US Foreign Policy Dbq Essay

Entering WWII brought America out of its depression and into the complicated world of political affairs. The change of U.S. foreign policy from the end of the First World War to the end of the Korean War changed drastically as the U.S. became a stronger world power. From isolationism to encouragement of interventions, it can be said that the U.S. reversed its policy within a few decades. The shift in its policy can be attributed to the international wars that got the U.S. involved with world politics, involvement of U.S. presidents in the world affairs, and the growing power of other foreign powers, such as the Soviet Union. Wars are the one of the central factors in international affairs. The effects of the wars that caused U.S. involvement
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People turned to a strong reliable president that promised safer options to existing problems. And when times would turn more chaotic, they turned to the president to solve their problems. The involvement of presidents within international affairs changed drastically from one to a next. Some even changed their policy of foreign engagement during their presidency. In document F, President Franklin Roosevelt gave a speech in 1937 about U.S. involvement in WWII. He advocated an increase in action by the U.S. and other nations as a response of growing expansionism by Germany, Japan, and Italy. “The political situation in the world… has been growing progressively worse…” This lends to the idea that because of the political situation, the involvement of presidents increase. In his speech, it shows an effort to combat isolationist arguments. He advocates the idea of “containment”, which is also seen in another of his Quarantine Speech. In document B, Senator Henry Cabot is giving a speech to President Woodrow Wilson. In his speech, it criticizes some of the decisions made by Woodrow Wilson. As an isolationist, he expresses opposition to international engagement by the United States. His isolationist views, however, are in direct contrast to the policies of Woodrow Wilson, who opted the participation of the League of Nations in the ratification of the Treaty of
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In document H, George C. Marshall is giving his speech about foreign policy. “Our policy is directed not against any country… but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos.” He offered the Marshall Plan to aid in the aftermath of WWII. Now that the United States has become one of the stronger world powers, the effort to keep other nations afloat has become one of the priorities by top officials such as Marshall and Harry Truman. They created this idea of containing communism. And a way to stop the appeal of communism in depraved countries was by restoring international economies and promoting capitalism. One of the major events that occurred was the building of the Berlin Wall, which cut of West Berlin from communication and supplies. The Berlin blockade was an effort by the Soviet Union to cause the Allied powers to abandon their control of West Berlin after World War II. However, this was combated by the Berlin Airlifts, which flew needed supplies to the people in West Berlin. This idea of preventing communism was also displayed in document I. “Our position as the center of power in the free world places a heavy responsibility on the United States for leadership.” This symbolizes how the U.S. has become one of the leading nations and is responsible for resisting the expansion of the Soviet Union. The conflict between the Soviet Union and the