American Foreign Policy

Introduction

Since the end of Second World War, the American overseas policy has shifted from Isolationism to Interventionism. Before the Second World War, United States followed policies that prevented them from taking actions to interfere or change the political or social climate of other nations. These guiding principles defended their homeland borders and remained self-sufficient and unconcerned with the rest of the world. The policies changed to interventionism, which was founded on the principle of directly intervening in the affairs of other nations.

The change was because of the American’s perception of the most decent and had the proper way of living, governing and hence it would take measures to guide other nations towards the same direction. Initially, the nation was largely non-interventionist state, which preferred to focus on domestic affairs and pay attention to economic policies abroad.

Foreign policy Before the Second World War

United state had remained purely isolationist state whose foreign policy only allowed getting involved into the domestic matters of the state and guarding of her borders. It was not involved in outside matters which did not affect the nation directly. The early isolationists considered that staying out of issues which were not directly linked to the United States was the best way to ensure that they had enough resources and time to get involved in the domestic matters properly. They saw it that getting involved in the political issues of other nations to be wastage of equipment and risking the lifes of the American soldiers in matters which were not related to their nation. 

American Foreign policy after the second World War

The change occurred after the Cold World War when America was forced to storm into the war when Japanese pilots bombed the naval base at Pearl Harbor in December 1941. This changed the United States to an interventionist state. The idea of communism and the threat of Soviet Union influenced every foreign policy adopted by the U.S. A recovery program that was passed by Congress in 1948 sent relief funds into Western Europe and this created an influx of business in America.

America later worked towards freeing nations referred to as the third world. They started practicing a policy of self-determination, not seeking conquest or economic control but instead instilling governments that were friendly. The United States through the United Nations intervened into the war between the communist government of Korea and the Republic of Korea since they saw that the Republic of Korea needed help to avoid being overrun. This war finally settled in 1953 and the borers were restored exactly as they were before the war broke.

The conflict in Vietnam began in 1945 when the Vietminh declared Vietnam self-governing from France. The United States though had promised to accept the results of the elections, which were conducted in 1956 to unite the two separate nations under one democratically elected official later in 1956. They ignored it and provided weapons and training for the friend faction in Vietnam and sent CIA Operatives to destabilize the Vietminh clandestinely. During the 1950s, the US government had supported a change in control of Cuba when Fidel Castro led the supporting revolution. After Castro came into power, he severed all ties with the United States and became more open about his socialist leanings.

Later, the United States funded and trained troops that led a coup attempt to wrest control from Castro, which failed. John Blight said that the relation between Castro’s government and America was indirectly responsible for the alliance between Cuba and the USSR.

Economic and Social Reforms

In the nineteenth century, America was involved in various regional economies such as the manufacturing belt, the corning belt and the cotton belt. These economic regions developed in different constituencies and became represented by in congress by legislators who represented those constituencies. According to Sanders, U.S can be categorized into three types of regional economies which include core, diverse and periphery. The core region possesses economy which relies on industrial and manufacturing activities, the diverse region consists of wide range of economic activities which are not dependant on industrial activities or only the farming activities while the peripheral region has economy which is dependant on farming activities but it is peripheral from the core and diverse regions. Throughout the 19^th and the 20^th century there were several farmer and worker movements. Industrialization in U.S was rapid towards the last portion of the 19^th century and the positions of farmers declined. Legislation was enacted between 1909 and 1917 which involved state intervention in transportation, trade, taxation. Banking, antitrust, commodities markets, education, industrial employment and public enterprise.

Domestic Politics from 1877-1945

During this people the economy of the United States was in depression and the nation was at times of war. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed a new deal coalition which realigned the American politics as his domestic policies defined American Liberalism in the middle of 20^th century. The deal involved programs that were geared towards providing relief such as government jobs for the unemployed and recovery of the economic status to boost its growth and ensured reforms were done. This led to the rapid improvement of the economy from 1933 to 1937. A bipartisan coalition which was formed in 1937 prevented the president from passing any considerable legislation and abolished many relief programs when unemployment diminished towards the Second World War.

Politics

 President Harry S Truman (1945 to 1952) set before Congress his domino theory, which showed that if one pertinent nation fell into communism, it would drag all its neighbors. This led to the Truman Doctrine in 1947, which contributed to demolishment of communism (Patrick 111). Truman laid out is Point IV Program in 1949 which intended to give technical aid to third world nations and also aided formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization which intended  to counter the Soviet threat in Western Europe.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower was in power between 1952 and 1960. He propagated the interventionist policies where in 1953 he used the CIA to stage coups and overthrow the unfriendly governments in Iran and Guatemala. He helped to form the Southeast Asia Theory Organization after the fall of Vietnam from French control to Vietminh control in 1954. It became necessary to review the interventionism and look at different sides to debate. One of the issues was that getting involved in the foreign affairs would remove the United States’ ability to decide on the matters of whether to get involved and further devastate the early isolationists such as Hiram Johnson and Henry Cabot Lodge. They further argued that having the growing importance of International treaties, it was evident that enjoining foreign policies would lead The United States to wars which were not related to domestic circumstances. They did not see the need as to why US should waste money, equipment and risk human life in defending other nations. They insisted that America’s real goal was not the containment of communism but that the US had no right to get involved into the internal politics of foreign nations and hence that was not necessary in ensuring amicable trade agreements.

Domestic politics after World War II

The government of the United States has worked towards ensuring that all the citizens from all the states are treated fairly and that ensured that no state violates the rights of any of its citizens. The law has been enacted in ensuring that the due process of law is followed to avoid violation of some rights of the citizens even if they are held as suspects of criminal offences. It has also ensured that the borders are well demarcated and protected from external interference by other nations. There have been efforts to boost the economy of the country which in return has enabled creation of employment opportunities thus improving the living standards of the people. United States has been concerned in ensuring the welfare of its citizens even those visiting other nations by defending their rights and offering ready assistance in times of crises.

From the above history of the American Foreign policy, it is evident that the nation expanded their field of concern to help other nations which are still under developed and also it has been willing to protect the rights of their citizens and even other nations from being dictated by cruel governments. The nation has also worked towards ensuring the welfare of each of their citizens and provided enough security on her border

Work cited

Patrick Allitt, The Conservatives: Ideas and Personalities throughout American History, p. “before the 1950s there was no such thing as a conservative movement in the United States.”, Yale University Press, 2009. Print.