Foreign Policy Dbq Essay

When George Washington presented his farewell address, he urged our fledgling democracy, to seek avoidance of foreign entanglements. However, as the world modernized, and our national interests spread, the possibility of not becoming involved in foreign entanglements became impossible. The arenas of open warfare and murky hostile acts have become separated by a vast gray line. Even today, choosing when and how to use US military force remain in question. The concept of national isolationism failed to prevent our involvement in World War I. Global trade has interconnected the US to regions of the globe as never before. Throughout the world, situations occur that the United States government has to decide if it is in our national interest to intervene with military force.

Since World War I, the united states had always had a problem with forcing its foreign policy. Throughout the past 100 years, the foreign policy has changed depending on public opinion and what was going on in other parts of the world. One of the largest changes in the foreign policy occurred from the end of World War I (1918) up until the ending of the Korean War (1953). Essentially the U.S foreign policy evolved from isolationist “prevention of war” to interventionism “protective containment of communism”.

The article I will be discussing is “The Myth of American Isolationism” by Bear Braumoeller. The article addresses the mistaken belief that America was a highly isolationist state during the interwar period. Braumoeller argues the exact opposite, that America was involved in European affairs and the rest of the world. The article effectively argues that American isolationism in this period is a misconception. It is important because understanding the truth behind the false belief allows for a better understanding of the era as a whole and its relevance to current policy. Overall, Braumoeller’s article effectively disproves the myth of isolationism and then further argues why the myth has damaging effects.

This unknown fact of American being neutral or not, ultimately lead to the United States needing to enter World War I. Although the United States President at the time, Woodrow Wilson, explained the reasoning for the U.S. entering WWI was because of Germany’s submarine warfare, the violence toll that Germany took on America relates back to the concealed matter of the nation of the United States actually being neutral throughout the time before war

When President Wilson requested that Congress declare war on Germany, America was not ready to mobilize our troops for war. The United States  had just begun to pull itself out of recession and were not ready for a war economically. Some Americans wanted to see the fall of Germany, but did not support sending our soldiers across the ocean. Despite all this, Wilson continued to push for American contribution in the war effort. Eventually, Wilson’s tactics won over and we were able to send large amounts of reinforcements into the war. It took months before the United States was able to deploy troops to Europe. It took all of Wilson’s efforts to get the United States into World War One. Without these reforms we may never have joined the Great War.

America’s entrance in the Spanish-American War was primarily due to the random explosion of the USS Maine on February 15, 1898, which killed 267 service men aboard. This attack leads to Congress’s vote to go to war against Spain. The United States’ desire to expand military overseas also played a part in the American entrance to this war. Economically speaking, the U.S. wanted Cuban crops to come to America, and not only Spain. “The war enabled the United States to establish its predominance in the Caribbean region and to pursue its strategic and economic interests in Asia” (“Spanish-American War”). The United States wanted sole control over the island of Cuba in order to grow the American economy, and the congress stated that President William

The United States had for years been improving and growing rapidly. Away from the other world powers in Europe, they were able to avoid their conflicts for a long time, but that changed. America got involved in World War One and it affected some of their advancements. U.S imperialism was able to thrive in WWI, with America using the power to expand their empire. American progressivism however, fell between the cracks and disappeared for a long while during and after the war. WWI was not necessarily a distraction from either imperialism or progressivism, but it did affect them substantially.

There was opposition in the United State against intervention in World War II. The war was too far removed from America’s national interests to justify intervention. There was little popular domestic support for intervention in a war in Europe that involved its most powerful industrialized nations. There were many first generation immigrants in the U.S. who were from most of the nations involved, particularly Germany, Great Britain, France, and Italy. American entry into World War II would cause a major conflict of national loyalties for those immigrants coming from nations with whom the US would be at war, specifically Germans and Italians. Eventually, the US entered WWII during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration. The U.S. Congress

“Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rival ship, interest, humor, or caprice? It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world... we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.” This quote from George Washington in his 1796 farewell address describes the opinion of the United States for a majority of its history. Americas public opinion and national policy had the purpose of minimizing the risk of entering another war. This was achieved by implementing many isolationist laws such as the Neutrality Laws. President Roosevelt began the process of reversing the isolationist policies in 1937. When World war one began in late 1939 the United States provided significant military aid to their allies, Britain, China, and France. However until the bombing of pearl harbor, America remained officially

However, the U.S was not as neutral as the country claimed to be. Many leaders in White House leaned towards the Allies, this included Wilson. One of the most significant examples of this is the U.S trade with the Allied countries. When the war broke out, U.S trade with Britain and France skyrocketed. The U.S traded with Allies a considerable amount than it did with Germany. Trade with Germany fell to less than 1% than it previously did.4. The U.S traded with the Allies massive amounts of munitions and went to great extents to do so. The U.S sent many of their trades with ships that contained innocent civilians in attempt to cover up their intentions. When Germany shot down ships that contained munitions the innocent Americans were killed. This set an uproar within the country and blamed Germany. However, they did not keep in mind that the U.S government were using civilian lives as a shield for goods. Even though Wilson denied it, it was obvious the U.S supported the Allies. By risking innocent lives for the stake of trading with the Allies, this proves that the U.S was not as neutral as the country claimed to be.

During the nineteenth century, America shifted from a small, developing country into a world power. One of the events that led to this development was the War of 1812. This war is often called “America’s second war for independence” because Great Britain continued its interference in America’s affairs. There is not one definite cause that started the war but many factors that blended with one another. These factors can be grouped into three main concerns which are maritime impressment, territorial expansion, and the Republican War Hawks.

Address is its inaugurating document, it is not a tradition separate from liberty, but simply the means of defending the first tradition. Moreover, one of McDougall’s main purposes throughout is to show that unilateralism was not isolationism, which in fact never existed. “Our vaunted tradition of ‘isolationism,’” he states, “is no tradition at all, but a dirty word that interventionists, especially since Pearl Harbor, hurl at anyone who questions their policies” (p. 40). That the term functions as a smear (and a proven method of forestalling debate) is true enough. But it is hard to see how Washington’s doctrine can be equated with McDougall’s unilateralism. After all, it is possible to pursue a policy of intense global activism unilaterally.

America treaded the path towards World War II with trepidation, until its people were convinced that action must be taken when the incident of Pearl Harbor occurred. From that point on, American citizens began mobilizing to aid their nation in hopes for victory against the Axis Powers. In order to keep up morale certain measures, such as the use of false advertising, were imposed. The influence of American propaganda during World War II led to an exploration of government authority through the use of censorship, exploitation of women, and incentive to contribute to the war effort.

In order to prevent Nazi Germany and its allies from conquering the world, Winston Churchill strongly argues that United states should summon military forces with those of Britain. Churchill makes an effective argument by using sentimental terms to first get empathy or the support from the Americans, and then to highlight the significance of the issue. Furthermore, with the simultaneous use of logical reasoning, the author even more strengthens his argument.

Isolationism was a policy that restricted the United States of America from involving in the affairs of other nations in Europe but instead concentrate in its own development and internal issues that were of great importance. This isolationist policy gained a greater influence especially from the conservatives during the beginning of the cold war (Brands, 2011). This was because of several policies and feelings of the conservatives that defined the importance of this isolationist policy. The reasons or feelings that made majority of the conservatives in the United States of America to support the policy include; influence by leaders, the hint of anti-elitism and the ideological differences between the conservatives and the liberals.