Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy since 1938

In Chapters 10, 11, and 12, the authors focus on US foreign policy in the 1960s and the early 1970s. The most important aspect of America’s engagement abroad was the Vietnam War (1955-1975). This war began in the context of decolonization during the Eisenhower administration and was passed onto the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations. It is a war that served as a watershed moment changing the perception of America’s role domestically and the country’s image abroad. The Vietnam War also transformed the perception of the containment policy: it worked in Europe but failed in Asia.

The Kennedy presidency began with the vision that the US was “the last, best hope for mankind” (171), which matched the social mood at this time:

Kennedy took office at the moment in time when America’s optimism was at its zenith. Kennedy believed, and often said, it would be possible for the United States to simultaneously take the offensive in the Cold War, accelerate the arms race, eliminate poverty and racism at home, lower taxes, all without unbalancing the budget and starting inflation (171).

In contrast to Eisenhower’s pragmatism, Kennedy supported the messianic trajectory of American foreign policy more zealously, overestimated American capabilities, and believed that more can be done in the Cold War.