U.S. Foreign Policy
1778-Present Day
Does US Foreign Policy Reflect
Actions of an Arm of Empire or Beacon
of Hope?
Isolationism
• Defined
• Roots
– Franco-American Alliance
– Proclamation of Neutrality
• Formal Beginning
– George Washington’s Farewell Address
Interventionism
• Defined
• Origins
– War of 1812
• Cause
• Course
• Consequences
– Monroe Doctrine, 1823
• Extension
– Manifest Destiny, 1845
– Mexican-American War, 1846-1848
– Native American
• Indian Removal Act, 1830
• Great Plains Wars, 1865-1890
Expansionism Begins:
Spanish-American War
Defined
Causes:
• Expansionism
• Jingoism
• Yellow Journalism
• De Lome Letter
• U.S.S. Maine
• Teller Amendment
Consequences:
• Platt Amendment
• Territorial Gains
• Filipino War
• Insular Cases
• Jones Act 1916
Expansionism Extends
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Purchase of Alaska, 1867
Great White Fleet, 1907-1909
Roosevelt Corollary
Panama Canal, 1914
Open Door Policy
Dollar Diplomacy
Democratic-Imperialism
Neutrality
• Defined
• WWI
– Freedom of the Seas
• Unrestricted Sub Warfare
• Sinking of Lusitania
• Sussex Pledge
– Belligerent Loans
– Munitions Industry Interests
– Zimmerman Note
– Wilson’s 14 Points
– Treaty of Versailles
• League of Nations
• Senate Rejection
– German Economic Loan Plans
• Dawes Plan
• Young Plan
Neutrality in the Interwar Years
• 1930s Neutrality Embargo Acts
– Kellogg-Briand Pact
– Nye Committee Findings
– 1935 Neutrality Act
– 1936 Neutrality Act
– 1937 Neutrality Act
• Modified Neutrality
– Quarantine Speech, 1937
– 1939 Neutrality Act
– 1941 Lend-Lease Act
– Arsenal of Democracy
Containment: Phase 1
• Defined:
– WWII - Contain Totalitarianism
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Nazism, Fascism, Militarism, Communism
Lebensraum
The Blitzkrieg
Atlantic Charter
Japanese Surprise Attack on Pearl Harbor
Second Front Pledge
D-Day 1944
Island Hopping
Total War: Night Time Bombing of Civilian Targets
Dropping of the Atomic Bomb
Germany’s “Final Solution” and Life in Concentration Camps
Executive Order 9066 and Japanese Internment
Japanese Kamikaze bombers
Nuremberg Trial and “Crimes against Humanity”
Containment: Phase 2
• Defined
– Phase 2: Cold War - Contain Communism
• Cold War Defined (1945-1990)
• WWII Cold War Origins
• Cold War Heats Up
• Cold War at Home
• Cold War Abroad
– Korean War, 1950-1953
– Vietnam War, 1954-1973
• Détente
• Reagan Real-Politick
Cold War Heats Up
• George Keenan’s Long Telegram, 1946
• Truman Doctrine
– Communist Containment
• Marshall Plan
• Iron Curtain
• United Nations
• 1949 Turning Point Year?!
• At Home
– McCarthyism
• Abroad: Korean War and Vietnam War
Vietnam War 1954-1973
• Vietnam Map
• Early Developments
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2000 Years of Foreign Oppression
1946 Letter to President Truman (Ho Chi Minh)
Civil War (Viet Minh) and Battle of Dienbienphu
Geneva Agreements 1954
• American Involvement
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Ngo Dinh Diem and Vietcong
SEATO and the Domino Theory
Military Advisors
“Americanization”
• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and Escalation
Vietnam War 1968-1973
• Cynicism and Loss of Trust
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Tet Offensive, 1968
My Lai Massacre, 1968
Kent State University Incident, 1970
Ho Chi Minh (Trail) and Cambodia Incursion 1970
Pentagon Papers Leaked 1971
Antiwar Protest Movement and SDS
• Withdrawal and Treaty Settlement
– Vietnamization Policy and “Peace with Honor”
– Paris Peace Accords 1973
– War Powers Act, 1973 (Constitutional?)
• Abandonment and Reunification
– Fall of Saigon and Reunification 1975
Containment Modified
• Détente
– Realpolitik (Practical vs. Idealistic concerns)
– Cultural Exchange
• “Ping-Pong Diplomacy” 1971
– SALT
• Reagan Doctrine
– SDI
– Third World Anti-communism Aide
• Iran-Contra Affair (Reading)
• End of the Cold War
Detente
Nixon and Brezhnev during the latter’s visit to the U.S. in 1973. (Nixon Presidential
Library)
Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong shakes hands with U.S. President
Richard Nixon in Beijing, February 21, 1972. (Nixon Presidential Library)
Reagan Doctrine
• "We must not break faith with those who
are risking their lives on every continent
from Afghanistan to Nicaragua to defy
Soviet-supported aggression and secure
rights which have been ours from birth . . .
Support for freedom fighters is selfdefense."
• --President Reagan, in the State of the
Union, February 1985
Coalition Building
• Defined
• Gulf War, 1990-1991
• Bosnian Conflict, 1992-1995
Preventionism
• Defined: Reaction v. Preventionism
• 9/11/01
• War on Terror
– Afghanistan War 2001-Present
• The Bush Doctrine
– Pre-emptive Strike Policy
• Iraq 2003-2012
– PATRIOT Act, 2001
Unit Test Format
• Multiple Choice and Matching
– Emphasis on Containment, Coalition Building
and Preventionism
• Short Answer Response
– Emphasis on all 7 foreign policies