Foreign Policy in the Presidency essay

Foreign policy is the important part of politic in any country. Talking about foreign policy of United States we can see that the main trend of it is the shifting from isolationism during World War the I (including the time before the war and certain period of time after it as well) to global world power starting from World War the II. This shifting was in foreign policy of United States continued after World War the II till the end of the Cold War (20-th century). During the period of 19-th century foreign policy of the country moved from the realist school to the Wilsonian school (idealistic school of international relations).

We can say with confidence that every President of United States contributed his part in the development of foreign policy of the country. George Washington, for example, considerably expressed main themes of foreign policy in his farewell address. He included justice and faith towards every nation, cultivation of harmony and peace with everyone. He excluded just inveterate antipathies against any certain nation. It is what any President of United States considers intolerable. This policy was the basic trend of the Federalist Party in the 1790-s.

Despite sudden entanglement with Europe (like for example the War of the year 1812 and Spanish ”“ American War in 1898) presidents of United States were keeping the trend of steady expansion during the 19-th century.

Talking about the 20-th century, we can mention the President Woodrow Wilson who is called frequently one of the greatest Presidents of United States of America. Talking about foreign policy in his presidency we need to understand what kind of person was Woodrow Wilson. He was the Presbyterian and had a deep religious faith. He read The Bible and New Testament in particular. He believed in the sense of moralism and he based his politics on this sense. He started the idea of idealistic internationalism. Now this idea referred to the conception of the Wilsonism. Wilson and later followers of his ideas called United States of America to enter the word scene and fight for world – wide democracy. Wilsonism has been a disputable position of the United States’ foreign policy.

During the first decades of the 20-th century, which was marked with world wars, United States together with connected powerful countries increased the international reputation and defeated the enemies. According to Herring (2008), America was keeping the idealistic program of Wilsonism about the spreading of the democracy and putting wars to the end. After years of war that policy was popular in spite of its idealistic ideas. People all over the world were tired of wars and damage. They willingly accepted United States. We can say that Wilsonism helped United States to win the popularity on the world’s politic scene.



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