Regardless of their domestic policies, presidents and other world leaders seem to be remembered most often for the successes and failures of their foreign policies.

President Trump’s actions regarding Ukraine appear to be risking the condemnation of history. There’s an unpleasant parallel.

In 1938, Hitler’s Germany, which had already swallowed Austria, threatened Czechoslovakia with invasion if it didn’t surrender the Sudetenland, where many people spoke German, to become part of Germany. It seemed unlikely that Hitler would stop there — but there was a lot of debate about what to do.

On Sept. 29, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met with Hitler in Munich, bypassing the Czech government. Chamberlain reached an agreement that Germany would be given the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, with additional concessions designed to make it almost impossible for the Czech military to defend the rest of Czechoslovakia. The Czech government protested, but the larger powers forced Czechoslovakia to accept the deal.

Chamberlain returned to London and was cheered as he declared, “My good friends, this is the second time there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Now I recommend you go home, and sleep quietly in your beds.”

Chamberlain’s fellow Conservative Winston Churchill protested, but was outvoted. Churchill may or may not have put it this bluntly to Chamberlain: “You were given the choice between war and dishonour. You chose dishonour, and you will have war.”

Chamberlain’s policies were popular with the British people at the time — until Britain realized the catastrophic consequences of rewarding German aggression.

He didn’t stop

We all know the outcome. Hitler didn’t stop. He never intended to. Much of Czechoslovakia’s military equipment fell into German hands and became useful in further German conquests.

After Chamberlain’s policy was discredited, Churchill — with U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt — began preparing for the war that was foreseen all along. With help from the Soviet Union and resistance movements elsewhere, Britain and the USA eventually defeated Hitler and the Axis. But it could have gone either way. Hitler could have prevailed, with misery everywhere.

Handing Putin victory

As of February 2025, Vladimir Putin is weak. Recent battlefield reports suggest that courageous Ukraine has forced Russia back to a stalemate that costs Russia far more than it costs Ukraine. Trump knows this, and has recognized Putin’s weaknesses publicly. However, he proceeds as if a Putin victory were inevitable, while telling obvious falsehoods — serving Putin’s interests perfectly — about who started the Russia-Ukraine war.

However popular this policy may be among many Americans, history has seen this story before. It ends with even more suffering than it starts with.

Chamberlain’s policies, now simplified to the word “appeasement,” were popular in 1938, but were discredited by the time of Chamberlain’s death in 1940. Now the name “Neville Chamberlain,” when remembered at all, is cited mostly as an example of dangerous naiveté.

Trump’s direction

If Trump delivers Putin what he wants, yet freedom eventually wins, Trump will not escape history’s condemnation. However, Trump is changeable.

President Trump may yet realize how well history will remember him if he strengthens Ukraine and Europe to resist tyranny and determine their own destiny. Our country’s future will be much brighter if he does so, sooner rather than later.

DAVE CUNDIFF

Ilwaco