U.S. Foreign Policy

A Documentary and Reference Guide

Akis Kalaitzidis, Gregory W. Streich

• Publisher: Greenwood
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780313383755
• eBook ISBN: 9798216158318
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: International Relations
• Index: Politics & International Relations

A critical tool for the study of U.S. history, this volume offers an analysis of important documents and decisions in U.S. foreign policy from George Washington to Barack Obama. The study of historical primary documents provides a uniquely beneficial and insightful view into history. To that end, U.S. Foreign Policy: A Documentary and Reference Guide presents and interprets important documents from throughout U.S. history, from the administration of George Washington to that of Barack Obama. Examining U.S. foreign policy through this lens identifies the ideals of the United States during different periods, illuminates the intent behind its military actions, and reveals how each American president interpreted his moral responsibilities as leader of one of the most powerful nations in the world. Organized to allow readers to examine the historical evolution of U.S. foreign policy, the book includes treaties, speeches, and other documents that illustrate important doctrines and decisions over the more than two centuries of American history, covering all presidential doctrines to the current administration. It also highlights various phases of foreign policy, from regionalism to westward expansion, from the Cold War to a New World Order. In addition to the documents themselves, the authors provide invaluable analysis and commentary that will help students understand what the documents mean—both in the context of their time, and in terms of their broader historical significance.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Reader’s Guide to the Documents and Sidebars
• Introduction: American Foreign Policy: The Theoretical Landscape
• 1. George Washington to James Monroe: The Origins of Regionalism
• 2. Andrew Jackson to Andrew Johnson: Westward Expansionism and Manifest Destiny
• 3. William McKinley to Woodrow Wilson: Beyond Regionalism and Isolationism
• 4. Franklin D. Roosevelt: From the Arsenal of Democracy to Superpower Status
• 5. Harry Truman to Lyndon B. Johnson: Containment
• 6. Richard M. Nixon to Ronald Reagan: Toward the End of the Cold War
• 7. George H. W. Bush to Bill Clinton: The New World Order
• 8. George W. Bush: Empire
• 9. Barack Obama: Liberal Realism
• Afterword
• Selected Resources
• Index
• About the Authors
• eCopyright