The Sad History of U.S. Peace Negotiationsby
Chris Rossini
Negotiating
for peace to prevent war is not the forte of U.S. governments: Prior to The
War for Southern Secession (what many mistakenly call The Civil
War) confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed three commissioners
to negotiate with the North. The commissioners reached Washington
on Mar. 5, 1861, the day after Lincoln’s inauguration. “We seek no conquest, no aggrandizement, no concession of any kind…all we ask is to be let alone.”Lincoln's response? He outright refused to see the commissioners, and also refused to recognize the Confederate government. Whether the South wanted conquest or not made no difference. It was the economic policies of the South that enraged the North. You see, the Confederate Constitution created, in essence, a free trade zone with opposition to protectionism. It stated: “but no bounties shall be granted from the Treasury; nor shall any duties or taxes on importation from foreign nations be laid to promote or foster any branch of industry.”Davis, in his Inaugural Address stated that he was “anxious to cultivate peace and commerce with all nations,” and that “our policy is peace, and the freest trade our necessities will permit.” This was in stark contrast to the North's high-taxes and protectionism. The North was in no way going to allow the South to become an attractive market for the rest of the world. On Apr. 2, 1861 The Newark Daily Advertiser, warned ominously that Southerners had apparently “taken to their bosoms the liberal and popular doctrine of free trade” and that they “might be willing to go…toward free trade with the European powers” which “must operate to the serious disadvantage of the North” as “commerce will be largely diverted to the Southern cities.” Free Markets had to be crushed, even if it meant 600,000 deaths. The Great Emancipator was just the man for the job:  1941 Throughout the 1930's, Japan waged war with China; a war in which the U.S. had no stake. However, Japan was almost totally reliant on oil from the U.S.
Keep in mind, that Japan was not at war with the U.S. at all.
FDR, in an attempt to find a "back door" into World War II, froze
Japanese assets, and prohibited Americans from furnishing oil to
the Japanese.
In an unprecedented diplomatic move for the Japanese, they offered
to send Prince Fumimaro Konoye, the Prime Minister and a member
of the royal family, to the U.S. to negotiate personally with FDR
in a desperate effort to preserve peace.
FDR's response?
He refused the meeting.
The "back
door to war" worked:
 2012 The Iranian
story is yet to be written, but the press is now reporting
that the U.S. and Iran have agreed for the first time to one-on-one
negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.  Sadly, the above graphic, combined with the U.S.'s history of not negotiating peace, it's not looking so good for those of us who don't want more foreign wars. If only they'd listen to Ron Paul ... Reprinted with permission from Economic Policy Journal. October 23, 2012 ©2012 Economic Policy Journal
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