Michael Bess – Associate Professor of History

Michael Bess delivered the following letter to Senator Frist’s Nashville office on January 31 2003:

As a university professor of 20th-century history, specializing in the history of war and peacemaking, I have come to the conclusion that the United Nations offers humankind a vitally important instrument for handling international problems and crises, including the threats posed by tyrants like Saddam Hussein. I would therefore wish to request that you use your considerable influence in Congress to advocate a foreign policy that continually strengthens the United Nations in its role as a guarantor of international collective security.

Any unilateral action by the United States that disregards or circumvents the authority of the United Nations will — whatever its immediate consequences — grievously weaken our national security in the long haul, because it weakens the principal institution to which we can turn for collective security in the century to come. The days of effective unilateral action are numbered: technology, globalization, and ecological challenges will increasingly render the use of coercion by individual nations (whether military, economic, or otherwise) ineffective and counterproductive. Our only hope for the coming century lies with the principles and institutions of collective security. We cannot afford to weaken those institutions now, in the aftermath of the Cold War, when they are finally getting a chance to establish themselves as legitimate and viable tools of international policy.

Therefore, I fervently request that you urge Congress, and the Bush Administration, to continue to work for a resolution of our foreign policy challenges through the good offices of the United Nations, and not to pursue unilateral action. Such action, though it may appear to serve our immediate and pressing security interests, would in fact severely undermine our nation’s security for the coming century.
Thank you for your consideration, Senator.