An Analytical Study Of Charles A. Beard’s Diplomatic History

Charles A. Beard (1874-1948) was a famous American historian，who used economicalreasons to explain the American political system and historical development. At the sametime, his advocation of the relativism had shaked the dominant position of objectivistepistemology. Beard initiated the progressive tradition in American diplomatic history.Beard’s diplomatic history and his diplomatic thought has attracted a great deal of debate inthe United States, but there are no researches on Beard’s foreign historiography in China.Before Beard, the mainstream of American diplomatic history was nationalism.Nationalist school praised the achievements of the United States since independence. Theyemphasized the success and positive aspects of U.S. foreign policy. They payed attentions onthe international pattern. They regarded moral standards and the international public law wascorrect dimension in evaluate a foreign policy of a country. The progressive historicaltradition which Beard had initiated has the character of sought to explore the economic rootof American foreign policy, tried to protect democracy in United States, and critical to thegovernment’s foreign policy. In Beard’s idea, the national interests of American is notexternal expansion but to ensure that Americans can enjoy the resources in domestic. From this “national interest” perspective, he attacked Roosevelt’s policy of attending the world wartwo. Comparing with the nationalistand the revisionist school, we can see that, on one hand,he explored the moral confusion of nationalism school about American overseas expansion,on the other hand, he offered the research methods of searching economic root of U.S.foreign policy and the academic position of paying close attention to domestic democracy forrevisionist school. In a word, Beard’s thought is a connecting link in the United Statesdiplomatic history.