When and where was the term “leader of the free world” first coined, and why does it apply to the President of the United States? Just because we have the largest military?
It’s not as if he has any command priviledges over the troops of the UK, France, Germany, or any other “free” country. He can’t issue any executive orders in other countries. Hell, on a bad day he probably doesn’t have the last word on what happens in the White House.
Can’t we just call him Figurehead of the United States?
This is very much a Cold War relic, when the USA and the USSR were the only countries that really mattered simply because they were the only ones that controlled the ability to end human life on Earth. The group of countries led by the USA was commonly known as ‘The Free World’, as opposed to the ‘Godless Commies’ led by the USSR. Thus, whoever was in charge of the USA was leading the Free World.
Largest military. Largest economy. Basically the concept is that any multilateral decision that does not include the USA is pretty much irrelevant. This is due to the “Free World” inability to provide an adequate answer to the question “you and what army?”.
My impression is that the term was not coined by Americans, but by Europeans. After WWII, there was some fear among continmental Western European democracies that the U.S. could withdraw from Europe as it did after WWI, with Europe remaining lost to the military dominance of the Soviet Union against which it couldn’t defend itself (this is certainly true for Western Germany, probably less for France, which principally opted for having itself protected by American presence in Europe but simultaneosly trying to maintain good relations to Moscow). America was seen as the protector against Communism which had taken over Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Baltic States and the regions east of those - all countries that had been firmly integrated into the community of European nation before WWII.
Regarding the “Leader of the Third World,” several dictators of developing countries have tried to occupy this role, often using the Non-Aligned Movement as a diplomatic platform. Khadhafi had some ambitions to become a pan-Arabian leader, and Castro’s Cuba was involved in some African and Caribbean military conflicts, maybe hoping to become something of a figurehead. But there’s far too much discord among the Third World itself for anybody becoming a true “leader” to them.
