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#Foreign Policy

107 entries

People (9)
Emilio Aguinaldo
The first president of the Philippine Republic, ally then adversary of the United States
George H.W. Bush
41st President of the United States, 1989–1993
George W. Bush
43rd President of the United States, 2001–2009
James Monroe
5th President of the United States and the last of the Founding Fathers to hold the office
Jimmy Carter
39th President of the United States, whose post-presidency eclipsed his time in office
Richard Nixon
The 37th President who opened China, ended the draft — and became the only president to resign
The Marquis de Lafayette
The young French aristocrat who became a hero of the American Revolution
Theodore Roosevelt
26th President who broke trusts, conserved millions of acres, and remade American power
Woodrow Wilson
Progressive reformer, World War I president, and architect of the modern international order
Places (9)
American Samoa
The South Pacific territory whose people are American nationals, not citizens
Guam
The Pacific island taken without a shot in 1898 and fortified ever since
Hawaii Territory
The Pacific kingdom annexed after a planter-led coup against Queen Liliuokalani
Oregon Territory
The Pacific Northwest land secured by treaty with Britain in 1846
Panama Canal
The 51-mile waterway that united two oceans and announced American power to the world
Puerto Rico
American since 1898, a commonwealth since 1952, and a state never
The Pentagon
The headquarters of American military power — and a symbol of it
The Philippines
The Spanish colony that became America's largest overseas possession, 1898-1946
The United States Virgin Islands
The Danish West Indies, bought for $25 million in 1917
Eras (4)
Early Republic
The 28 years that turned a coastal experiment into a continental power, 1800–1828
Modern America
The post–Cold War decades — and the unraveling of their assumptions, 1991–present
The Cold War
The ideological standoff between the United States and Soviet Union, 1945–1991
World War II
The global conflict that made America a superpower and reshaped the world order, 1941–1945
Events (33)
Bay of Pigs
The CIA's Failed Invasion of Cuba and Kennedy's Defining Early Crisis, April 1961
Berlin Airlift
The 11-Month Mission That Defied the Soviet Blockade, 1948–1949
Boston Marathon Bombing
The 2013 terror attack and the manhunt that gripped a city
Cuban Missile Crisis
Thirteen days in 1962 when nuclear war became a real possibility
Death of Osama bin Laden
The 2011 raid that ended a decade-long manhunt
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The 1989 night that signaled the end of the Cold War
Iran Hostage Crisis
The 444-Day Captivity That Ended the Carter Presidency, 1979–1981
Iran-Contra Affair
The Reagan administration's secret arms deal that illegally funded Nicaraguan rebels
Jay Treaty
The 1794 agreement that kept peace with Britain — and nearly tore the republic apart
Korean War
The "Forgotten War" that established the Cold War's logic of limited conflict, 1950–1953
NAFTA
The 1994 trade pact that bound North America together
September 11 Attacks
The deadliest terrorist attack on American soil, 2001
Spanish-American War
The 1898 war that made America an empire in four months
Sputnik
The 1957 Soviet satellite that started the Space Race
The Adams-Onís Treaty
The 1819 treaty that gave the United States Florida and a line to the Pacific
The Gadsden Purchase
The 1854 land deal that finished the map of the lower 48
The Gulf War
Kuwait, Desert Storm, and the war that stopped short, 1990-1991
The Iraq Surge
Petraeus, counterinsurgency, and the Anbar Awakening, 2007
The Iraq War
The invasion, the missing weapons, and the insurgency, 2003-2011
The Paris Climate Agreement
The 2015 global pact to limit climate change — and America's wavering role
The Philippine-American War
The war for the Philippines that followed the war with Spain, 1899-1902
The Quasi-War
The undeclared naval war that nearly broke the Franco-American alliance
The Rosenberg Case
The Cold War espionage trial that ended in the electric chair
The Space Race
The Cold War competition between the United States and Soviet Union to conquer space
The Treaty of Paris (1898)
Spain gives up an empire and the United States buys the Philippines, December 1898
The U-2 Incident
The 1960 spy-plane shootdown that wrecked a superpower summit
The War in Afghanistan
America's longest war, from the Taliban's fall to its return, 2001-2021
The Withdrawal from Afghanistan
The fall of Kabul and the end of the longest war, August 2021
The Zimmermann Telegram
The intercepted 1917 message that helped push America into World War I
U.S.–Iran Military Strikes
From the killing of Soleimani in 2020 to direct strikes on Iran's nuclear sites in 2025–2026
World War I
The European catastrophe that pulled America in, remade the world order, and produced the next war
World War II
America's 1941–1945 war that defeated the Axis and made it a superpower
XYZ Affair
The French bribery scandal that nearly dragged the young republic into another war
Documents (13)
Day of Infamy Speech
FDR asks Congress for war, December 1941
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
The 1964 Congressional Authorization That Escalated the Vietnam War
Marshall Plan
The American Program That Rebuilt Western Europe After World War II
Monroe Doctrine
The 1823 declaration that the Western Hemisphere was closed to further European colonization
National Security Act of 1947
The law that created the CIA, NSC, and Joint Chiefs — and built the permanent architecture of the Cold War
Neutrality Acts of the 1930s
The Congressional Attempt to Legislate America Out of Another World War
North Atlantic Treaty
The 1949 alliance document that reversed 150 years of American foreign policy
Tear Down This Wall
Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate, 1987
The Lend-Lease Act
The law that made America the Arsenal of Democracy before it entered World War II
The Platt Amendment
The conditions written into Cuba's constitution, 1901-1934
The Teller Amendment
Congress disclaims any intention of annexing Cuba, April 1898
The USA PATRIOT Act
The 2001 law that expanded surveillance after September 11
Washington's Farewell Address
The 1796 letter in which the first president warned against the dangers that would define American history
Concepts (16)
American Exceptionalism
The conviction that the United States occupies a unique and exemplary place in world history
American Imperialism
The expansion of U.S. power, territory, and influence beyond its continental borders
Big Stick Diplomacy
Roosevelt's doctrine of speaking softly while projecting American power across the hemisphere
Containment
America's Cold War strategy to halt the spread of Soviet communism
Détente
Nixon and Kissinger's strategy of easing Cold War tensions through direct diplomacy
Dollar Diplomacy
Taft's strategy of substituting American investment for military force — with mixed results
Isolationism
The foreign policy doctrine that kept America out of two world wars — until it didn't
The Domino Theory
The Cold War premise that communist takeover in one country would trigger a regional chain reaction
The Open Door Policy
America's turn-of-the-century bid for equal access to China
Truman Doctrine
The Cold War Policy That Committed America to Containing Communism
U.S.–Britain Relations
From the empire America rebelled against to its closest ally — two centuries from war to the "special relationship"
U.S.–China Relations
From Open Door to trade war — the relationship that will define the 21st century
U.S.–France Relations
The ally that won America its independence, sold it a third of a continent, and gave it the Statue of Liberty
U.S.–Mexico Relations
A 1,954-mile border, a war that one side calls an invasion, and two centuries of inseparable entanglement
U.S.–Soviet Relations
Allies for four years, adversaries for 46 — the rivalry that defined the 20th century
U.S.–Spain Relations
From the empire that colonized half the continent to the war that ended its American reach
Organizations (23)
NATO
The 1949 alliance that bound America to Europe's defense and deterred the Soviet Union for forty years
SEATO
The Cold War alliance built to contain communism in Asia, 1954–1977
The Anti-Imperialist League
The campaign against an American colonial empire, 1898-1921
The CDC
The nation's front line against disease, from malaria to pandemics, 1946
The CIA
The Cold War spy agency created in 1947 for foreign intelligence — and covert action around the world
The FBI
The federal police force born in 1908 that hunted gangsters and radicals — and sometimes the Constitution
The John Birch Society
The far-right anti-communist group that roiled Cold War conservatism, 1958
The League of Nations
The world body Woodrow Wilson built — and the U.S. Senate refused to join, 1920
The NSA
The codebreaking agency founded in secret in 1952 to intercept the world's communications
The Organization of American States
The Western Hemisphere body that carried old doctrines into the Cold War, 1948
The Peace Corps
JFK's volunteer corps that sent young Americans to serve abroad, 1961
The United States Air Force
The youngest branch, born from the rise of air power, 1947
The United States Armed Forces
From the Continental Army of 1775 to the most powerful military the world has ever known
The United States Army
The nation's oldest armed service, born with the Revolution in 1775
The United States Marine Corps
The amphibious force that fights from the sea, founded 1775
The United States Navy
The sea service that carried American power around the globe, founded 1775
The Warsaw Pact
The Soviet military alliance that answered NATO, 1955–1991
The World Bank and IMF
The Bretton Woods twins America built to run the global economy, 1944
The World Health Organization
The UN's global health agency — and America's fraught partner in it, 1948
The World Trade Organization
The referee of global trade, from GATT in 1947 to the WTO in 1995
Time Magazine
The newsmagazine that summarized the week, founded 1923
U.S. Intelligence
The community of spy agencies built across the 20th century to watch the world — and, at times, Americans
United Nations
The international body America founded in 1945 — and has funded, led, and defied ever since
All Tags
Politics 178 Economy 171 Military 129 Reform 121 Civil Rights 118 Law & Justice 116 Presidency 113 Science & Technology 112 Foreign Policy 107 Arts & Culture 103 Race 98 Founding Era 96 Industry 90 Constitution 75 Modern America 67 Protest 66 Cold War 65 Civil War 62 Westward Expansion 61 War 59 Revolution 59 Slavery 57 Media & Press 57 Women 56 Indigenous 51 Diplomacy 47 Immigration 41 Labor 40 Environment 36 Colonial America 34 Congress 33 Religion 33 World War II 32 Supreme Court 32 Disaster 29 Exploration 27 Public Health 25 Progressive Era 25 Abolition 22 Finance 22 Reconstruction 22 Democracy 20 Gilded Age 19 Assassination 15 Education 15 Suffrage 11 World War I 9 Sports 9 Corruption 9 Prohibition 1