American Foreign policy has been drastically altered by those who have administered it, as well as external events that have pressured America into conflicts over the years. From its revolution, Americans simply wanted to be free of tyrannical forces at home and abroad. In the 1820s, President James Monroe released the Monroe Doctrine to act as a deterrent to any colonial empires who wished to expand across the Atlantic. While this policy is a key decision point in our history, it marks the beginning of Americas foray into foreign politics. At the turn of the 20th century, American policy drastically changed from an isolationist viewpoint to that of internationalism. From the late 1800s to the present, American internationalism manifested itself in the form of interventionist action. As such, the United States has become a form of lifeguard to other countries, preventing them from entering waters that the United States might believe to be too dangerous for them. Internationalism and interventionist ideals have become attached at the hip to the rest of the American Identity, evident in the United States’ ideological justifications of interventionist actions in other countries.
Following the Spanish-American War, the Monroe Doctrine was amended with the Platt Amendment, giving the American government veto power over all decisions within the soon to be created Cuban government. Urged into Spanish-American War by the sinking of the USS Maine, members of the United States public felt that it was America’s “duty and policy” to have intervened with Spain in the first place (Hearst). The power of interventionist action and subsequent political influence was given to the Americans who had but a taste of the Cuban Civil War. Cuba would attempt to regain some semblance of freedom and autonomy for years to come but would face interventionist action by the United States time and time again as the “city upon a hill” attempted to guide Cuba’s politics into the modern age.
Within that same peace treaty, the United States—the same country that was created as the antithesis of empires—took on created of their own with Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Some Americans of this time, and in one form or another up unto the modern era, practiced what at the time was called the “white man’s burden” (Kipling). They believed that it was the burden of the “civilized” white people, to bear the duty of dragging the “less civilized colored people” into the “civilized” world. The message itself changed over time, but the end goal of bringing countries into the United States’ sphere of influence with interventionist action never changed. This interventionist policy would time and time again be ideologically justified with the spread of American values and democracy.
Despite the United States’ best efforts to remain out of the Second World War, Japan dragged the sleeping giant across the Pacific and onto the beaches of France. Thundering out of the gates, the United States sought to help the Allies fight the evils of Fascism. During World War II, many pieces of propaganda were created for distribution to the American public. One poster, titled This is the Enemy, depicts a Nazi soldier stabbing a Bible (Office of War Information). The American public embraced America’s military involvement abroad, viewing America’s mission to be a righteous one, fighting Fascists that threatened the very values of Christianity and freedom that Americans held dear. Coming out of the Second World War with no damage to domestic lands, American leaders had the opportunity to expand the country’s sphere of influence across the world, spreading American ideals while stationing a military presence in both Europe and Asia.
Before long, Americans could see themselves firmly at the head of an interventionist force that looked to protect the world from threats both internal and external. With the looming boogeyman that was communism threatening the Free World, the United States’ foreign policy shifted to that of internationalism and containment. Instead focusing on a freedom and liberty driven casus belli as the deciding factor of intervention, the United States government deemed it necessary to prevent the rise of communism in foreign nations, no matter the cost. The United States’ intervention in Korea and Vietnam are the two greatest examples of this. In Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1967 speech on Vietnam, he drives home the point that American intervention was necessary to curb the spread of communism in southeast Asia, effectively preventing the possibility of another World War (Johnson). The United States government actively pushed the idea that its involvement on foreign soil in Korea and Vietnam was for the good of the world, fighting a political ideology that seemed to pose a threat to the American way of life.
Up into modern times, Americans are seen far beyond their borders regularly. While American leaders stayed true to the Monroe Doctrine in keeping out of European politics, that did not result in the United States adhering to a strict policy of isolationism. American foreign policy during and after the Spanish-American War has frequently favored internationalism and intervention. Although most of these moves toward internationalism were placed away from the main stage of politics like Europe, they reached their goal of expanding American influence through economic hegemony, military action, and in a few rare cases, both. The intervening forces of America have become attached to the American Identity of what it means to be an American. In the eyes of the American government, the United States has acted in the best interest of the good of the world, quite often with the purpose of preserving and spreading American ideals. In this self-serving way, internationalism, and the various methods to which it has manifested itself over America’s history, will continue to serve the long-term interests of the United States of America.
Works Cited
Hearst: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5471/ Johnson: https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/september-29-1967-speech-vietnam
Office of War Information: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc192/
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