Hello.
Successes:
(1) The Marshall Plan.
In 1947, the Truman administration designed a plan to provide economic
aid to European countries devastated by World War II. The plan was a
great success because it helped to restore Western Europe to economic
health. It also benefited the U.S. economy because much of the aid
given to the Europeans ended being spent on U.S. products. For more
information about the Marshall Plan, see "The Marshall Plan:
Historical Lessons and Current Challenges in the Balkans" by Bernhard
May on the web site of dgap.org:
http://www.dgap.org/texte/marshallplan.html
(2) The Cuban Missile Crisis.
In 1962, the CIA warned President Kennedy that the Soviet Union was
installing nuclear missiles in Cuba. The situation turned into a
confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Kennedy demanded
that Soviets remove the missiles and instituted a blockade of Russian
shipping to Cuba. The policy was a success because it resulted in the
withdrawal of the missiles and the avoidance of a nuclear war.
For more information, visit "The Naval Quarantine of Cuba, 1962" from
the Department of the Navy.
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq90-5.htm
(3) The opening of relations with China.
In 1972, President Nixon traveled to China to meet personally with
Chairman Mao Tse-tung. The policy was a success because it opened
relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China
following 25 years of hostility. For more information, visit "The
American Experience - Nixon's China Game", hosted by PBS:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/china/index.html
Failures.
(1) The Vietnam War.
In the 1960s and early '70s, the United States waged a war to protect
the government of South Vietnam. The policy was a failure not only
because South Vietnam fell to the Communists of North Vietnam but also
because the war resulted in thousands of U.S. casualties.
For more information, visit the Viet Nam War Overview, hosted by
Vassar College:
http://vietnam.vassar.edu/overview.html
(2) Iran Hostage Crisis.
In 1979, U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, was seized by Iranian activists
and several dozen Americans were taken hostage. President Carter
attempted to secure the release of the hostages through economic
pressure, diplomatic negotiations, and at least one military rescue
plan. Carter's Iran policy was failure because it did not result in
the release of the hostages (who ended up being held 444 days).
For more information, visit the web page, "The Iran Hostage Crisis,"
hosted by University of St Francis:
http://www.stfrancis.edu/hi/victa/stuweb/~tl8241/id2.htm
(3) The Iran-Contra Affair.
In 1986, members of the Reagan administration were discovered to have
sold missiles to Iran and illegally diverted the proceeds to the
Contra rebels who were attempting to overthrow the government of
Nicaragua. The affair was a foreign policy failure not only because it
revealed that the U.S. had engaged in an embarrassing
"arms-for-hostages" swap with the Iranians but also because it did
little to help the U.S. position in Central America.
For more information, visit the following web pages:
PBS American Experience: Iran-Contra Affair
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reagan/peopleevents/pande08.html
Grolier Encyclopedia: Iran-Contra Affair
http://gi.grolier.com/presidents/aae/side/irancont.html
Note that this is a highly subjective question. The successes and
failures mentioned above are not necessarily the biggest successes or
failures of U.S. foreign policy. Furthermore, all of the successes
were not necessarily total successes and all of the failures were not
necessarily total failures. There may have been successes in some of
the failures and failures in some of the successes.
search strategy: "policy successes", "policy failures"
I hope this helps. |
