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Foreign Policy and Democrats

The literature does not offer any support for the statement that, as a general rule, Democrats react too aggressively when conducting foreign policy because of a perceived distrust of their ability to handle national security issues. Arguably, the statement could be applied to the actions of Democratic presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson and their handling of the Cuban missile crisis and the Vietnam War, respectively. However, it could not be so easily applied to the actions of Harry Truman and Jimmy Carter during World War II and the period leading into the Cold War or during the various international crises of the late 1970s. Instead, one could argue that because of their perceived "hard-line" on foreign policy Republican presidents feel obligated to react aggressively. This argument could then be applied to Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush in Indochina, Grenada, and Panama, respectively.

It seems an overstatement to talk about George Bush's "handling" of the Cold War's end. Stephen Ambrose makes it clear that Bush did very little to deal with the momentous events occurring in the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc nations (362-66). Bush ordered very little economic aid or political support for the emerging nations. Instead, he continued to call for very high levels of defense expenditure and seemed to focus his attention on perceived enemies in the Middle East.

The statement implies that a Democratic president would have felt the need to react aggressively to changes in the Soviet Union. Undoubtedly, political instability in the Soviet Union could have posed a military threat to the United States. However, the literature does not reveal that Bush, a Republican, made any moves to ensure stability in the region. He seems to have largely ignored the area and did not seem to have a specific policy for addressing the changes in the Soviet Union. So, to commend him for handling "the end...

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Foreign Policy and Democrats. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 02:21, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1681040.html