America's History of Failed Attempts at Intervening with Foreign Governments

The United States has a very long history of intervening within other countries, whether it is for political reasons or otherwise. U.S. intervention started along with the establishment of the United States. This long history still continues strong up until today. Although the U.S. often intervenes, the justified reasons for these interventions are often very unclear, but there are a few repeating trends. First, the idea that it is America’s responsibility to spread democracy to developing nations is a very repeated tendency. The goal of these interventions is to set up an American style government, whether the country likes it or not. The second ideal is to bring freedom and safety to the civilian population of the intervened country. Unfortunately, when the U.S. intervenes the results are less favorable to the foreign civilians than before. Two specific areas with perhaps the most muddled history of U.S. relations are Central America and the Caribbean. Many of the interventions in these areas are often failed attempts; especially the interventions that took place during the Kennedy and Reagan administrations. Specifically, in Cuba and Nicaragua, U.S. intervention has been fueled by the U.S. governments desire to keep the Soviet Union from gaining power.

Cuba itself has a very rocky past. Starting in 1899 Cuba and the U.S. first had governmental relations. A treaty was made stating the Cuba was an independent nation under U.S. protection and occupation. From the very beginning the United States was deeply rooted in Cuba’s governmental workings. This specific U.S. occupation ended in 1902, but only after the U.S. had made large economic investment within Cuba. This was not the end of U.S. involvement; this was ju...

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...n Nicaragua’s welfare and economic standings. This is reflected today by Nicaragua’s current situation. On the Human Development Index, Nicaragua places 110th out of 177 countries.

As we have learned, the United States’ desire to control Soviet assistance to other nations is somewhat overstated, and often does more harm than good. Nicaragua and Cuba are prime examples of the conflict U.S. intervention causes. Some nations, like Cuba are able to recover, but other countries like Nicaragua never quite recuperate from U.S. intervention. On the surface, the U.S. ideals of spreading democracy and bringing freedom to other nations seems like a good one, but they need to be examined further, as these tasks never are the ones accomplished. Perhaps, what the United States really needs to do is step back and look at their history in order to create a better future.