William Kristol draws a large audience for his Hanify-Howland lecture.

Weekly Standard editor examines US foreign policy in wake of 9/11

Says Americans now living in a "new world"

By: Mary Kate Brennan

Posted: 11/18/05

"It's a little better to be in Worcester than Cambridge, but not that much," William Kristol mused, poking fun at the liberalism of Massachusetts. Kristol, a prominent conservative, presented the Hanify-Howland 40th Memorial Lecture in Hogan Ballroom Wednesday night, speaking on the topic "American Foreign Policy after September 11th."

Kristol was explicitly called today's post-September 11th world of politics a "very unusual moment in history." He pointed to the cataclysmic terrorist attacks of 9/11 to be a momentous occasion, which breaks "the era of peace and prosperity" that was the 90s. "It was an abrupt and shocking transition. Things keep changing. We're not going back," he explained.

As many argue, Kristol agreed that we are now living in a "new world," one which we have been immersed in for a mere four years. Therefore, he contended that "it is hard to tell if policies made will be vindicated or proved mistakes." Kristol believes that the newness of the post-9/11 world does not allow for ultimately conclusive decisions to be drawn and that rather, time must allow the final outcome to emerge.

He analogized today's political instability and fickleness with that of the post-Cold War Truman era: "Truman was expected to be a domestic policy president and finish the New Deal agenda. If you said in '45 that we'd look back on Truman (and his administration) as far-seeing statesmen, no one expected that…That's not that different than the last four years."

He emphasized how in October 2000, in the late days of the Bush/Gore presidential election, "terrorism was not much of an issue at all." Kristol mentioned the often-forgot terrorist events in mid-October 2000, such as the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen. He clarified his stance and that of his publication; he spoke of how "The Weekly Standard" headlined the story as "US at War," thus foreshadowing how the international arena should see this event as part of a war against terror, not just an individual act. Nevertheless, he concluded that by Election Day, thoughts of terror had been virtually forgotten. "It is really startling to go back to that era…it is striking in retrospect," Kristol described the world pre-9/11.

Changing pace to talk about the internal policy changes that are a direct result of the terrorist events of 9/11, he continued: "We don't know what the post-9/11 world will look like and we don't know what Bush's post 9/11 foreign policy will be."

While he was somewhat apprehensive in defending Bush, Kristol did assert that "Bush has been basically correct…The concept is better than the execution, but isn't that always the case in political policy?"

He credited the unsteady world of international relations to the "turbulent and unfortunately bitter politics" of today. Kristol continually pointed out how changing the times are; "One change leads to another and they often lead in unpredictable ways." He gave the examples of the more pronounced riff in US and European policies and new alliance potential, such as with India, to the era. "My prediction is that it won't settle down for many years. It certainly isn't going to be smooth," Kristol confidently declared.

In a slight deviation, Kristol spent part of his lecture on the atypical political structure of both major political parties going into the 2008 elections. "It is a very big moment in American domestic policies," he said, referring to how it would be the first time in close to 80 years that the presidential race would not include a presidential or vice presidential incumbent. There is also a lack of clear frontrunners in both Republican and Democratic primaries.

He said "it shows the volatility of American politics" and adds to the unsteadiness of these post-9/11 days. "It is unusually chaotic and unusually volatile. It is impossible to figure out what is going to happen in a month, let alone a year," he said.

Kristol concluded open-endedly. "It is challenging trying to live through politically," he affirmed. He optimistically stated that "I think we're going to end up succeeding in Iraq." While he pointed out that this may be more difficult than initially expected, he continued: "the impact on the rest of the Middle East is more hopeful than expected."

Kristol's list of achievements and accolades is extensive: he taught politics at both the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, served as chief of staff to Secretary of Education William Bennett and vice president Dan Quayle and led the Project for the Republican Future. Currently, he is editor for "The Weekly Standard," which he helped found in 1995, a frequent commentator of FOX News Sunday and co-author of the New York Times bestseller The Weekly Standard, A Reader: 1995-2005. He follows a long list of speakers in the Hanify-Howland Series, including his own mother, Gertrude Himmlefarb, who lectured in 1998.