Paper #2: Henry Luce, ?The American Century? (1941) For the second document analysis assignment please read Henry R. Luce, ?The American Century? (1941), in Foner, Voices of Freedom, 191-194. Henry Luce was the publisher of Time and Life magazines. In this essay, he attempted to mobilize the American public in the effort to get the United States to play a leadership role in international affairs. The essay was published less than a year before the entry of the United States into World War II. In your analysis and interpretation please answer the following questions:: What motivates Luce to argue for the abandonment of American ?isolationism? in favor of a greater role for the US in the world? What is Luce’s message? Who is his intended audience? What does Luce mean by ?American century?? Why does he consider that specifically American values must be spread across the world? What effect will this American Century have on American economic prosperity or on global prosperity? What political consequences might the American Century have for the United States or around the world? When Luce speaks of ?tyrannies? to whom does he refer? The paper must include the following: A title. A thesis statement and an argument. Do not simply summarize or describe the document. Provide an analysis of its meaning and significance. In other words, form an interpretation of the document. Evidence from the text to support your thesis statement, the evidence must come from the text itself. Citations, in-text or footnotes or endnotes A bibliography containing references to texts that you used specifically in your paper, and also texts that you consulted but did not necessarily use or refer to in your paper.
