“Speak softly, and carry a big stick.”
Teddy Roosevelt uttered the famous phrase in a speech in
1901, and for better or worse, the “Big Stick” theory dominated his foreign
policy, and colored the foreign policy of the US going forward.
John F. Kennedy used the phrase in 1960 in describing his
governing style of being liberal at home and careful abroad. The former naval
officer demonstrated the practice during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when he used
the US Navy to establish a blockade of Cuba, keeping the Soviets from
establishing ballistic nuclear missiles on the island. Ronald Reagan also
subscribed to the big stick theory, which is credited with having helped the US
win the Cold War. During their presidencies, both Kennedy and Reagan gave
rousing speeches at Berlin’s Brandenburg gate, pledging America’s might to help
defeat the forces of communism.
Last month, President Obama also spoke at the Brandenburg
Gate, speaking softly, but without the big stick. The President said the defeat
of communism came not from “all the power of militaries” but instead from “the
yearning of justice,” which was “supported by an airlift of hope” and the
values of “openness” and “tolerance.” The Berlin Wall came down, he said,
because the German people wanted it to.
He then told the crowd of Germans something he hadn’t yet
mentioned to his own country: “So long as nuclear weapons exist, we are not
truly safe,” and pledged to reduce US deployed strategic nuclear weapons by up
to one-third, thereby reducing the US big stick to a medium stick, at best, and
surrendering US nuclear superiority for the first time since the invention of
atomic weapons.
Meanwhile the US fleet is less than half as large as it was
during the Cold War. The defense budget since 9/11 has averaged 4.1% of GDP,
but under the budgets projected by the Obama administration, the figure will
drop to 2.5% in less than a decade. Last month, Rep. Randy Forbes (R, VA),
chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee on sea power, told a group at
Washington’s Hudson Institute, “In 2007, the Navy was able to meet about 90
percent of America’s combatant commanders’ need [for ships]. This year that
figure will fall to 51 percent.”
The White House has been embarrassed by a long list of
scandals, the latest involving the defection of an NSA employee to China with a
USB key full of US State secrets. Meanwhile, China, which remains a communist
superpower, wielding a big stick and making no effort at conciliatory speech,
continues to increase the size and capability of its Navy. And yet, for the
first time in history, the Obama administration has invited China’s People’s
Liberation Army to participate in the 2014 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC)
exercise, an annual maritime exercise of US ally nations, where the superpower
is likely to learn even more about US military strategy, tactics and
procedures.
With participation in the RIMPAC exercise, China’s military
and naval intelligence agencies will continue to add to their growing
operational and intelligence arsenal, while the US continues to whittle away
the stick of naval power in exchange for “yearning, hope, openness and
tolerance.”
