The Clinton Administration and the Americas: The Postwar Rhythm and Blues

Abstract

Nevertheless, Bush's 1992 defeat was not hard to explain. In 1952, Frank Klingberg wrote about the swings in US policy between periods of "extroversion," when the United States turned its attention and energies abroad, to "introversion," when it concentrated on internal problems (Klingberg, 1983).1 The pendulum tended to swing home after wars. Like Bush, Woodrow Wilson and Harry Truman also expected tributes from the US populace for their triumphs in war; all were stunned by the severity of the rejection.