Thomas Carlyle, the eminent Scottish essayist, wrote that the history of the world was but the biography of great men. This tells half the story: the eurozone crisis shows how financial markets can weigh down on deeply rooted political cultures. But individuals do make a difference.
Contrast our leaders with their 20th-century predecessors. Unlike Eisenhower or Reagan, a cerebral President Obama does not enjoy deep personal bonds with the principal actors in Europe. Helmut Kohl’s vision for a unified Germany within a united continent contrasts with the crablike approach followed by his one-time protégée Angela Merkel. The common denominator today is a lack of economic statesmanship.
The eurozone crisis is now three years upon us. To date, the international response has been faltering and piecemeal. There are imperfect historical parallels between the present economic crisis in Athens and an earlier Greek crisis in the winter of 1947, which similarly threatened to produce a domino effect across Europe. The two eras are of course different. Still, the Marshall plan required a great deal of political courage. Truman, Acheson and Marshall had to pull out every stop to secure congressional approval for the newly expansive foreign policy which – in notable contrast to today – was secured on bipartisan lines.