Shifts in American Foreign Policy

American foreign policy has undergone many a shift in the nearly six decades since the close of World War II. At that time, the wake of Hitler's dark and illegitimate aggression against his neighbors and the Jews had given the world reason for serious pause; the principle of might makes right had been thoroughly borne out, and with disastrous results. In the immediate aftermath, the United States, working with Europe (and in fact inspiring the Charter of the United Nations), established that in an increasingly dangerous world, peace must be the "great goal to which all other ends were subordinated (Tucker & Hendrickson 20)." Today, a new doctrine of preemptive or, preventative war has been adopted by the United States, much to the gathering horror and consternation of the rest of the world. A foreign policy that was once legitimate in its ostensible willingness to engage the world multilaterally has been replaced by an increasingly illegitimate quest for unilateral dominance in world affairs. It is the subversion of a reputable and lengthy tradition in US foreign policy.

When the aftermath of World War II rendered European nations war-torn and war-weary for the second time in as many decades, it was peace that seemed the most important thing for any and all peoples. It was for this reason that the UN Charter permitted the use of force in only one case: when as a defense against an imminent armed attack. During the trials at Nuremberg, Supreme Court Justice Rober

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in actual but limited "hot" conflict in proxy theaters of war around the world. President Eisenhower resolved never to give up an iota of territory to communism, and fulfilled this pledge. Though the Korean War and the Vietnam war that would follow are, in the eyes of history, impossible to applaud as triumphs, they were nonetheless exhibitions of a US foreign policy that, though not afraid to engage its enemy, would do so only with an eye towards squaring these actions with international law and an established, transparent code of conduct (such as the Truman Doctrine) (Tucker & Hendrickson 22). The United States was closest to the grave realization of nuclear catastrophe during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when President Kennedy opted to quarantine Cuba in order to stymie Soviet plans to establish a strategic nuclear arsenal there. In this case, it was careful diplomacy and sophisticated analysis that averted this disaster. President Richard Nixon added another degree of sophistication and commitment to diplomacy when he recognized China and Far East while simultaneously engaging the Soviets an intricate web of trading agreements. Presidents Ford and Carter would pursue a policy of dTtente an easing of tensions between rival

Category: Government - S