Throughout the mid to late twentieth century the United States was extremely concerned with their foreign policy due to mishaps that surfaced as a result of lazy administration when dealing with communism. As an example, one mishap was how the Truman Administration dealt with China after the KMT surfaced following WWII. Instead of immediately defending the People’s Republic of China, the United States stayed mostly secluded and independent and let China slip into the favor of the KMT. This was an example of the United States’ being too moderate in their foreign policy. However, on the other hand, there were examples where the United States was too aggressive in their foreign policy. An example of this was how the US chose to dealt with North …show more content…
In fact, early on into his first term, Nixon visited China to discuss Sino-US relations and world affairs.To start off, the monolouge of the trip stated that “The U.S. side stated: Peace in Asia and peace in the world requires efforts both to reduce immediate tensions and to eliminate the basic causes of conflict.” This was supportive to the idea that the US wanted to avoid conflict with China at all costs. Furthermore, the US did not want to appease the Chinese to just achieve peace; they had clear demands of their own that needed to be met. The capitalist victory over communism in Indochina, was one of these goals. This was stressed by the US in the monologue of President Nixon’s trip to China as well: “The United States stressed that the peoples of Indochina should be allowed to determine their destiny without outside intervention; its constant primary objective has been a negotiated solution.” It is to the United States’ preference that the vietcong and North Vietnamese forces be cut off from Chinese supplies. To achieve this, the United States made their demands before a conflict arose to ensure that an ignored threat did not become …show more content…
To start, Carter says outright what his vision for America was: “...but America does want to be the world's peacemaker.” Furthermore, Carter continues with his vision for America’s peace-seeking foreign policy. He does this by talking about SALT, the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks: “The purpose of SALT, then as now, is not to gain a unilateral advantage for either nation, but to protect the security of both nations, to reverse the costly and dangerous momentum of the nuclear arms race, to preserve a stable balance of nuclear forces, and to demonstrate to a concerned world that we are determined to help preserve the peace.” By speaking about the importance of the SALT, Carter effectively laid out what his plan was to secure peace amongst nuclear-armed nations. However, at the same time, President Carter made sure to lay out what America wanted to achieve in the immediate short-term regarding foreign policy: “Our firm commitment to Israel's survival and security is rooted in our deepest convictions and in our knowledge of the strategic importance to our own Nation of a stable Middle East.” As written before, it was strategically important to the United States that they maintain the sovereignty of Israel. Specifically, after failing to intervene in China during the uprising of the KMT, it
The end of the nineteenth century marked a significant change in the American foreign policy. Prior to the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, America had paid little attention to foreign affairs. When compared to some of the more powerful European countries, such as France, Germany, and Great Britain, the United States had a
The Cold War had a significant impact on American foreign policy, changing it substantially in both attitudes to social and economic factors. The heavy influence of a difference in political standing between the Soviet Union and the United States, in conjunction with the high tensions that followed in the post war period, set the foundations for American foreign policy to adapt and change to better suit the developing political agender of the time. Socially, the two sides were heavily split, with the Soviet Union seeking communist support and allies whilst the US sought to counter their progress in a similar manner. Economically these relations with foreign countries that either joined the eastern or western blocs helped to further the
Prior to World War I, the United States generally chose to follow Washington’s farewell address and stay out of “foreign entanglements”. The United States foreign policy from 1918 to 1953 shifted from isolationism or independent internationalism to a more involved internationalism and containment of communism due to various international events, economic conditions, and US public opinion.
Throughout the course of history, the United States has remained consistent with its national interest by taking many different actions in foreign policy. There have been both immediate and long term results of these actions. Foreign policy is the United States policy that defines how we deal with other countries economically and politically. It is made by congress, the president, and the people. Some of the motivations for United States foreign policy are national security, economics, and idealism. The United States entry into World War I in 1917 and the escalation of the Vietnam War in 1964 and the both had great impact on the United States.
The devastating WWI left a permanent mark on the European soil, as well as in American people’s minds. People now understood what real wars are like; they are not always honorable, romantic or beneficial. As a result, isolationism ran high as the postwar United States entered the 1920s. Three presidents, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover all devoted themselves to domestic affairs starting from 1920 while trying their best to keep the country safe from the European turmoils. However, as the WWII erupted in Europe in the 1930s, president Franklin D. Roosevelt sensed the potential danger posed by Germany toward the United States. A series of changes in foreign policies from 1920 through 1941 marked the United
Until the end of the nineteenth century, American foreign policy essentially followed the guidelines laid down by George Washington, in his Farewell Address to the American people: “The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is—in extending our commercial relations—to have with them as little political connection as possible.” By avoiding
The U.S. foreign policy has always been linked to the domestic policy since the U.S. never feared of expanding its national interests over the national boarders. Isolation for the U.S. usually implied slow economic growth and the large number of destructive conflicts within, while impudent foreign policy always guaranteed an abrupt economic growth for the U.S. economy. After the U.S. intervened in the WWI and the WWII, the U.S. economy witnessed a tremendous economic growth, nearly elimination of the unemployment, rapid urbanization and overall growth of the standards of living across the country. Decisive foreign policy has always been providing the U.S. economy with the sustainable and rapid economic growth, unlike the policy aimed at isolation of the U.S.
In Nixon’s effort to end the war, his first policy was to send a message to Hanoi that he meant business. His policy consisted of escalated strategic bombings near the border of Cambodia in hopes to get the North Vietnamese to fear that the United States was capable of doing anything to achieve victory. Even Johnson was skeptical of expanding the war into Cambodia but Nixon’s first policy in full effect. Unfortunately, America was blinded by the corruptness of Nixon’s “peaceful presidency” since
Nixon used his power of executive agreements manipulatively in a strategy that he called, linkage politics; this is a term for strategically organizing the United States relationships with communist powers (Small 1999, 63). Nixon knew that he must settle the Vietnam War with honor because it was a stake in Southeast Asia. Using his theory of linkage politics he saw that the end of the Vietnam War would affect negotiations with China and Russia (Small, 1999 65). He first tried to make an executive agreement with Russia, by explaining to them his idea of “strategic parity. This was an idea that because both nations had enough weapons to completely demolishes the other, neither should start war, and peace would continue. Like Eisenhower’s attempts, Nixon was unable to make an agreement with the USSR and talks continued to be slow (PBS Nixon 2002, 2).
Immediately prior to the turn of the twentieth century the United States began to engage in a more assertive foreign policy. There have been numerous speculations of why that the United States decided to engage in a more aggressive foreign policy, but the main factors are clear. The United States required a stronger foreign policy because of the economic, strategic, and political interests that the United States held in foreign markets. Theses interests were necessary in order to continue the strong economic growth the United States had been experiencing immediately prior to the turn of the century.
Prior to Communism in China, it was known to be a chaotic country on the brink of self-destruction. With the emergence of the party leader Mao Zedong, came a new hope, which filled its inhabitants with the belief that China would return to its former historical greatness. American and Chinese relations before 1971 were in simple terms described as “uneasy”, due to the American, Soviet Cold War. It was not until President Richard Nixon visited China and realized the high value of having China as a ally that relations between the two powers began to become positive. Unknown at the time, it is assumed in the book Chinese Lessons written by John Pomfret, that the relationships he formed with the people he met in China would change his outlook on life and Communist China forever.
In 1972, Nixon began normalizing relations with the communist People’s Republic of China by traveling to Beijing for a week of talks. The People’s Republic of China and U.S. troops fought in Korea during the early 1950s and had been enemies. Nixon’s trip to China was meant for a even deeper wedge between the two most significant communist powers. The U.S. benefited by having closer diplomatic relations with China. This also helped with leverage in dealing with the Soviets, mainly in Vietnam. The United States also took advantage of the Chinese as a counterweight to North Vietnam. People believed that instead of using Vietnam to contain China, Nixon resulted in more success to use China to contain Vietnam. The People’s Republic of China had
American foreign policy has gone through many changes during our 200 years as an independent nation; our position as a global power has obligated us to participate in world affairs, even when public opinion has been unsupportive. After World War 2 we were only rivaled by the Soviet Union as a superpower; our policy at the time was to establish a righteous world order while simultaneously protecting that order against threats that could tear it down (i.e.: communism). After the end of the cold war the U.S was indecisive on what type of foreign policy to establish for itself, since American diplomacy before the end of the Cold War was centered on fighting the spread of communism. The answer to this question came within the academic article I
In their book American Foreign Policy since World War 2, Steven W. Hook, and John Spanier take a historical look at American foreign policy. Since its independence, all through to the start of the 20th century, the United States had a policy of detachment. This was rooted in the believe that Europe, the only other meaningful powerful in the world in the 18th and 19th century, had intrinsic issues related to feudism that kept the continent in a constant state of war (Hook & Spanier, 2015). The U.S on its part was far away from Europe and had a unique chance to chart a different course, one free from the troubles of Europe. As a democracy free from the class systems of Europe and hence maintain peace and stability (Hook & Spanier, 2015). To maintain this peace and stability, it was in the United States interests to maintain detachment from Europe. In fact, Monroe wrote that Europe and its flawed system was evil and America should strive as much as possible to stay away from it (Hook & Spanier, 2015). However, in the 20th century, this policy of detachment was put to the test when the United States was drawn into the first and second world wars by external factors. This led the United States to get more engaged in global affairs. The idea behind engagement was to promote the ideals of democracy which, the U.S believed were the pillars of peace, as well as to protect itself from aggressors like Japan in the Second World War. After the
The USA exercises its foreign policy through financial aid. For example, scarcity relief in North Korea provides not only humanitarian aid but also a base for the development of democratic ideals and bodies.