Foreign Policy Seth Jacobs Midterm

"Open Door Policy"

US Material and economic desire to make the world conform to a capitalist free market model, directly tied with US interests in China

Who Makes Foreign Policy?

"The least democratic endeavor in which government engages", and has been typically controlled by a wealthy white male elite. Originally intended to have checks and balances but the executive branch has near full control.

Monroe Doctrine

an American foreign policy opposing interference in the Western hemisphere from outside powers The Monroe Doctrine is the best known U.S. policy toward the Western Hemisphere. Buried in a routine annual message delivered to Congress by President James Monroe in December 1823, the doctrine warns European nations that the United States would not tolerate further colonization or puppet monarchs.

Marshall Plan

The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative passed in 1948 to aid Western Europe, in which the United States gave over $12 billion[1] (nearly $100 billion in 2016 US dollars)[2] in economic assistance to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II. Replacing the previous Morgenthau Plan, it operated for four years beginning on April 3, 1948.[3] The goals of the United States were to rebuild war-torn regions, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, improve European prosperity, and prevent the spread of Communism.[4] The Marshall Plan required a lessening of interstate barriers, a dropping of many regulations, and encouraged an increase in productivity, as well as the adoption of modern business procedures.

Presidential powers in Foreign Policy

1) Presidents can commit the nation to a foreign policy simply by announcing it (Monroe Doctrine, "Open Door" Policy, Marshall Plan)

2) Presidents have taken the nation to war without prior congressional authorization (Jefferson and the Barbary pirates, Polk and the Mexican War, Wilson and the Mexican intervention)

3) Presidents have fought entire wars without ever obtaining a congressional declaration of war (Korea and Vietnam)

4) Presidents can circumvent the Senate's treaty-making prerogatives with executive agreements (Roosevelt and Churchill's destroyers-for-bases deal, every major World War II conference—Cairo, Teheran, Casablanca, Yalta)

5) Presidents can recognize a new state by ordering a salute to its flag

6) Presidents can grant or deny recognition to rebels in a civil war

American Indifference to the League

a) Congress gets out of World War I by passing a joint resolution—the United States claims benefits without shouldering responsibilities

b) United States rejects all offers to send unofficial observers to League conferences

c) No American representation on the Reparations Committee; allows France to impose crushing war debt on Germany

d) Defection of the United States promotes disunity between Britain and France; facilitates the rise of Hitler

American Indifference to the League

a) Congress gets out of World War I by passing a joint resolution—the United States claims benefits without shouldering responsibilities

b) United States rejects all offers to send unofficial observers to League conferences

c) No American representation on the Reparations Committee; allows France to impose crushing war debt on Germany

d) Defection of the United States promotes disunity between Britain and France; facilitates the rise of Hitler

Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover Support U.S. Membership in the World Court

a) "Irreconcilables" in Senate kill Coolidge's World Court scheme with reservations in 1926

b) "Irreconcilables" bury Hoover's bid to join the World Court in 1930

c) Roosevelt's proposal to join the Court barely fails in 1935

World War I Changed US from___ to ____

Debtor to Creditor Nation. Allies owed US 10 billion by the end of WWI.

Allied Arguments for Erasing the Debt

Loans from Washington were not really loans at all, but wartime subsidies to comrades in arms

1) Allied armies had saved America by holding back Germany and Austria-Hungary while the U.S. mobilized for war

2) The Allies were not asking for their dead soldiers back; America should not ask for its dead dollars back

b) The United States has already been repaid through economic prosperity

c) If Washington wipes the slate clean for its debtors, Britain and France can reduce their reparations bill to Germany; Europe will avoid a depression, and repay the Americans many times over as flourishing customers

American Arguments for Payment in Full

a) If the sums are not repaid, faith in international borrowing will collapse

b) About a third of the "war" debt was not a war debt at all, but a series of post-Armistice commercial loans

c) Europeans, despite pleading poverty, seem to have plenty of money for arms

Dawes Plan (1924) and Young Plan (1929)

1) Plan by American, Charles Dawes to propose solution to occupation of Ruhr and hyperinflation:amount of reparations cut in half, no german payments for 2 years, new german currency, French and Belgian soldiers leave Ruhr, and U.S. give loans to Germany. The Dawes plan helped the German economy recover and helped to minimize inflation

2) The Young Plan was presented by a committee led by Owen D. Young, reducing further payments from Germany by 20%, and dividing the remaining payments into 1/3 unconditional parts and 2/3 postponable parts.

Hawley-Smoot Tariff

Senator Reed Smoot and Rep Willis C. Hawley signed a tariff on 20,000 imported goods on June 17 1930 that charged a high tax for imports thereby leading to less trade between America and foreign countries along with some economic retaliation

Hoover Moratorium

Hoover's attempt at monetary stabilization fail to ease the crisis caused by the Depression in Europe, called for a one year pause of payments of World War I reparations and war debts, postponing both principal and interest. Much negative reaction greeted this idea, some from the United States and thunderous disapproval from France, which felt that extracting every last mark from the Germans was its due.

Cuba becomes US Protectorate

The Platt Amendment was passed as part of the stipulations for removing US forces in Cuba at the end of the Spanish-American War. (U.S. directed Cuba's foreign policy and was involved in their domestic policy as well.) - amendment to the Cuban constitution that limited Cuba's right to make treaties and authorized the US to intervene in Cuban affairs as it saw necessary

Panama becomes US puppet

1903

Nicaragua and Haiti repeatedly invaded

1911-1915

Mexico invaded

1916-1917

Latin America Only Weakly Supportive of U.S. Efforts during World War I

a) Pro-German sentiment in Mexico

b) Sense of betrayal throughout Latin America at U.S. repudiation of the League of Nations

c) Wanted the League to curb American aggression

Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution

Article 27 of New Mexican constitution that seized all subsoil properties leased, making American holdings irrelevant and being able to confiscate all the oil and mined goods

President of Mexico said article XXVII in the League of Nations gave Mexico the right to own the oil that foreign nations drilled on Mexican territory (financial)

Warren Harding got them to say that Article XXVII would not be enforced retrospectively

Coolidge administration pulls the marines out of the Dominican Republic (1924)

Military invention became hot button issue in US and abroad

Republicans went on record favoring pulling out of the DR

Financial advisors remained to keep an eye on economy

Cited this as American's good intentions in Latin America and not imperialism

Less auspicious results in Nicaragua, but still a lessening of the U.S. presence (1925-1926)

Ended 13 year presence in Nicaragua

Liberal party revolted against conservative party and the US went back in to settle conflicts

Communist activity was present

Nicaragua eventually fell under the leadership of former liberal and dictator

Hoover administration declares that the Monroe Doctrine does not apply to Latin America; reverses Theodore Roosevelt's policy (1928)

Mexico readded retroactive article 27

Coolidge appointed Dwight Morrow as an ambassador to Mexico

Very sympathetic ambassador

What are the rights of US business on foreign soil?

President elect Hoover took good will tour Latin America (albeit on battleship)

Hoover comes up with "Good neighbor" policy, wanted to accelerate retreat of imperialism from Latin America

"Good Neighbor" Policy

FDR's foreign policy of promoting better relations w/Latin America by using economic influence rater than military force in the region

a) Reduces the sting of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff

b) Repeated affirmations of a policy of "non-interference"

c) Abrogates the Platt Amendment for Cuba (1934)

Washington released Cuba from amendment in 1934, removing

d) By 1934, no U.S. troops are on Latin American soil

e) Concedes Mexico's ownership of sub-soil wealth (1938)

Declaration of Lima (1938)

common action by the American republics to meet a common danger

Declaration of Panama (1939)

It established a safety belt around the Americas and forbade belligerent naval activity in the area.

Non-recognition of the Soviet Union

Anti-bolshevik sentiment grew stronger in America

Anglo-American rivalry over oil

Friction between US and Britain

America had dipped deeply into its oil reserves to help the allies during the war

By 1919 British oil companies grew from 5% to 50% of the world's known oil reserves

5 American companies eventually gained access to Middle East oil

The Twenty-one Demands

a threat to America's "Open Door"

Would have made many Chinese territories into Japanese colonies

Infringed on China's sovereignty

2) The Lansing-Ishii Agreement and Japan's "special interests" in China

Lansing eventually gave Japan what they wanted

America recognized Japan's special interests in China and gave them legitimacy

1919 Paris Peace Conference

redrew Europe, wrote treaty of Versailles, placed war guilt on Germany. US never signed and never joined league of nations

The Japanese fought for a statement including racial equality within the League of Nations

British were against this idea, would have ignited many of Britain's subjects in India and other colonial holdings

Washington Conference of 1921

Conference of the major powers to reduce naval armaments among Great Britain, Japan, France, Italy, and the United States

a) Hughes's spectacular proposal

b) The 5-5-3 ratio

1) British compliance

2) Japanese reservations

3) The crucial compromise: American and British non-fortification pledges

c) Junior partnerships for France and Italy: 5-5-3-1.7-1.7

d) The fatal loophole: auxiliary, non-treaty craft (cruisers, destroyers, and submarines)

Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)

US S of State Kellogg and French Foreign Minister Briand, "Pact of Paris" or "Treaty for the Renunciation of War," it made war illegal as a tool of national policy, allowing only defensive war. The Treaty was generally believed to be useless. no clear definition of "defensive war"

World War I as Watershed: Reinforces America's Isolationist Impulse

a) Europe not redeemed by U.S. sacrifice

b) Futility of war becomes a popular theme in American culture

c) Widespread belief that America entered World War I to make "merchants of death" rich (the Nye Committee)

Roosevelt as Isolationist

a) Rejects U.S. membership in League of Nations

b) Reduces size of the U.S. Army

c) Supports the Johnson Act and other neutrality legislation

Italy's conquest of Ethiopia (1935)

Ethiopia was defeated, annexed and subjected to military occupation. The Ethiopian Empire became a part of the Italian colony of Italian East Africa. Fighting continued until the Italian defeat in East Africa in 1941, during the East African Campaign of the Second World War.

Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

In 1936 the army revolted and civil war began- between the Rebels and Loyalists. Republicans were backed by most ordinary Spaniards and the Soviet Union. Rebels were backed by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. This ended in 1939 with a victory for the Rebels.

Hitler's reoccupation of the Rhineland (1936)

This was significant because it violated the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties, marking the first time since the end of World War I that German troops had been in this region. The remilitarization changed the balance of power in Europe from France and its allies towards Germany, making it possible for Germany to pursue a policy of aggression in Western Europe that the demilitarized status of the Rhineland had blocked until then.

Munich Pact (1938)

Signed in 1938 between Great Britain, Gemany, and France that gave part of Czechoslovakia to Germany; Chamberlain said it guaranteed "peace in our time"

Rape of Nanking (1937)

Nanking (Chinese city) is raided by Japanese military, where they raped Chinese women and used citizens for bayonet practice.

Sinking of the Panay (1937)

In 1937, Japanese planes sunk an American ship, the Panay, and Tokyo quickly apologized and the U.S. accepted.

Ludlow Amendment (1938)

a proposed amendment to the Constitution that would have required a national referendum on any declaration of war not provoked by a direct attack.

Churchill's Policy: "Closing the Ring"

1) Strengths: Minimizes Allied casualties; gets U.S. troops involved in combat with Germans earlier; greater chance that first U.S. encounter with German troops will be successful

2) Weaknesses: Leaves the Soviet Union to absorb the bulk of the German onslaught; may lead to a Russian collapse; will prolong the war

Marshall's Policy: A Cross-Channel Invasion

1) Strengths: May hasten the end of the war; will take pressure off the Russians; will lessen the possibility of a Soviet collapse or a separate Soviet-Nazi settlement

Russians believed in the absolute necessity of a second front in order to alleviate losses and take attention away from the Germans on their end

Soviet losses estimated as high as 27 million casualties

2) Weaknesses: Will result in massive Allied casualties; British are opposed; America not fully mobilized yet

Churchill and Operation Torch

Churchill argued that a premature attack across the channel would be a disaster

Roosevelt wanted a quick and decisive action to boost morale

Stalin was beside himself with rage when he learned that the Allies would not be attacking Europe as a second front but rather invading North Africa and the Mediterranean

Torch and Compromise in North Africa

a) Petain's Vichy French regime offers resistance

b) The U.S makes a deal with Darlan

c) Darlan's assassination spares America further embarrassment

d) Roosevelt soothes the Soviets with a pledge of "unconditional surrender"

Pledged to never treat with Hitler

Allied Invasion of Italy

July 10, 1943

Italian topography overwhelmingly favors defender

a) Mussolini deposed; replaced by Badoglio

b) Italy permitted to surrender with conditions

Wanted to switch sides, join Allies and declare war on Germany

Wanted to avoid humiliation of total surrender

c) The pragmatic nature of wartime policymaking: allies on the left and the right

Not much political uniformity

The enemy of my enemy is my friend, anyone fighting Hitler was an ally

Eisenhower takes command

OVERLORD: massive operation to invade Europe. The United States took control of Allied policy in the war. Overall objective becomes the German Army, not Berlin

Limitations on United States Influence in the Pacific Theater of World War II

a) Lack of manpower

b) Distance: Asia twice as far away as Europe

c) Need to adopt a peripheral strategy—can't engage the main Japanese army

II) Division of the War Effort

a) Southwest Pacific—MacArthur and the Army

b) Central Pacific—Nimitz and the Navy

U.S. Strategy in China

a) Support Jiang Jieshi and the Kuomintang Party against the Japanese

b) Prevent a civil war between Jiang's forces and the Chinese Communists under Mao Zedong

Fluctuating U.S. Strategy in "French Indochina"

a) Put the French colonies—Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos—under Great Power trusteeship after the war

b) U.S. policymakers change course: danger of communism in "Indochina" seen as a greater threat than colonialism

The Decision to Drop the Bomb

a) Arguments against dropping it:

1) Soviet entry into the war might force Japan to surrender

2) Conventional bombing and blockades might force Japan to surrender

3) Moderate concessions as to the Japanese emperor might entice Japan into surrendering

4) There are no impending U.S. operations planned; why not wait a while?

b) Arguments in favor of dropping it:

1) May make an American invasion of the home islands unnecessary

2) May bring about unconditional surrender

3) Will keep the Soviets out of the postwar Far Eastern settlement

4) May intimidate the Soviets in Europe

5) Will punish the Japanese for Pearl Harbor

6) Why spend so much money and time on a weapon if you're not going to use it?

Costs of WWII

Costs:

1) The butcher's bill: over 50 million dead

2) Incalculable physical devastation

3) Inaugurates the atomic age

Benefit of WWII

1) Defeat of the Axis

"The good war" not inappropriate as the axis powers were the biggest danger to the world, sustained by genocide, slave labor, and the "moral sensibilities of a tapeworm"

The forces of freedom triumphed in WWII

2) Vindication of democracy in an age when democratic procedures seemed outmoded

WWII reinforced the idea of democracy was a good and that it had not faded into obscurity

In WWII America out-produced the rest of the World, supplying materials and goods to nearly all the Allied forces.

3) Proof that a nation can fight a war without abolishing elections, civil liberties, or a free press

The Irresolvable Question of Poland

a) The United States wants a democratic Poland, with representatives of the Polish government in exile ["London Poles"] included

—views Poland as an outpost of European civilization against communists

b) The Soviet Union wants a pro-Soviet Poland, run by the puppet "Lublin Poles"

—views Poland as the route through which Germany has attacked

c) Stalin breaks his promises at Yalta, clamps down on Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe

Truman's Pivotal Decision

a) Conflicting advice:

1) Appease the Soviets: Kennan, Stimson, Leahy, Marshall

2) Stand up to the Soviets: Harriman, Forrestal

b) The president decides: "Carry out your agreements and you won't get talked to like that"

c) Pressures to take a hard line:

1) American voters of Eastern European descent

2) British exhortations

3) Prospect of the U.S. shortly acquiring the atomic bomb

4) Traditional American anti-communism

The Truman Administration Wages Cold War

a) U.S. cancellation of Lend-Lease

b) U.S. refusal to extend loans without "strings"

c) No compromises at Potsdam

—Germany divided, perhaps permanently

d) Exclusion of the Soviet Union from postwar Japan

e) Forcing the Soviets to back down in Iran and Turkey

The Myth of Atomic Clout

a) American bombs of the late 1940s not powerful enough to deter the Soviets

b) No military utility—can only kill millions of people, while still leaving Western Europe vulnerable

c) Psychological difficulties in using the "nightmare weapon" except in direst circumstances

d) U.S. monopoly of the atomic bomb does not affect Stalin's policies in Eastern Europe

e) U.S. won't give up its atomic monopoly, Soviets won't demobilize

Hurdles in the Path of a "Get-Tough-with-the-Soviets" Policy

a) Republicans seize Congress in 1946; promise to cut taxes and shrink government

b) The U.S. completes the most rapid demobilization in history

c) Americans don't feel that there is an immediate Soviet threat; believe that they can manage international conflict with the atomic bomb

d) Prominent Republicans like Taft call for a modified return to isolationism

"Support Free Peoples": Truman Sounds the Alarm

a) Britain can no longer provide aid to the anti-communist governments in Greece and Turkey; America is Britain's obvious successor

b) Truman portrays the struggle as one of good versus evil; convinces pivotal legislators like Vandenberg

c) Congress coughs up some of the money; makes an historic commitment

—the U.S. intervenes, during a time of general peace, in the affairs of people outside North and South America

"Two Halves of the Same Walnut": Truman's Guns and Marshall's Butter

III) "Two Halves of the Same Walnut": Truman's Guns and Marshall's Butter

a) Economy of Western Europe seems on the verge of collapse

—Europeans will soon run out of dollars to pay for American exports

—German revival is essential to European revival

b) Marshall invites the Europeans to draw up their own plan; even extends a—probably insincere—invitation to the Soviets

c) The Soviets reject the offer; fortify their sphere of influence

1) Counter the Marshall Plan with a Molotov Plan for Eastern Europe

2) Pressure Eastern European nations to disdain Marshall Plan aid

3) Establish the Cominform

d) U.S. Congress opposes the Marshall Plan; Republicans don't want to give Truman a foreign policy triumph in an election year or encourage socialist schemes in Europe

The Coup in Czechoslovakia

a) Appears to be a replay of Munich

b) Prompts the Senate to endorse the Marshall Plan

c) France, Britain, and the Benelux countries sign the Brussels Treaty

d) Truman drastically expands the power and discretion of the CIA

—the agency seems to justify this augmented "clout"; scores a major victory in Italy

Roots of Korean War

A. Rooted in World War II

B. US and USSR ran recently liberated Korea from the Japanese

Truman and Korean War

-Truman was worried that the Soviets were trying to distract the Americans from Europe with Korea

-Truman decided to help the South Koreans anyways, but Seoul was overrun in a couple of days

-Truman increased aid to French Indochina and expands/militarizes the troops in Asia

-Truman approved MacArthur's request for support in South Korea

Truman "Police Action"

-Did not consult with Congress before ordering attack setting a dangerous precedent

- Most people believed he had to act quickly

- Misleading to label it as UN initiative

Stalemate in the Korean War

General MacArthur's reckless actions towards the Chinese along with Truman's destabilized homelife, his attempted assassination by Puerto Rican nationalists, death of friend, and daughter's singing criticism

After Seoul is retaken by the communists, the US and UN again retake the capital and repulse them back to the 38th parallel

MacArthur is relieved of command after he sabotaged Truman's negotiations

Legacies of Korean War

A. Birth of the Imperial Presidency

Truman called Army into Korea w/o Congressional approval, no Congressional declaration of war since

B. Cold War globalized

US finds itself much more strongly involved

C. US defense spending increases exorbitantly

D. Red Scare again

Sales of bomb shelters, dog tags for children

E. Republicans return to power

Stalemate made Truman look powerless, looking for a change Eisenhower to power.

Presidential Reputations- Ike Climbs the Charts

A. Scandals make Eisenhower look better

Vietnam and Watergate

B. Eisenhower has highly structured method of decision making as a military man

People found him to be inarticulate

Met with staff consistently to make decisions and self assurance

C. People thought he was hands off and golfing

D. Kept the peace

Kaimi and Matsu crises: China tried to take those Islands and E asked for blank check to use military, gave it to him because they were so confident

Orthodox Eisenhower Scholarship and Revisionism

Orthodox: He was lazy and hands off, didn't really know much while Dulles controls Foreign

Revisionist: Dulles keeps far right content and acts as scapegoat while Eisenhower makes more decisions

Blind Spot in Eisenhower Revisionism

Revisionists focus on fact that no war between US and USSR but his policies in Third World he does not exhibit restraint and confuses nationalism with communism

Coup in Iran

A. Mossadegh nationalized Anglo-Iranian Oil and breaks relations with the British, Shah flees to Tehran

- De facto blockade on Iranian oil- econ collapses

B. Operation AJAX because they view him as communist

C. Kermit Roosevelt brings back Shah by bribing Iranian officials and a mob

Short Term: Staunch US ally and large share of Iranian oil

Long Term: Anti- US resentment ends in Ayatollah 1979 revolution

Guatemala Coup

A. Arbenz takes some of United Fruit's property making him look communist

B. CIA launches PBSUCCESS- use small airforce and Castillo Armas

Short Term: Armas creates pro-US regime

Long Term: Mistrust of US and end of Good Neighbor- future Latin American dictators made sure they controlled military more closely so as not to be overthrown

Roots of Vietnamese Anti-Colonialism

Ho Chi Minh seeks an audience with Wilson at Versailles in 1919; he is rebuffed

b) Vietnamese nationalists are encouraged by the 1941 Atlantic Charter's guarantee that formerly subject peoples will have "the right to chose the form of government under which they will live"; they do not recognize that imperialists like Churchill—and de Gaulle—have no intention of granting independence to Europe's colonies

c) Roosevelt initially favors a trusteeship for French Indochina, but backs off from this position by Yalta; he agrees to allow the French to reclaim their colonies in Southeast Asia

d) Ho writes to Truman on eight occasions, requesting U.S. recognition of Vietnamese independence; he even offers to make Vietnam a U.S. colony "for an undetermined period"; the American president does not respond—Two possible verdicts:

1) "We had Ho Chi Minh on a silver platter and we threw away a great opportunity"

2) Truman had no choice; Ho's communist credentials made him an unacceptable ally, even as early as 1945

e) Preoccupied with immediate military exigencies, Truman decides at Potsdam to let the British and Chinese accept Japan's surrender in Vietnam

f) Ho signs the Sainteny Agreement to get the Chinese out of North Vietnam

g) The French violate the Sainteny Agreement by dismembering Vietnam; they then bomb and strafe Haiphong

France v. Viet Minh

A. America supports France covertly, eventually anti-communism trumps anti-colonialsim

B. Truman wants French participation in EDC and needs to support them to let them in

C. Mao provides a valuable ally for Ho Chi Minh in the north

D. Viet Minh rules countryside, guerilla warfare

E. Navarre lures Giap into set-piece battle at Dien Bien Phu

Eisenhower's Decision

A. President's advisors advocate for an airstrike

B. He sets forth conditions for intervention that would never be met- GB would have to join

C. Churchill unwilling to condone military solution to Indochina

D. Dien Bien Phu- France out as a colonial power, road open for communists in SE Asia- France held colonies until this

Geneva Accords

a) The Communist Free Khmer troops must evacuate Cambodia

b) The Communist Pathet Lao troops must withdraw to two strategically nugatory enclaves in Laos

c) Fixing of a provisional boundary between North and South Vietnam along the 17th parallel—rather than the 13th, which Viet Minh military success clearly warrants

d) Scheduling of all-Vietnam elections and reunification for July 1956—as opposed to a six-month delay, which will avoid much of the crystallizing of separate southern and northern national identities

Why Favorable Outcome?

The People's Republic of China undercuts the Viet Minh:

1) Zhou wants to prevent American intervention near China's border

2) Zhou wants to keep Vietnam divided and weak

3) Zhou wants a successful diplomatic "debut" for the People's Republic

b) The Soviet Union—represented by Molotov—betrays the Viet Minh as well:

1) Stalin has recently died; Khrushchev and Malenkov want to promote "peaceful coexistence" with the West

2) The Soviets want to prevent France from joining the European Defense Community (EDC)

c) Mendes-France teams up with Zhou to pressure Pham Van Dong into making concessions; Molotov's last-minute arbitration completes the sellout

d) Neither the United States nor South Vietnam even signs the Accords, thereby leaving both nations the option of asserting that they are not bound by any decisions taken at Geneva

The Bay of Pigs

Kennedy was told that there were enough people in Cuba that would support an uprising, so he sent American troops along with Cuban exiles to the Bay of Pigs. When no one was there to support the raid, Kennedy withdrew air support. Therefore, Castro was able to defeat the uprising. This was Kennedy's first major failure in his foreign policy. After the Bay of Pigs, the Soviets also increased military aid to Cuba.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The 1962 confrontation between US and the Soviet Union over Soviet medium-range ballistic missile sites in Cuba. Kennedy assembled the Ex-Comm to explore solutions, and they ultimately settled for a partial naval blockade of military goods, at the behest of Robert Kennedy. The Cuban Missile Crisis was ultimately de-escalated by negotiations within JFK and Khrushchev. The Soviets would remove their missiles in Cuba, and RFK privately agreed to remove missiles in Turkey.

Operation Mongoose

A CIA operation backed by President Kennedy in 1961 that used covert operation against President Fidel Castro's government in Cuba in efforts to overthrow the communist government in Cuba, including assassination attempts.

Vietnam War

A prolonged war (1954-1975) between the communist armies of North Vietnam who were supported by the Chinese and the non-communist armies of South Vietnam who were supported by the United States.

Was Lyndon B. Johnson responsible for the Vietnam War?

Yes:

1) LBJ sends the first U.S. combat forces to Vietnam, ultimately sends over half a million

2) LBJ initiates the bombing of North Vietnam and escalates it

3) Most of the Americans who die in Vietnam do so when Johnson is president

No:

1) LBJ doesn't make the commitment to save part of "Indochina" from communism

2) LBJ doesn't have a hand in creating the nation of South Vietnam

3) LBJ desperately wants to avoid war—and, indeed, all foreign entanglements—during his administration; he intends to focus on domestic affairs

Cuban-American Relations 1898-1961

The US informally annexs Spain's principal colony in the Caribbean in the Treaty of Paris (Dec. 10, 1898). Batista was the US-backed military ruler of Cuba from 1952-59, before being ousted in the Cuban Revolution. The CR was led by Fidel Castro, but he erred too far on the side of Communism for the Eisenhower administration. In 1961, Eisenhower severed diplomatic ties before leaving the White House. During this time, Eisenhower and co. did not want to support either Bautista's dictatorial regime nor Castro's communist rule; instead, they planned a third party solution in a CIA-led invasion by Cuban exiles.

Kennedy and Cold War "Credibility": Foreign Policy as a Test of Manliness

a) Khrushchev champions "wars of national liberation"

b) The United States is humiliated at the Bay of Pigs

c) American diplomacy avoids a setback in Laos, but Kennedy is denied "victory"

d) "He just beat the hell out of me": The Vienna Summit

e) The Soviets build the Berlin Wall

f) Khrushchev ends the moratorium on nuclear testing

g) Both superpowers court Armageddon in the Cuban Missile Crisis; Kennedy scores a diplomatic triumph but absorbs some scalding domestic criticism

Vietnam: What Might've Been?

A. JFK pulls out of Vietnam

1. Refused to escalate- Bay of Pigs, Laos, Berlin Wall and Cuban Missile Crisis

2. Withdrawal would've been more feasible, US not as involved

B. He does same as LBJ

1) JFK increased the U.S. troop commitment in Vietnam from about 1,000 to over 16,000—hardly a harbinger of future de-escalation

2) America's stake in Vietnam was considerable—relatively speaking—by the time Kennedy died; withdrawal would not have been easy

Eisenhower v. Kennedy

Fundamental continuity in some aspects of foreign policy:

1) Both JFK and Ike accept the "domino theory"

2) Both reject isolationism, view America's proper role as global

3) Both interpret Third World conflict as communist-inspired

b) Kennedy repudiates Dulles's theory of "massive retaliation," endorses Taylor's program of "flexible response"

c) Kennedy is more willing than Eisenhower to tackle risky, budget-straining enterprises at home and abroad—"Let's Get America Moving Again!"

d) Kennedy is more susceptible than "General Ike" to the pressure of hawkish advisers

SEATO

A. Alliance to defend region from communism

B. Very weak treaty

C. Worked to include France's colonial nations, France vetoed it

Election of 1964: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Barry Goldwater

LBJ was arguably the most liberal president in American history, and Goldwater the most conservative since the 1920s. Goldwater was willing to win the war by any means necessary, including using nuclear weapons. LBJ used the imagery of the "Mad Bomber" in his campaign against Goldwater, who was more charismatic and eloquent. LBJ won the election in a landslide.

Tonkin Gulf Incident

The US Navy was authorized to secretly spy throughout the coast of South Vietnam on "DeSoto" missions, done in junction with 34A commando raids

July 22 1964: USS Maddox sent to the Gulf of Tonkin, cruised within gun range of one of the islands the day before and then returned to international waters

August 2 1964: torpedoes sent to hit the Maddox and it opened fire → North Vietnamese concluded that it was connected to the patrolling and raids. LBJ spins it to the public as an unprovoked attack, and then ordered the Maddox and another vessel with two supporting aircraft. Enemy torpedoes filled the Gulf and McNamara was convinced of a second attack. The North Vietnamese were retaliating against what they thought was an attack provoked by the Americans.

Tonkin Gulf Resolution (1964)

In light of the Tonkin Gulf Incident, President Johnson petitioned Congress for a firm response to what he portrayed as unprovoked Northern Vietnamese aggression. He withheld the fact that the Navy had been conducting patrols in the area. The U.S. Congress voted to give the president a "blank check" to do whatever was necessary to stop communism in South Vietnam. The TGR essentially gave LBJ the ability to wage war without a formal Congressional declaration. In retrospect, LBJ's actions regarding the TGR are regarded as a breach of public trust and a deliberate misleading of Congress.