# Marco Rubio **Entity class:** Person (U.S. Secretary of State) **Domain:** U.S. Foreign Policy / Transatlantic Relations **Concept Hub:** [[wiki/Authorship of the West|Authorship of the West]] ## Definition **Marco Rubio is the U.S. Secretary of State whose February 14, 2026 address to the Munich Security Conference made the definition of Western civilization an explicit object of American diplomacy.** ## The Munich Address (February 14, 2026) Rubio told the conference, “We are part of one civilization, Western civilization. We are bound to one another by the deepest bonds that nations could share, forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry, and the sacrifices our forefathers made together for the common civilization to which we have fallen heir.” He later said, “So in a time of headlines heralding the end of the trans-Atlantic era, let it be known and clear to all that this is neither our goal nor our wish—because for us Americans, our home may be in the Western Hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.” He also warned of “the forces of civilizational erasure that today menace both America and Europe alike.” The rhetoric is filial and custodial at once: America describes itself as Europe's child while judging whether Europe is preserving the civilization both claim. ## Evidence Ledger - **Established:** the quoted wording, from the *Foreign Policy* transcript. - **Unresolved:** whether official American doctrine moves from heir ("child of Europe") to author of the West's definition; the deciding evidence is future doctrine, curricula, and the evaluation standards applied to what models say about Western history. See [[wiki/Authorship of the West|Authorship of the West]]. ## Relationships - **Doctrine:** [[wiki/2025 National Security Strategy|2025 National Security Strategy]]. - **Concepts:** [[wiki/Authorship of the West|Authorship of the West]] · [[wiki/Western Order Succession|Western Order Succession]] · [[wiki/Transatlantic Supersession|Transatlantic Supersession]]. - **Source article:** [[articles/war with empire/Authorship of the West|Authorship of the West]] in [[collections/War With Empire|War With Empire]]. ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > “We are part of one civilization, Western civilization. We are bound to one another by the deepest bonds that nations could share, forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry, and the sacrifices our forefathers made together for the common civilization to which we have fallen heir.” > **— Marco Rubio**, *Munich Security Conference, February 14, 2026* [[reminders/Civilization/We Are Part of One Western Civilization by Marco Rubio|We Are Part of One Western Civilization by Marco Rubio]] > “So in a time of headlines heralding the end of the trans-Atlantic era, let it be known and clear to all that this is neither our goal nor our wish—because for us Americans, our home may be in the Western Hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.” > **— Marco Rubio**, *Munich Security Conference, February 14, 2026* [[reminders/Civilization/America Will Always Be a Child of Europe by Marco Rubio|America Will Always Be a Child of Europe by Marco Rubio]] ## Sources / Provenance - [Rubio Munich Speech: Read Full Transcript](https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/14/rubio-munich-security-conference-speech/) (*Foreign Policy*, February 14, 2026). - Mathias Risse, [Reclaiming the West from Civilizational Panic](https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/carr-ryan/our-work/carr-ryan-commentary/reclaiming-west-civilizational-panic-human-rights) (Harvard Kennedy School Carr-Ryan Center, February 18, 2026), a reply defining Western identity as responsibilities.