YU News
Sen. John McCain and Yorktown University's Raison D'etre
By Richard J. Bishirjian
Jun 15, 2008, 11:31

             “Too many men in the armed forces of the United States

            do not understand what this nation’s foreign policy is….”

            Mr. McCain proposed “a simple, straightforward explanation

            of the foreign policy of the United States.”  "He recommended

            that the military should teach its recruits not only

            how to fight but also the reasons for American foreign

            policies like the containment of Southeast Asian

            communism”--John McCain, essay, National War College, 1974

            (quoted in the New York Times, Sunday, June 15, 2008).

Yorktown University’s accredited M.A. in Government degree program was designed with the education of military personnel in mind.  The United States military bears allegiance to the United States, its civilian authorities, and is trained to defend the United States from its adversaries.  Increasing numbers of American citizens, however, see no need for trained warriors prepared to commit acts of violence against our foes.  Violence and conflict are to be disdained and peace and the absence of conflict are believed to be possible realities.

The last extended period of peace experienced by the American people was the 52-year period between the end of the American civil war and our entry into World War I in 1917.

America’s intervention in World War I disrupted the European balance of power and most certainly assured that France, England and Russia would become the victors.  That destabilization of East, Central and Western European power structures (thanks to President Woodrow Wilson) led to political instability and gave opportunity to Hitler, Mussolini and Franco in the West and Stalin in the East. 

World War II, Korea, the loss of China, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm and Iraq are wars that shaped generations of Americans and consolidated the powers of the administrative state and weakened the American government’s federal structure.  Today a formidable centralized federal government regulates every industry and trade and is controlled by professional political activists whose only employment is elected office.

“They” control the U.S. Armed Forces, send our men and women into harm’s way and sometimes make foolish decisions that endanger the United States, its national interest, and weaken America’s foreign relations. 

Sen. John McCain wrote a required essay during his studies at the National War College in 1974 that expresses a need for the civic education of military professionals.  The New York Times’ David Kirkpatrick writes that  “He [McCain] recommended that the military should teach its recruits not only how to fight but also the reasons for American foreign policies like the containment of Southeast Asian communism.”

It is never sufficient merely to know how to fight, you must have mastered the important rationale for why we fight, when and where.  That civic education should be a part of a military professional’s studies is one reason that Yorktown University offers the M.A. in Government to enlisted military and officers of the United States Armed Forces.  Like John McCain, one of our first students was a Naval officer serving as liaison to the U.S. Congress.  Now a member of the staff of the top administrator of his service, he understands the political, historical and economic forces that impinge on the military services and which shape American foreign policy.

When you visit Yorktown University’s accredited M.A. in Government degree program (www.yorktownuniversity.com), keep in mind that Yorktown University commemorates the Battle of Yorktown of 1781.  The genius of General George Washington, the Father of our country, was his mastery of military science and his mastery of politics.   Military professionals in the United States Armed Forces live in a dangerous world that requires them to master military and political science.