Free World

Template:Short description Template:Other uses Template:Use dmy dates Template:Liberalism sidebar Template:Anti-communism Template:Anti-fascism sidebar The "Free World" is a propaganda term,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> primarily used during the Second World War<ref name="fas"/> and Cold War, to refer to the Allies, Western Bloc and aligned countries.

During the Second World War, the term was primarily used against fascist states.<ref name="fas">Template:Cite book</ref> During the Cold War,<ref name="fas"/> the term referred more broadly to all liberal democracies collectively,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> as opposed to communist states.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It has traditionally primarily been used to refer to the countries allied and aligned with the United States, the European Union, and NATO. The term "leader of the free world" has been used to imply a symbolic and moral leadership, and was mostly used during the Cold War in reference to the president of the United States.

History of the concept

Origins

The term "Free World" emerged in the political discourse of the United States in May 1940, following Germany's attack on Belgium, the Netherlands, and France during World War II.<ref name=luthicw>Template:Cite book</ref> It denoted all democracies that resisted authoritarian and world revolutionary states such as Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Soviet Union.<ref name=luthicw/> In June 1941, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt explicitly used the term when urging Congress to approve military aid.<ref name=luthicw/> However, following the United States' entry alongside the Soviet Union in the war, Roosevelt used the term primarily in reference to the United Nations in opposition against Germany, Italy, and Japan.<ref name=luthicw/>

In the years that followed the war, particularly during the Cold War, the "Free World" came to encompass a bloc of democracies, such as the United States and many Western European nations, along with their anti-communist but authoritarian allies.<ref name=luthicw/> In 1950, U.S. Representative Daniel J. Flood commented "HeTemplate:Who? used the phrase 'free world' all the time—the free world, the free world, the free world. That impressed me very much vis-à-vis the Communist world, for instance. It is a tremendously good propaganda term. Is it being plugged enough?"<ref>United States Department of State (1950). The Supplemental Appropriation Bill for 1951: Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, Eighty-First Congress, Second Session, on the Supplemental Appropriation Bill for 1951. United States Government Printing Office. p. 68.</ref>

During the Cold War, many neutral countries—either those in what is considered the Third World, or those having no formal alliance with either the United States or the Soviet Union—viewed the claim of "Free World" leadership by the United States as grandiose and illegitimate.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

21st century usage

While "Free World" had its origins in the Cold War, the phrase is still used after the end of the Cold War and during the Global War on Terrorism.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Samuel P. Huntington said the term has been replaced by the concept of the international community, which, he argued, "has become the euphemistic collective noun (replacing "the Free World") to give global legitimacy to actions reflecting the interests of the United States and other Western powers."<ref>Huntington, Samuel P. "The Clash of Civilizations," 72 Foreign Aff. 22 (1992–1993)</ref>

Leadership of the Free World

United States

George H. W. Bush, the president of the United States during the Fall of Communism

The "Leader of the Free World" was a colloquialism, first used during the Cold War, to describe either the United States or, more commonly, the president of the United States. The term when used in this context suggested that the United States was the principal democratic superpower, and the U.S. president was by extension the leader of the world's democratic states, i.e. the "Free World".

The phrase has its origin in the 1940s during the Second World War, especially through the anti-fascist Free World magazine and the American propaganda film series Why We Fight. At this time, the term was criticized for including the Soviet Union (USSR), which critics saw as a totalitarian dictatorship. However, the term became more widely used against the USSR and its allies during the 1950s in the wake of Truman Doctrine, when the United States depicted a foreign policy based on a struggle between "a democratic alliance and a communist realm set on world domination", according to the American magazine The Atlantic.<ref name="The Atlantic Trump">Tierney, Dominic (24 January 2017). "What Does It Mean That Trump Is 'Leader of the Free World'?". The Atlantic.</ref> The term here was criticized again for including right-wing dictatorships such as Francoist Spain, and Nikita Khrushchev said in the 21st Congress of the Soviet Communist Party that "the so-called free world constitutes the kingdom of the dollar".<ref name="The Atlantic Trump" /><ref name="Safire2008">William Safire. Safire's Political Dictionary. Oxford University Press; 2008. Template:ISBN. p. 265.</ref>

Although in decline after the mid-1970s,<ref name="The Atlantic Trump" /> the term was heavily referenced in US foreign policy up until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. After the presidency of George H. W. Bush the term has largely fallen out of use, in part for its usage in rhetoric critical of U.S. foreign policy.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In the late 2010s and into the 2020s, the term was still being used to describe the United States, its president, and as part of rhetoric critical of the president and U.S. policies.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

European Union

On 6 May 2010, upon an address to the plenary chamber of the European Parliament, the then US Vice President Joe Biden, stated that Brussels had a "legitimate claim" to the title of "capital of the free world", normally a title reserved for Washington. He added that Brussels is a "great city which boasts 1,000 years of history and serves as capital of Belgium, the home of many of the institutions of the European Union and the headquarters of the NATO alliance."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Germany

Angela Merkel served as the Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021.

When Time declared the German Chancellor Angela Merkel Time Person of the Year for 2015, they referred to her as "Europe's most powerful leader", and the cover bore the title "Chancellor of the Free World".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Following the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency in November 2016, The New York Times called Merkel "the Liberal West's Last Defender",<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and a number of commentators called her "the next leader of the free world".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Politico 17 November 2016">Template:Cite web</ref> Merkel herself rejected the description.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> An article by James Rubin in Politico about a White House meeting between Merkel and Trump was ironically<ref name="Zeit March 2017" /> titled "The Leader of the Free World Meets Donald Trump".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

German commentators agreed with Merkel's assessment,<ref name="Zeit March 2017">Template:Cite news</ref> and Friedrich Merz, a CDU politician, said that a German chancellor could never be "leader of the free world".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In April 2017, columnist James Kirchick stressed the importance of the German elections (on which "the future of the free world" depended) since America had "abdicated its traditional role as leader of the free world by electing Trump, the United Kingdom was turning inward after the referendum decision to leave the European Union, and France was also traditionally unilateralist and now had an inexperienced president"; he called Merkel "something less than leader of the free world ... but something greater than the leader of just another random country".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> References to America's abdication of its role as leader of the free world continued or increased after Donald Trump questioned the unconditional defence of NATO partners and the Paris climate accord.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Jagoda Marinić, writing for The New York Times, noted that "Barack Obama all but literally passed on the mantle of 'leader of the free world' to Ms. Merkel (and not Mr. Trump), and most Germans feel empowered by that new responsibility" and that Germany "is coming to understand its role in standing up for liberal democracy in a world turning more and more authoritarian."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Other commentators—in the United States and Europe—rejected the appellation "Leader of the Free World":<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> some argued that there is no single leader of the 'free world';<ref name="FT 17 July 2017">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="CNN 10 July 2017">Template:Cite web</ref> others queried whether Merkel remained the "leader of the free world" and the champion of liberal values.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Questioned about Merkel's standing following her performance in the German elections in September 2017, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton opined that Merkel was "the most important leader in the free world".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> However, after Merkel's party suffered losses in the 2017 election and there were delays in forming a government, the claim that Merkel is the true leader of the free world was referred to as a "joke",<ref name="Vanity Fair November 2017">Template:Cite news</ref> described as a media phenomenon,<ref name="ABC News November 2017">Template:Cite news</ref> and otherwise called into question.<ref name="Guardian November 2017">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Washington Examiner, December 2017">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Bloomberg View, December 2017">Template:Cite news</ref>

When Merkel retired as chancellor, Hillary Clinton wrote that "she led Europe through difficult times with steadiness and bravery, and for four long years, she was the leader of the free world."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• Annuit cœptis
• "Axis of evil"
• CRINK
• Berlin Wall speech
• Carthago delenda est
• Death to America
• Death to Arabs
• Death to Israel
• E pluribus unum
• Evil Empire speech
• Freedom in the World
• Free World Military Assistance Forces
• "Global arrogance"
• Gott strafe England
• "Great Satan"
• "Hitler was right"
• "I Want YOU for U. S. Army"
• In God We Trust
• Make America Great Again
• Novus ordo seclorum
• "Outposts of tyranny"