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American Foreign Policy 1945-2005

Once the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, it was clear that the U.S. was a major force in international affairs. Since that time, the U.S. has had some successes and some failures in its international affairs.

Following World War II, the U.S. was in constant struggles against the communist nation of the USSR. Our first major success against the Soviet Union was the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Had the U.S. not sent U2 reconnaissance flyers over Cuba, our military may have never known of the missiles planted there. This was a great example of intelligence. And once the U.S. realized this, we were on the brink of World War III, but successful negotiations ended that threat. Kennedy and Khrushchev agreed to remove missiles from Cuba and Turkey. The Cuban Missile Crisis proved that the U.S. could avert disaster with good foreign policy. We also asserted our superiority over the USSR and in the Western Hemisphere as a whole.

American foreign policy in the Gulf War was also successful. President Bush and his government handled this conflict universally, creating a coalition with the support of the U.N. against Saddam Hussein's invasion on Kuwait. Working with an international coalition to liberate Kuwait and protect much of the world's supply of oil allowed the U.S. to look good internationally, rather than oil hungry and imperialistic. We learned that working together with the U.N. not only takes away financial burden, but also creates a sense of a world victory. Our decision to ensure the preparedness of our troops and those of our allies allowed our men to crush the Iraqi military. We out powered Hussein and kept intact oil-rich Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, which was necessary considering the amount of oil used in the U.S. The U.S. did not foresee the ongoing problems that would occur in the Middle East, but we did succeed in halting Hussein's attempted takeover, and that was a great victory for the U.S.

U.S. involvement in Bosnia...