by Conrad Black
Table of Contents
Praise
ALSO BY CONRAD BLACK
Title Page
Dedication
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
ONE - THE ASPIRANT STATE, 1754-1836
CHAPTER ONE - The Path to Independence
1. THE GREAT POWERS AND THE AMERICAS
2. THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND EARLY SKIRMISHING IN AMERICA
3. THE OUTBREAK OF THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR
4. THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR, AMERICA
5. THE FIRST PHASE OF THE WAR IN EUROPE
6. THE WAR IN AMERICA, 1758
7. THE WAR IN THE WEST INDIES AND AFRICA, 1759
8. THE FALL OF QUEBEC
9. THE WAR IN EUROPE, 1759
10. THE END OF THE WAR IN AMERICA, 1760
11. THE END OF THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR
12. ANGLO-AMERICAN RELATIONS AFTER 1763
13. THE STAMP ACT
14. FRANKLIN’S DIPLOMACY IN LONDON, 1764–1767
15. THE TOWNSHEND TAXES
16. THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
CHAPTER TWO - Independence
1. THE END OF EMPIRE IN LONDON
2. THE OUTBREAK OF WAR
3. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
4. WAR, THE FIRST PHASE
5. FRANCE JOINS THE WAR
6. THE SOUTHERN CAMPAIGN, 1779–1781
7. YORKTOWN
8. ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION
9. THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
CHAPTER THREE - Creating a New Republic and Launching It in the World, 1789–1809
1. THE WASHINGTON PRESINDENCY
2. THE RIVALRY BETWEEN HAMILTON AND JEFFERSON
3. WASHINGTON’S SECOND TERM
4. RELATIONS WITH FRANCE AND BRITAIN
5. JOHN ADAMS AS PRESIDENT AND THE CRISIS WITH FRANCE
6. THE NATURALIZATION, ALIEN, AND SEDITION ACTS
7. JEFFERSON AS PRESIDENT
8. THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
9. HAMILTON AND BURR
10. RESPONDING TO WAR IN EUROPE
11. ASSESSING THOMAS JEFFERSON
CHAPTER FOUR - Reconciling with Britain Abroad, and with Slavery at Home, 1809–1836
1. JAMES MADISON AS PRESIDENT
2. THE WAR OF 1812
3. THE 1812 ELECTION
4. THE WAR: THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1813
5. MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC DEVELOPMENTS IN 1814
6. THE END OF THE WAR
7. JAMES MONROE AS PRESIDENT
8. THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE
9. THE MONROE DOCTRINE
10. THE 1824 ELECTION AND PRESIDSENT JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
11. THE RISE OF JACKSON
12. THE UNION AND SLAVERY
13. JACKSON’S SECOND TERM: NULLIFICATION AND THE NATIONAL BANK
14. STRATEGIC REVIEW
TWO - THE PREDESTINED PEOPLE, 1836–1933
CHAPTER FIVE - Slavery
1. THE PRESIDENCY OF MARTIN VAN BUREN
2. THE LOG CABIN AND HARD CIDER ELECTION
3. THE TYLER PRESIDENCY
4. THE 1844 ELECTION
5. PRESIDENT JAMES K. POLK AND THE MEXICAN WAR
6. THE 1848 ELECTION
7. THE COMPROMISE OF 1850
8. THE SLIDE TOWARD DISUNION
9. KANSAS AND NEBRASKA
10. BUCHANAN AND THE REPUBLICANS
11. DRED SCOTT AND LECOMPTON
12. ABRAHAM LINCOLN
CHAPTER SIX - Civil War and Reconstruction
1. THE 1860 ELECTION
2. CIVIL WAR AT LAST
3. ANTIETAM AND RELATIONS WITH THE BRITISH AND THE FRENCH
4. THE TURNING POINT: VICKSBURG AND GETTYSBURG
5. GRANT BEFORE RICHMOND, SHERMAN IN GEORGIA, AND THE 1864 ELECTION
6. THE END OF THE WAR AND THE DEATH OF LINCOLN
7. AMERICA AND THE WORLD
8. RECONSTRUCTION
9. ULYSSES GRANT AS PRESIDENT
10. THE 1876 ELECTION, HAYES, GARFIELD, ARTHUR, AND CLEVELAND’S FIRST TERM
CHAPTER SEVEN - A New Great Power in the World, 1889–1914
1. BENJAMIN HARRISON
2. CLEVELAND’S SECOND PRESIDENCY
3. WILLIAM MCKINLEY AND THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
4. THE REELECTION AND ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT MCKINLEY
5. PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT
6. ROOSEVELT’S SECOND TERM
7. PRESIDENT WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT
8. THE TAFT-ROOSEVELT SCHISM AND THE 1912 ELECTION
9. WOODROW WILSON’S FIRST TERM—DOMESTIC REFORMS, AND MEXICO
10. WORLD WAR I
CHAPTER EIGHT - The Crisis of Democracy
1. THE WESTERN FRONT
2. DIPLOMATIC INITIATIVES
3. THE 1916 ELECTION AND UNRESTRICTED SUBMARINE WARFARE
4. THE UNITED STATES ENTERS THE WAR
5. THE ARMISTICE
6. THE PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE
7. THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES
8. THE 1920 ELECTION
9. WARREN G. HARDING AND CALVIN COOLIDGE
10. HERBERT HOOVER
11. THE 1929 CRASH
12. INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS AND ARMS CONTROL
13. JAPAN AND THE BEGINNING OF WAR
14. THE POLITICS OF DEPRESSION
THREE - THE INDISPENSABLE COUNTRY, 1933 -1957
CHAPTER NINE - Toward America’s Rendezvous with Destiny, 1933–1941
1. THE STRATEGIC HERITAGE AND PROSPECTS OF AMERICA IN 1933
2. THE NEW DEAL
3. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT AND THE WORLD
4. ROOSEVELT’S SECOND TERM
5. RISING TENSIONS IN EUROPE
6. THE DESCENT TO WAR
7. THE GERMAN BLITZKRIEG, WINSTON CHURCHILL, AND THE FALL OF FRANCE
8. THE THIRD TERM
9. THE FOUR FREEDOMS AND LEND-LEASE
10. THE RUSSO-GERMAN WAR
11. THE ATLANTIC CHARTER
12. THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN
CHAPTER TEN - The Victory of Democracy in the West, 1941–1945
1. DAY OF INFAMY
2. EARLY MONTHS OF TOTAL WAR
3. THE TURNING OF THE TIDE
4. DIVERGENT WAR AIMS
5. THE CASABLANCA AND TRIDENT CONFERENCES
6. KURSK, THE FALL OF MUSSOLINI, AND THE FIRST QUEBEC CONFERENCE
7. THE CAIRO AND TEHRAN CONFERENCES
8. THE RETURN OF THE ALLIES: D-DAY
9. THE BATTLE OF FRANCE
10. CLOSING IN ON GERMANY AND JAPAN
11. THE 1944 ELECTION AND THE BATTLE OF THE ARDENNES
CHAPTER ELEVEN - From World War to Cold War, 1945–1951
1. YALTA
2. THE FINAL OFFENSIVES
3. THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT; PRESIDENT TRUMAN AND THE POTSDAM CONFERENCE
4. THE BEGINNINGS OF THE COLD WAR
5. SAVING WESTERN EUROPE
6. THE PEOPLE’S TRIUMPH
7. THE FALL OF CHINA
8. THE COMMUNIST ATTACK IN KOREA
9. THE CHINESE INVASION OF KOREA
10. TRUMAN AND MACARTHUR
CHAPTER TWELVE - The Red Scare and the Free World, 1951–1957
1. THE REPUBLICAN RENAISSANCE AT LAST
2. PRESIDENT DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
3. INDOCHINA
4. THE CIA IN CENTRAL AMERICA
5. EISENHOWER’S ASTUTE POLITICAL INSTINCTS
6. THE FORMOSA STRAIT AND VIETNAM
7. OPEN SKIES
8. THE SUEZ CRI
SIS
9. REVOLT IN BUDAPEST AND WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST
10. REELECTION AND DE-ESCALATION
FOUR - THE SUPREME NATION, 1957–2013
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - Peace and Prosperity, 1957–1965
1. A PROFUSION OF TROUBLE SPOTS
2. THE END OF THE DULLES ERA, THE STATE OF THE WESTERN ALLIANCE, AND ...
3. THE U-2, THE PARIS SUMMIT, AND THE END OF THE EISENHOWER PRESIDENCY
4. PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY AND THE NEW FRONTIER
5. THE BAY OF PIGS, THE VIENNA SUMMIT, AND THE BERLIN WALL
6. VIETNAM AND THE CUBA–MISSILE CRISIS
7. THE DEATH AND LEGACY OF JOHN F. KENNEDY
9. PRESIDENT LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - Vietnam and Détente
1. THE GREAT SOCIETY
2. VIETNAM, THE GROWING CRISIS
3. AMERICA AT WAR IN ASIA
4. STRATEGIC REASSESSMENT
5. THE EMBATTLED ADMINISTRATION
6. THE 1968 ELECTION
7. PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON
8. THE SILENT MAJORITY
9. THE CAMBODIAN INCURSION
10. THE OPENING WITH CHINA
11. RELATIONS WITH THE USSR
12. THE 1972 ELECTION AND THE CLIMAX IN VIETNAM
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - To the Summit of the World, 1973–1992
1. THE WATERGATE DELUGE
2. REVOLUTION IN CHILE AND WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST
3. WATERGATE, THE LAST ACT
4. PRESIDENT GERALD FORD
5. THE 1976 ELECTION
6. PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER
7. THE RISE OF RONALD REAGAN
8. PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN
9. SECOND TERM AND ASSESSMENT OF RONALD REAGAN
10. PRESIDENT GEORGE H.W. BUSH
11. THE FIRST IRAQ WAR
12. THE END OF THE COLD WAR
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - Waiting for the Future, 1992–2013
1. NEW RIVALRIES
2. GEORGE BUSH AND BILL CLINTON
3. GEORGE W. BUSH AND THE WAR ON TERROR
4. THE GREAT RECESSION AND BARACK OBAMA
5. SEEING AMERICA PLAIN
Acknowledgments
INDEX
Copyright Page
Acclaim for
A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE
“[Conrad Black’s] candor on just about every conceivable topic is not only surprising but practically unprecedented.”
—Vanity Fair
“When a great writer is falsely imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit and decides to write a tell-all non-defensive account, the result is likely to be riveting. Conrad Black’s memoir does not disappoint.”
—Alan M. Dershowitz
“Conrad Black’s A Matter of Principle is a fascinating, erudite, and defiant prison memoir—must-read for lawyers, politicos, and gossips alike!”
—Margaret Atwood, on Twitter
“Authoritative and highly readable . . .”
—Andrew Roberts, The Daily Beast
“[A] gripping memoir of [Black’s] nightmarish trek through America’s justice system and business governance culture.... Black is a writer of great force and panache.”
—The New Criterion
“The former international media baron’s observations from prison are funny, poignant, touching, sympathetic (except for prison authorities) and beautifully chronicled.”
—Ottawa Citizen
“A remarkable work—unlike any of its kind that I’ve ever read.... Conrad seems to have total recall of everything, and he lays it out coherently and colourfully. . . . Precise, blunt, succinct. A fascinating book about the trial.”
—The Huffington Post
“[A Matter of Principle] is a brutally honest memoir of [Black’s] turbulent run-in with American injustice.”
—Irish Independent
“A big book by a big man.... A hard-eyed and detailed indictment of that legal system, from U.S. attorneys to our federal prisons.”
—The American Spectator
“A Matter of Principle is Conrad Black’s most personal and gripping book.”
—Troy Media
“A riveting memoir and a scathing account of a flawed justice system.”
—IndieBound
“A Matter of Principle is a laudable achievement.”
—Winnipeg Free Press
ALSO BY CONRAD BLACK
Render Unto Caesar: The Life and Legacy of Maurice Duplessis
A Life in Progress
Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom
Richard M. Nixon: A Life in Full
A Matter of Principle
FOR LOYAL AMERICAN FRIENDS, IN PARTICULAR
Tina Brown and Harold Evans, Shelby Bryan and Anna Wintour, Domenico Buccigrossi, Ann Coulter, Thierry Despont, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Mica Ertegun, Miguel Estrada, Pepe and Amelia Fanjul, Jack Fowler, Ron Genini, Carolyn Gurland, Roger and Susan Hertog Laura Ingraham, Robert Jennings, Henry and Nancy Kissinger, Roger Kimball, Parker Ladd, Leonard Lauder, Rush Limbaugh, Seth Lipsky and Amity Shlaes, Norman and Sarah Murphy Peggy Noonan, John and Melissa O’Sullivan, Larry Perotto, Robert Pirie, Norman Podhoretz and Midge Decter, David Pringle, Chris Ruddy, Donald and Melania Trump, Robert Emmett Tyrrell, George Will, Paul Wolfowitz, Paul Wright, Jayne Wrightsman, Ezra Zilkha, and Mort Zuckerman; and the late Bill Buckley and Bill Safire.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
Henry A. Kissinger
A society’s national strategy defines the goals it seeks to achieve and the contingencies it attempts to prevent. It unites a people’s core interests, values, and apprehensions. This effort is not an academic undertaking, nor an element in a particular political platform. If it is to be effective, it must be embedded in the convictions and actions of a society over a period of time.
For the United States, the development of such a strategy has been a complex journey. No country has played such a decisive role in shaping international order, nor professed such deep ambivalence about its participation in it.
The United States was founded in large part as a conscious turning away from European concepts of international order. The founders declared independence during the heyday of the Westphalian international system, brought about at the end of the Thirty Years’ War. The premises of this system were the sovereign control of states over their territories, domestic structure as the prerogative of the government—hence a doctrine of non-interference in other states’ affairs—and an equilibrium between the great powers (expressing itself in the concept of a “balance of power”).
The Founding Fathers skillfully used this system to establish American independence and security. Yet they stood intentionally aloof from it, declining to send fully empowered embassies to European courts. The European balance of power was useful to the new country, but not to the point of participating in its practical conduct. Rather, the United States relied on Britain to play the role of balancer and used the resultant equilibrium to ban a European role in the Western Hemisphere via the Monroe Doctrine.
When the United States reentered European affairs during the World War I, President Woodrow Wilson announced America’s war aims as a rejection of Westphalian principles. He denounced the balance of power and the practice of traditional diplomatic methods (decried as “secret diplomacy”) as a major contributing cause of war. In their place he proclaimed the objective of self-determination as the organizing principle of the coming peace. As a result, the Treaty of Versailles, which ended the war, abandoned many of the established principles of the balance of power and of non-interference in domestic affairs. With the map of Europe redrawn, the United States thereupon withdrew from day-to-day global diplomacy.