
Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump
In Do Morals Matter?, Joseph S. Nye ’58, a leading scholar of international relations, analyzes how ethics have factored into U.S. foreign policy during the post-1945 era. Examining each presidency from Truman to Trump, Nye scores foreign-policy outcomes along three ethical dimensions: their intentions, the means they used, and the consequences of their decisions. Alongside this, he evaluates presidential leadership qualities, elaborating on which approaches work and which do not.

Paw in print
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The Latest Issue
October 2025
Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott ’92; President Eisgruber ’83 defends higher ed; Julia Ioffe ’05 explains Russia.
