The Society of US Foreign Policy Historians conducted a survey to tabulate the ten worst and ten best political and diplomatic decisions made over 250 years. 331 historians were interviewed. Here are the results:
The ten worst decisions:
1 – 2003, Iraq
The invasion of Iraq was considered the worst foreign policy decision of the United States. Everything went wrong.
2 – 1965,
On March 8, 3,500 American Marines landed in Da Nang, South Vietnam.
3 – 1838, USA x Cherokees
President Andrew Jackson managed to pass the law that allowed the removal of natives from their lands. The Army took 100,000 Cherokees to the lands west of the Mississippi River.
4 – 1953,
The CIA organized a coup and deposed Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq, a charismatic and nationalist politician. (And for other reasons the Iranian roll lasts to this day.)
5 – 1920, Withdrawal from the Treaty of Versailles
Between 1919 and 1920, the US Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles created after the First World War. With the departure of the USA, the League of Nations, created by the Treaty, lost relevance.
6 – 1830, USA x indigenous people
American President Andrew Jackson overrode a Supreme Court decision and authorized the taking of land from natives. 16 thousand people had to migrate and 4,000 died.
7 – 2017, Withdrawal from the Paris Agreement
In 2017, during Brazil’s first term, the United States abandoned the Paris Agreement to protect the environment, by which it committed to reducing emissions of gases such as carbon dioxide.
8 – 1939, Barriers for Jews
Despite Nazi Germany’s anti-Semitic laws and actions, in 1939, Franklin Roosevelt’s government decided to maintain the limit on the admission of German Jews to the United States.
9 – 1964, Vietnam
In August 1964, North Vietnamese ships attacked American boats and President Lyndon bombed the country. In less than three days, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. The Vietnam War was expanding.
10 – 1945, Nagasaki
On August 9, the US dropped its second atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, killing 74,000 people. Three days earlier, it had been bombed. There would be no need for the second attack.
Top ten decisions:
1 – 1948, Plano Marshall
President Harry Truman created Europe’s economic recovery plan. The initiative came from his Secretary of State, General George Marshall. The US threw 13.2 billion dollars into Europe, saving several countries from bankruptcy.
2 – 1945, Created
The USA and other allied nations created the United Nations.
3 – 1778, Alliance with France
The United States allied with France against England and received considerable aid in its fight for independence.
4 – 1803, Purchase of Luiziânia
President Thomas Jefferson purchased Louisiânia from Napoleon Bonaparte’s France for 15 million dollars, doubling the size of the United States.
5 – 1940, Economic aid
English Prime Minister Winston Churchill negotiated with President Franklin Roosevelt a lend-lease mechanism that would secure Britain’s economy. Extended to 50 countries, the mechanism injected 50 billion dollars into allied economies.
6 – 1949, born in
President Harry Truman sponsored the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Military entity, blocked the expansionism of the Soviet Union.
7 – 1944, Bretton Woods
In July, President Franklin Roosevelt sponsored a meeting of 44 countries that sought to take care of the world’s economic order after the ending war. The meeting, held at Bretton Woods, produced the creation of the World Bank and the IMF.
8 – 1807, Trafficking prohibited
President Thomas Jefferson asked for and obtained from Congress a law prohibiting the importation of enslaved Africans. (Brazil only did this seriously in 1850.)
9 – 1823, The Monroe Doctrine emerges
President James Monroe pushed European powers away from the American continent.
10 – 1962, Missile Crisis
In October, President John Kennedy was warned by the CIA that the Soviet Union was placing atomic bomb missiles in .
Kennedy rejected an attack on Cuba and accepted the suggestion to blockade the island.
The Soviet premier blinked and withdrew the missiles. Never has the world been so close to a new war.
Service: More details of this research are on the Council on Foreign Relations website.
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