; Rescuing the Democratic Order, 2019; Retreat, Return, Repeat, 2020; Lessons Learned, Relearned and Unlearned in Afghanistan, 2020; A Disengaged America, an Eroding International Order, 2020; America Must Defend Democracy, 2021; The Causes and Consequences of Putin’s War, 2022; Trials and Tests in Taiwan, 2022; The Free World’s Wall of Strength, 2022; Out of Order, 2023
Strengthening & Repurposing Alliances
Winston Churchill, A Constabulary Power for Freedom, 1938
Ivo Daalder & James Lindsay, An Alliance of Democracies, 2004
John McCain, A Worldwide League of Democracies, 2007
Ivo Daalder & James Lindsay, Democracies of the World, Unite, 2007
Robert Kagan, The Case for a League of Democracies, 2008
Derek Grossman, The Quad Needs Broadening to Balance China, 2018
NATO, NATO 2030: United for a New Era, 2020
Walter Russell Mead, India a Natural U.S. Ally in the New Cold War, 2020
Atlantic Council, Strengthening U.S. Alliances and Partnerships, 2020
CSIS, Defining the Diamond: The Past, Present and Future of the Quad, 2020
Lloyd Austin, The U.S. Can’t Meet Its Responsibilities Alone, 2021
Sheila Smith, The Quad in the Indo-Pacific, 2021
NATO, Defense Expenditure of NATO Countries, 2021
Joe Biden, Rebuilding the Muscle of Democratic Alliances, 2021
Joe Biden, An Alliance of Democracies, 2021
Stepping Stones
A Concert of Democracies, 2012; Back to Basics for NATO, 2014; No More Asterisks in NATO, 2016; An Army of Conscience, 2018; Geopolitical Geometry in the Indo-Pacific, 2018; A Navy of Navies, 2018; NATO and the National Interest, 2019; Stalwart Ally in the Pacific, 2019; Alliances Worth the Cost, 2020; America’s Alliances Are a Good Deal for the American People, 2020; All Hands on Deck, 2021; Back to the Future for NATO, 2022; No More Free-Riders in the Free World, 2022; The New NATO’s Old Mission, 2022
Investing in Security
George Washington, Liberty and Military Capabilities, 1790
Les Aspin & Jack Kemp, How Much Defense Spending Is Enough?, 1976
Mike Mullen, National Security and National Debt, 2011
Henry Kissinger, George Schultz, James Baker, Madeleine Albright, et al., Addressing Our Debt, 2012
National Defense Strategy Commission, Providing for the Common Defense, 2018
CNBC, U.S. Security Chief Calls National Debt Dire Threat, 2018
Robert Samuelson, Believe We’re Spending Too Much on Defense?, 2019
Heritage Foundation, Index of U.S. Military Strength, 2020
American Enterprise Institute, Defense Budget Lessons, 2021
Mark Helprin, Defense Rests, 2021
Heritage Foundation, 2023 Index of Military Strength
Stepping Stones
Death by a Trillion Cuts, 2012; Learning by Disaster, 2014; Off We Go, 2014; Drifting toward Danger, 2014; Broken Engagements, 2015; Distress Signals, 2015; On the Ragged Edge, 2015; Diminishing Capacity=Diminishing Capability, 2016; America’s Military Is Losing Its Technology Edge, 2017; The Sacrifices of Sequestration, 2018; Building a Navy for Tomorrow, 2020
Shaping the 21st Century
George W. Bush, The Best Hope for Peace in Our World, 2005
John Lewis Gaddis, Ending Tyranny, 2008
Barack Obama, Global Security Underwritten by America’s Blood and Arms, 2009
Henry Nau, Conservative Internationalism, 2013
Robert Kaplan, Why We Need Someone Like Ike in the Cyber Era, 2019
Joe Biden, Why America Must Lead Again, 2020
Walter Russell Mead, The Century of Bioweapons, 2020
H.R. McMaster, Battlegrounds, 2020
Mike Pompeo, Time for Free Nations to Act, 2020
Joe Biden, The Leading Force for Good in the World, 2021
Joe Biden, Interim National Security Guidance, 2021
Joe Biden, America’s Place in the World, 2021
Stepping Stones
Surrendering Outer Space, 2007; Liberty and Security in the Cyber Age, 2018; And Then There Were Six, 2020; Chain Reaction, 2020; 5Geopolitics, 2020; Time for a Doctrine on Cyberspace Defense?, 2021; An Old Playbook, a New Cold War, 2021; America as a Reforming Power, 2021