US Involvement In Foreign Affairs

When is U.S involvement in Foreign Affairs justified?

The Foreign policy is the way the government dealt with its own people and other nations. The U.S gets involved in many foreign affairs such as the Spanish-American War, World War 1, World War 2, the Cold War, and the War on Terror. Over the course of these wars, the Foreign Policy has changed America’s power and influence around the world. In 1898 through 1919, the Foreign Policy was to be involved in foreign affairs if the U.S needed resources and land. U.S helped Cuba gain independence and created the Platt Amendment that allowed the U.S to have naval bases on Cuban soil. In 1914 through 1917, the U.S’s Foreign Policy was to maintain its neutrality throughout World War 1; however, if

On December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese airplanes purposefully crashed into an American naval base, also known as Pearl Harbor. Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S wanted Japan to end control in other countries such as China because Japan’s military power threatened the economic interests the U.S had in China; however, Japan refused to withdraw from China. In response to Japan, the U.S froze all Japanese assets and negotiated terms for 6 months; however, during those 6 months, Japan planned a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. After the attack, there was a total of 3,580 U.S casualties. 2,403 people were dead and 1,178 people were wounded. The attack changed the attitude of the government from negotiations to aggression. In President Roosevelt’s speech, “Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation” he states, “The United States was at peace with that nation and, at solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific...while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack,”(Roosevelt). President Roosevelt confirms the idea that Japan had no intentions of keeping their relationship between the U.S peaceful and diplomatic. As a result, the U.S needed to take action against Japan because

For example, in 1898, the U.S got involved in the Spanish-American War for the purposes of helping Cuba gain independence. After guaranteeing the independence of Cuba, the U.S created the Platt Amendment, an amendment to a U.S army appropriations bill. It had 8 conditions in which Cuba had to agree before the withdrawal of U.S forces. One of the conditions mentioned an agreement to sell or lease territory for naval bases to the U.S. On the map, “The Spanish American War” by Joy Hakim, it displays U.S exerted control over multiple islands in the Pacific Ocean between 1867 and 1903 (Hakim). The Platt Amendment allowed us to have U.S naval bases in Cuba, which was beneficial to our military because we have more power in multiple parts of the world. These actions were the justified actions to take because it gave the U.S an advantage in further preventing and protecting their power and resources. Some might argue that the involvement in Cuba was unjustified because the Platt Amendment limited their independence. For example, Cuba could not make treaties that might limit independence or permit a foreign power to control any part of its territory, Cuba could not go into debt, and that the U.S reserves the right to intervene in Cuba to preserve independence and maintain order. However, the limitations placed in Cuba’s constitutions were better than in Spain placing 300,000