How did we get here?

A brief history of American foreign policy

History Lesson

I believe that the best way to understand the present is to have a working knowledge of the events that led us to it. Below is not an exhaustive anthology of American foreign policy, but rather a selection of events we should be aware of as we try to analyze current American foreign policy.

The history of how the United States became what it is on the world stage is long, complicated, controversial, and interesting. Volumes have been written on each aspect of the subject. Entire academic careers have been spent studying the smallest events that led the world to the place it is now. So, I’m going to give you a necessarily truncated version of what happened. I’ll tell you what you need to know in the next four-thousand words. At the end of it, you’ll hopefully have more perspective about how we ended up where we are.

In the beginning

At the turn of the 20th century, about the time my father’s parents were born, the United States was not really a global power. We were 40 years removed from a devastating civil war, and still involved in several conflicts on our own continent and hemisphere including with Spain and with Mexican separatist Bandidos. After the Spanish American war in 1898, the US found herself in possession of Guam and the Philippines… and had a growing influence in the Kingdom of Hawaii (then the territory of Hawaii in 1898). At the dawn of the last century, we were officially beginning to violate George Washington’s famous warning in his Farewell Address to stay out of foreign entanglements.

As a contrast, in Europe the age of empires was at its zenith. The whole of Africa was colonized by European monarchies, as was the majority of the Middle East and large swaths of Asia. China was closed and would remain that way even decades after the rise of Mao Zedong in 1949. Japan was modernizing and leaving its Bushido past, changing its culture and military into something resembling a European style. She was also conquering colonies, mostly out of the need for oil and other energy resources which Japan doesn’t have in her home islands.

In 1907, in order to demonstrate American power and to show potential foes that the United States could defend its interests abroad, President Teddy Roosevelt commissioned the Great White Fleet, and ordered it to circumnavigate the world. The fleet of 16 glistening white, state of the art battleships and other support vessels left Hampton Roads in the fall of 1907, and returned to the same port in early 1909. The world was put on notice, the United States could reach out and touch you if it wanted to. It could protect its interest abroad and defend its interest here at home. That said, we still largely stayed out of the labyrinth of European alliances and treaties that characterized pre World War I Europe.

The Great War

World War I began in Europe in 1914. The United States was not involved and managed to stay that way for the majority of that world changing conflict. In April of 1917, near the end of the war when he felt there were spoils to be divided, America’s first progressive President, Woodrow Wilson, declared war on the German Empire. He saw that the war had destabilized Europe and that the old monarchies and alliances were being demolished. He knew they would be replaced and wanted the United States to have its seat at the table in rebuilding a democratic Europe.

The United States mobilized almost 5 million men to head into the meat grinder. By Armistice Day in November of 1918, the United States had lost about 53,000 men in combat: about 65,000 men to Spanish Flu and other battlefield deaths, totaling over 116,000 men dead and over 200,000 men wounded or otherwise injured. Wilson got his seat at the table and the United States was instrumental in brokering the Treaty of Versailles and eventually the League of Nations… the predecessor to the United Nations.

In the course of 20 years, the United States had gone from a resource rich regional power with a couple of colonies in the Pacific to one of the most powerful militaries remaining on the planet and according to President Woodrow Wilson, "At last the world knows America is the savior of the world!".

In the carnage, old systems were demolished. New world orders were finding their place. Nowhere was this more true than in the country of Russia, where a group of revolutionaries with a little known, very academic philosophy called Communism seized power. The names Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and Josef Stalin would soon be known to the world. But for now, they were just finding their footing.

In the west, there was backlash. The Great War was incredibly traumatic to Americans. Nearly 5 million returning veterans told newspapers and authors how horrible modern warfare was, and an isolationist movement began. It lasted until a quiet Sunday in December, 1941.

The fact is that through the 1920’s and 1930’s American business and American exports were booming. Even the global depression that bankrupted so many Americans didn’t stop the growing industrial might of the United States.

The robber barons were in their second generation, and names like Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Morgan, and Getty were known in households and their businesses were becoming institutions. Between the wars, American industrial power was beginning to play a large role on the world stage, but the American military was decidedly not. Isolationist governments in America reinstated Washington’s warning as if it were carried on tablets from Mount Sinai, that we should avoid foreign alliances and entanglements.

Not bad advice. Unfortunately, it could not last.

The Even Greater War

In September of 1939, Adolf Hitler finally crossed a line he could not uncross. After signing an agreement with Josef Stalin to split the country afterward, Hitler invaded Poland. The meat grinder was back, and the Second World War was on. This time the Germans had allied with Italy and the incredibly strong and modernized country of Japan.

The United States immediately put its industrial machine to work in defense of the allies against Germany and Japan. The global Great Depression that the western world had been dealing with for the last number of years ended, and Americans got to work in factories making all manor of weapons, airplanes, vehicles, and tanks.

American scientists got to work developing newer and more deadly kinds of armaments.

The American people were decidedly against joining the war in Europe and Asia. The memories of the Great War were still fresh in many minds and the main argument was that this is a European problem and we should sell our wares to the allies, but never be drawn in with troops. Let them kill each other. We can be there to support the peace.

That all changed December 7, 1941. It was Sunday morning in Pearl Harbor Hawaii and in a sneak attack, the Navy of Imperial Japan began an aerial bombardment of an unprepared United States Navy. The Japanese Pearl Harbor Striking Force consisted of six aircraft carriers, two heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, two battleships, nine destroyers, eight tankers, 23 fleet submarines and five midget subs. Within three years almost all of them would be at the bottom of the sea.

The attack was a success. Japanese casualties were minimal and the United States lost several battleships, 350 aircraft, and over 2,400 men. It would have been worse, but the carrier fleet was not at Pearl Harbor that weekend. It was at sea and therefore spared.

December 7, 1941 was the last day in the history of the United States that we would not be the world’s most consequential military. From that day until this one, the US Military was the most consequential organization in foreign policy… anywhere.

By the end of the war, Japan had been chased back to it’s ruined island home, Germany had been cleaved in half and occupied, tens of millions were dead, and the United States set up permanent military bases around the world, which it holds to this day.

Ending the war, the United States dropped two atomic bombs, the only nuclear weapons ever used in warfare. In Berlin, American and Soviet troops stared each other down as the world questioned whether the former allies would turn on each other and continue the carnage.

The Cold War

From mid-1945 until August of 1949, both the Soviet Union and Western Europe were rebuilding from the carnage of the war. Cities were destroyed. The truth about the scale of the Holocaust was continuing to be discovered. Israel was founded in 1947 from a British colony with included parts of Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt. Tensions were high, but war was unlikely to start back up because in 1945 the United States had dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. The USSR did not possess such a weapon and could not defend against it.

These weapons were so lethal and so large that nobody dared cross the United States. It was now possible for a lasting peace.

That changed in August of 1949 when the Soviet Union, using stolen plans from the United States, successfully tested their own atomic bomb. In that moment, the world changed again. The United States and her allies were not going to be the sole decision makers of what the world was going to look like after the war. The Soviets had just shown that they had the power to take a seat at the table as well. A new struggle was born, one that would last for the next 40 years. The Cold War had officially begun.

The new foreign policy of the United States was one of containment. The US would use its military and its economic power, both unmatched anywhere in the world, to keep the Soviet Union and its Communist ideology from expanding into new territory. The US grew its nuclear arsenal with larger, more long range, and deadlier weapons, as did her adversary the USSR.

With the advent of long range bombers, nuclear capable submarines, and the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), by the end of the 1950’s the American homeland was under threat of annihilation from a foreign military for the first time since the early 1800’s. Our oceans and weak neighbors no longer protected us. Every American was now in danger. By 1970 with the advent of MIRV (multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle) technology, the United States and the USSR had the ability to literally destroy the whole of humanity and send the world back to a natural state.

This concept was publicly acknowledged in 1963 at American University by John F. Kennedy in his commencement address, where he stated that it was awful and ironic that the two most powerful nations in the post World War II world are the two nations most at risk of complete destruction. It was a delicate balance that had to be maintained, and one that still has to be maintained today.

Through the Cold War, the Americans had their adventures in Korea and Vietnam. We played around a little in South America and in the Caribbean. The Soviets also had their adventures mostly in Eastern Europe, Asia, and eventually in Afghanistan. Both sides were always careful not to cross the Warsaw Pact or NATO lines.

The most serious work of the Cold War was done in Europe where spies, agents provocateur, assassins, and saboteurs lurked in shadows and played dangerous games. There were heroes and villains on both sides of the Cold War. There were brilliant tacticians and reckless charlatans.

In the end, the Soviet Union did not fall because they were outplayed or outmatched, which they constantly were. The USSR collapsed in on itself because the economic model it was based on could not be sustained.

The Union of Soviet States was extremely large and diverse. To the east it bordered North Korea, Mongolia, and China. To the south it bordered Iran and parts of Arabia. To the west it stretched deep into Germany. The simple fact was that the Communist government could not keep all of that together while centralizing the economy.

Due to structural failings in the Communist ideology, people were not encouraged to innovate or grow. The Soviet era is often remembered for big, bulky things that didn’t work well. Their factories were huge but put out very little usable product. Their cars didn’t work very well. Their Submarines were giant compared to American subs, but they tended to sink. Their nuclear weapons were larger in yield than the United States’, but they weren’t nearly as accurate.

Depending on when and where we are talking about, everything belonged to the collective people, which more and more became the government. There were famines and upstart revolutions and a lot of internal strife. By the 1980’s the Reagan Administration saw that the USSR was unsustainable and was brave enough to give it a push.

With a surge of military spending that the Soviets attempted to match, cracks in the foundation appeared. The Soviets left Afghanistan, the Berlin Wall came down, and in 1991 the union collapsed in on itself and came apart. The evil empire was no more.

Pax Americana

In August of 1990 the President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, invaded his neighbor, Kuwait. There are books written about what he was thinking, but in the end Iraq wanted Kuwait’s vast oil reservoirs and was jealous of their coastline into the Persian Gulf. I believe mixed signals were given from both the United States and Saudi Arabia as to what the reaction would be to such an annexation of territory.

In the end, the United States showed what its buildup of military power was capable of. Starting in January of 1991 with an aerial bombardment campaign and followed by a ground invasion in a matter of months, the United States had decimated the Iraqi military and had it’s government in hiding and holding power by just a thread.

Then the United States did something very few militaries had done before. They stopped. They didn’t take Baghdad or topple Saddam’s government. They killed over 120,000 Iraqi soldiers… lost only about 200 of their own… then turned around and went home.

The war was over. It didn’t last decades. We didn’t have to rebuild what we broke. Kuwait was liberated and the aggressor paid a steep price for attempting to capture territory.

In the aftermath of that, a bit of a legend was born. The US Military morphed from the most powerful military in the world to an invincible military, one capable of fighting wars without taking casualties. Our standing in the world went from #1 to #1 without a close second.

All of this happened as the Soviet Union collapsed in on itself and a new global economy found its way into previously unavailable territories. Speaking of economics, there are some others who took notice of the success in Iraq. Companies like Boeing, Haliburton, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin noticed a definite uptick in their revenues when the US decided to use its weapons and not just stockpile them. New companies like Northrop Grumman (1994) and BAE Systems (1999) were born.

The 1990’s was America’s decade. There was no enemy left. The world was ours for the taking. We dominated every corner of the planet economically and militarily. Foreign policy was dictated by us and we were making money so fast we didn’t know what to do with it all.

The tax base for the United States grew so fast that we managed to balance the budget, taking in more money than we spent. The internet was born and new technologies were harnessing computer power to make formerly slow and difficult global trade instant and easy.

We started to spend less on our military and our intelligence agencies. We kept our international bases and our global Navy as a show of force and to guarantee peace between large countries. With the United States leading peacekeeping missions to tamp down smaller and more primitive country civil wars, genocides, and ethnic cleansings in places like Kosovo and elsewhere, it was a virtual impossibility that any great powers left would face each other on a field of battle. The United States would not allow it.

American foreign policy in the 1990’s was simple. We are in charge. We will act in the best interest of the civilized world (as defined by us) and you will be richer, safer, and happier for it.

It worked well. Right up until that warm cloudless Tuesday morning in September.

The sleeping giant wakes up

There were signs. In 1993 a group of Islamic extremists linked to a little known terrorist organization called Al Qaeda tried to blow up the World Trade Center in New York City. They succeeded in killing 6 people and disrupting the entire city. In 1998, another group of Al Qaeda terrorists used truck bombs to attack two American embassies in Africa as well as a number of other targets killing over 200 people. That attack was financed and possibly planned by Saudi rich kid gone wrong, Usama Bin Laden. In 2000, the USS Cole was attacked by a suicide bomber in a small boat while pier-side in Yemen. The Cole was severely damaged and 17 American sailors were killed. Again, the attack was linked to Al Qaeda and Usama Bin Laden.

Each time the United States took limited action in response. The outlook of the State Department and the Clinton administration at the time was that such attacks were to be expected as the US took its spot as the world’s lone superpower. A limited response was proper because the enemy had no ability to seriously damage us, and we didn’t want to upset the new world order by overreacting to small groups of dirt people on camels. It made sense at the time.

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We all remember where we were. It was just one of those days. If you were old enough to know what was happening, you will never forget it. December 7, 1941… November 22, 1963… and September 11, 2001. When you heard what happened on those days you knew two things, instinctually. First, that tragedy had struck us all. Second, that nothing would ever be the same again. You were right on both accounts.

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On 9/11, nineteen Al Qaeda terrorists, fifteen of whom were from Saudi Arabia, two from the UAE, one Egyptian, and one Lebanese, hijacked four airplanes which they successfully flew into two targets with two planes hitting the World Trade Center in New York, a third hitting the Pentagon in Washington DC, and the fourth plane crashing in a rural part of Pennsylvania having been fought for by brave passengers.

The terrorists were Al Qaeda and connected to Afghanistan based Osama bin Laden, the well known and highly sought-after terrorist who planned the embassy bombings in Africa and the USS Cole. Bin Laden was Saudi Arabian and from a very prominent Saudi family who made billions in the construction industry and was closely connected to the Saudi Royal Family.

After 9/11 everything changed and nothing would ever be the same again. The world’s lone superpower, the greatest military in the history of the world, with access to the newest and most dangerous technologies had a bloodlust and moved to a war footing. That war footing continues to this day, long after the bloodlust subsided.

America takes a wrong turn

First it was righteous vengeance, then it was a power grab, then it became corrupt. In the end, we have lived long enough to see ourselves become the villain.

We rode into Afghanistan on horses like the Rough Riders taking San Juan Hill at the dawn of the American age. 20 years later, we left much like the Russians did 33 years before, in a chaotic mess defined by carnage, and handed control back to the same people we wrenched it from all those years ago. Unsophisticated, tribal, warlords… goat fornicators and abusers of women… we left them in tact.

We destroyed Iraq for no discernible reason leaving the Ayatollah in Iran in charge of the country and without a check on his power.

The Middle East is in worse shape than ever before with an ascendent Iran. Africa has been abandoned. China has risen to become a great power and open adversary to the United States, one we have a hard time controlling because we are so economically connected to them. Russia is aggressively taking territory in Europe. Europe itself has been overrun by refugees from the third world.

In the post 9/11 world, America found out there was power and money to be had in warfare. By 2012 or so, we had pretty much stopped fighting the wars ourselves, even though we kept troops in Afghanistan and Iraq for several more years. Instead we encouraged others to fight on our behalf with gifts of weapons and intelligence.

Today we use our military might and negotiating position, not for peace but for war. We are actively prolonging the conflict between Israel and Hamas by putting restrictions on Israel’s ability to end the conflict. In Ukraine, we sabotage any peace talks and the treaty that will eventually come between them and Russia by conditioning Ukrainian aid on the caveat that they do not enter a ceasefire.

The fact is that we all already know the general terms of a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. Russia will keep Crimea and the Donbas, with a few minor territories being negotiable. Ukraine will agree to never join NATO. Zelenskyy will likely have to step down in favor of someone less hostile to Russian speaking citizens in Ukraine. Certain constitutional protections would have to be given to Russian speaking Ukrainians and Russia would withdraw its military.

These are the same terms that would have prevented the invasion in the first place and would have stopped the fighting any time up to and including now. The United States refuses to allow this. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers have been killed in this conflict, which has thankfully stayed regional. It’s all unnecessary and if the United States decided to have any role in the conflict at all, it should be to end it on acceptable terms… certainly not to extend it.

Yes, I know Russia invaded a sovereign country. Yes, they should pay a price. I would suggest that between worldwide sanctions and the cost of the war, they have paid a price. I don’t claim to understand the mind of Putin… but I will say this, if he was a maniac trying to take over the whole world, this was not the way to do it… and I believe him to be smart enough to know that.

What happens from here?

We are at great risk of another one of those days, another day where we will all remember where we were, a day after which nothing will ever be the same again.

Our citizens have become distracted, stupid, and fat. Our corporations spend their time and energy trying to appease foreign paid professional grievance organizations like the Oath Keepers, Black Lives Matter, Antifa, The Proud Boys, Q Anon, and others. Our institutions spend all their time attacking inward instead of looking outward. Our government doesn’t even seem to consider the American public good anymore in its decision making. Everything they do, every decision they make, seems to be designed solely to increase their budget and their influence.

Millions are dead from our policies around the world in the last 22 years. Countries like Iraq and Libya lie in ruins, overrun by barbarians so brutal they could make ancients like the Visigoths and Vandals recoil in horror.

Yep, we are in a rough spot.

But this is not the last chapter in the American story. We can and will change course. The point of this article is to highlight some history and shed a little light on how we got here, rather than to give advice, but I will say this… we should recommit ourselves to the ideal of peace over war. We should recommit ourselves to the ideal of liberty over security. We should throw out all of the crap from the last 20 years that doesn’t work and concentrate on the things that do.

If we do that, we can come out of this. We can once again be the shining city on the hill that not only we want to be… but that the world desperately needs us to be. Keep in mind, the nukes still cast a shadow over all of us.

God bless America!

—Virgil