President Trump’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday rejected more than 70 years of American historical experience. Although the speech repeated the phrase “national interest,” it extolled a swaggering, primal ethno-racial assertiveness that echoed the hyper-nationalist militarism of two world wars: “We will never surrender America’s sovereignty to an unelected, unaccountable global bureaucracy. America is governed by Americans. We reject the ideology of globalism, and we embrace the doctrine of patriotism.” Still more chilling for those recalling twentieth-century conflicts, the president also boasted that “our military will soon be more powerful than it has ever been before. In other words, the United States is stronger, safer, and a richer country than it was when I assumed office less than two years ago. We are standing up for America and the American people.”

The implication here is that globalism—and the United Nations itself—run counter to U.S. interests. In fact, most of the history of the past century suggests otherwise. Far from hemming in U.S. capabilities, globalism and international institutions have worked incredibly well in furthering American international objectives. And that’s probably why previous American presidents worked so hard to establish them.

President Franklin Roosevelt promoted the idea of a United Nations before the United States entered the Second World War. Meeting with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill off the coast of Newfoundland on August 14, 1941, Roosevelt conditioned American military support for London on an international commitment to “common principles” for the allied countries. Those principles included disarmament, territorial security, open trade, improved conditions for working and retired citizens, and a “wider and permanent system of general security.”

Less than five months later, the leaders of twenty-four other nations joined Roosevelt and Churchill in signing the “Joint Declaration of the United Nations on Cooperation for Victory.” They pledged their shared efforts to defeat fascism and design a new international system that protects “human rights and justice.” They promised to work together for a common vision and mutual gains, insured by agreed principles of peaceful behavior. Under American leadership, the allies signed a charter on June 26, 1945, creating a bricks-and-mortar United Nations Organization in the last days of the Second World War. The charter was ratified in the United States and fifty other founding member states as a binding treaty, becoming a cornerstone of international law.

The U.N. charter opened with an aspirational mission to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” Signatories pledged “to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security” and “to employ international machinery for the economic and social advancement of all peoples.” The twenty-page document then went on to design the institutions that would carry out this cooperative global mission, including the General Assembly (where Trump spoke on Tuesday), the Security Council, and the International Court of Justice.