George Lichtheim
POWER AND IDEOLOGY
In the spring of 1961 Dr. Arnold Toynbee spent some tIme
at the University of Pennsylvania under the auspices of the Depart–
ment of History. The event is likely one day to find its place in the
revised Index of Dr. Toynbee's
Study of History,
which lists other
important occasions in the life of the author (Cf. Toynbee, Arnold
Joseph: countries and places visited by). I make this confident
prediction because Dr. Toynbee used the opportunity of his stay
on the campus to deliver three public lectures, in which among
other things he acquainted his hearers with the fact that · they were
now the owners and managers of a world empire in the succession of
Rome.
1
At the same time that he made this disclosure, he voiced some
uncomfortable doubts about the management of the estate, and even
hinted that America might be losing the current popularity contest
in the uncommitted world. The explanation he gave of this calamitous
possibility must have made his hearers sit up, for it was quite out of
tune with the liberal rhetoric to which academic audiences are ac–
customed. After some polite talk about 1776 and all that, this is what
he had to say:
Today America is no longer the inspirer and leader of the
World Revolution, and I have an impression that she is em–
barrassed and annoyed when she is reminded that this was her
original mission. . . America is today the leader of a world–
wide anti-revolutionary movement in defense of vested interests.
She now stands for what Rome stood for. Rome consistently
supported the rich against the poor in all foreign communities
that fell under her sway; and since the poor, so far, have al–
ways and everywhere been far more numerous than the rich,
1.
America-and the World Revolution.
By Arnold ] . Toynbee. Oxford University
Press, $1.25.
