Anthony Borrelli

May 9, 2017
U.S History

Thematic Essay on Foreign Policy

Throughout history, United States presidents often make foreign policy

decisions in an attempt to deal with problems that occur on an international level.
These decisions have had massive impacts on both the United States and on the
other countries and regions that were involved in the international problem.
Throughout history, United States presidents often make foreign policy
decisions in an attempt to deal with problems that occur on an international level.
One example of this would be the United States foreign policy during the cold war.
This policy was based towards the premise of stopping the rise of communism and
to stop the growing world power of the U.S.S.R. It was called containment because
the goal was to “contain” communism. This affected the United States in the fact it
got the United States in many conflicts during the cold war era such as Korea,
Vietnam and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. On the other hand, many events
happened as a result of this such as the fall of the Soviet Union, South Vietnam
being made into a reunited and fully communist Vietnam and the conflicts still
taking place in other areas such as Afghanistan and North and South Korea.
Another example of United States presidents making decisions foreign
policy that affected the world would be the dropping of the atomic bombs on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki towards the end of World War II. After the the surrender
of Germany in May of 1945 the Allies turned all of their attention to the Pacific
and the threat of Japan. The choice was either a invasion of Japan which would
have cost millions on both sides to be dead or wounded or to use a new weapon
that the United States had been developing, the atomic bomb. Ultimately the
atomic bomb was chosen as a means to ironically save lives and to send a message
to other countries that would cement America’s position as a global power in the
world. Of course this also had many effects throughout the world such as areas of
Japan being made uninhabitable because of radiation and many people dying from
the initial blast and many deaths happening after due to radiation sickness. It ended
the war in Japan but unintentionally began a massive arms race in the future
between the U.S.S.R and the United States.
 In conclusion, throughout history, United States presidents often make
foreign policy decisions in an attempt to deal with problems that occur on an
international level. These decisions have had massive impacts on both the United
States and on the other countries and regions that were involved in the international
problem.