Law, Diplomacy, & Power

The purpose of our twenty-sixth class is to examine the foreign policy challenges that faced the Bill Clinton administration and assess how these might best be characterized and appraise how they were handled. We will focus on two case studies, typical of post-Cold War issues and problems: the turmoil in Somalia and the conflict in the Balkans among Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia. What was the importance of Bill Clinton as an American foreign policymaker? What, in particular, is he remembered for? Did he have foreign policy triumphs? Flaws?

The purpose of our twenty-fifth class is to examine the transition from the Cold War to the post-Cold War eras and then examine some key aspects of early post-Cold War American foreign policy. What was meant by the phrase ‘a new world order”? What role did U.S. officials play in the demise of the Soviet Union, and how did circumstances after the end of the Cold War re-orient U.S. foreign policy?  What was the importance of George H. W. Bush as an American foreign policymaker? What, in particular, is he remembered for? Did he have foreign policy triumphs? Flaws?

The purpose of our twenty-fourth class is to analyze the new approaches that the Reagan Administration took to the making of U.S. foreign policy. Students should use the lecture and reading materials to come to their own views as to the Reagan Doctrine, the ensuing efforts to promote democracy in places like Nicaragua and Haiti as well as the U.S. intervention in Grenada. We will explore as well the differences in the thrust of foreign policy in Reagan’s first and second terms, while considering arms control efforts with the Soviet Union and the Iran-Contra scandal. What was the importance of Ronald Reagan as an American foreign policymaker? What, in particular, is he remembered for? Did he have foreign policy triumphs? Flaws?

The purpose of our twenty-third class is to examine the challenges that confronted U.S. policymakers after withdrawal from Vietnam. We will start by analyzing Henry Kissinger’s step-by-step, or shuttle, diplomacy in the Middle East. Then, we will ask how did the Carter Administration’s foreign policy sail a very different tack from those of its predecessors? What was the Camp David peace process? How did President Jimmy Carter incorporate human rights concerns directly into U.S. foreign policy, and with what consequences? How did the U.S. become further embroiled in Middle Eastern politics with the hostage crisis in Iran? What was the importance of Henry Kissinger and Jimmy Carter as American foreign policymakers? What, in particular, are they remembered for? Did they have foreign policy triumphs?

After a look at the Johnson administration’s intervention in the Dominican Republic and the post-Watergate changes in the presidency, the central purpose of our twenty-second class, lecture and readings, is to explore three mileposts of the Nixon/ Kissinger years as the top U.S. foreign policymakers: (i) the concept of triangular diplomacy (U.S., China, and Soviet Union); (ii) the relaxation of tension between the superpowers known as détente; and (iii) the October War in the Middle East. Students should use the materials to appraise détente and the Nixon Administration’s opening to the People’s Republic of China? Then, the class should focus on how the U.S. handled this phase of Middle Eastern conflict, in particular the October War. What was the importance of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger as foreign policymakers? What are they remembered for? Did they have foreign policy triumphs? Flaws?

The purpose of our twenty-first class is to explore how and why the United States government chose to enter the quagmire of problems in Vietnam and then to outline the key stages in the fighting as well as the major diplomatic efforts in the Vietnam War. How and why did U.S. foreign policymakers perceive that a serious Cold War problem was developing in Southeast Asia? How exactly did the gradual build-up of forces occur? Students should focus on the challenge posed by the Viet Cong, the growing turmoil in South Vietnam, the Diem assassination, the U.S. anti-war movement, and the Tet offensive. Did Lyndon Johnson make their war into our war? Students should use the lecture and readings to come to their own opinions on the key decisions made by U.S. foreign policymakers: bombing campaigns, Vietnamization, stalemated peace talks, the crescendo of American peace activism at home, the ‘Peace with Honor’ equation, and promises and lies by U.S. officials. Finally, the class should consider how defeat and withdrawal was handled, with what domestic and international repercussions? What was the importance of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Henry Kissinger as foreign policymakers active in one way or another in the Vietnam conflict? What, in particular, are they remembered for? Did they have foreign policy triumphs? Flaws?

The purpose of class twenty is to examine the Bay of Pigs operation and then the Cuban Missile Crisis. What happened at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba, and what were some of its consequences? We will next explore how the world’s most dangerous crisis came about, and how exactly it got resolved, averting the threat of a nuclear holocaust. What drove the Soviet effort to implant nuclear arms in Cuba? What options for resolution presented themselves? What diplomatic efforts occurred at the brink of catastrophe, and what occurred after the crisis? What was the importance of John Kennedy as an American foreign policymaker? What, in particular, is he remembered for? Did he have foreign policy triumphs? Flaws?

We move back today to Latin America, and then on to the Middle East, where some of the next important stages of the Cold War occurred. The purpose of our nineteenth class is to think through the factors that contributed to the increasingly difficult U.S. relations with Latin America and the Middle East in the 1950s. We will examine the rationales for the first U.S. covert operations of this period in Guatemala and Iran. After reviewing how matters turned out in Guatemala and their effect on U.S. relations with Latin America, we will examine what stimulated and guided U.S. policy in the Middle East, an increasingly important region, and appraise the repercussions of those policies. What was the importance of Dwight Eisenhower as an American foreign policymaker? What, in particular, is he remembered for? Did he have foreign policy triumphs? Flaws?

The purpose of this 3rd class is to watch America’s two political parties contend over foreign affairs, and then to examine one of America’s most controversial wars: the War of 1812. Students should understand how and why a split occurred between the Federalists, the party of Washington, Adams, and Hamilton, and the Democratic Republicans, the party of Thomas Jefferson, and they should see how broader issues of international relations began to affect the young U.S. We will explore the country’s hostilities and armed conflicts with France and the Barbary pirates of North Africa. From the lecture and readings students should understand how and why the U.S. and Britain went to war, what happened during the fighting, how and why peace was restored, and what were the key features of the aftermath. What was the importance of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison as American foreign policymakers? What, in particular, are they remembered for? Did they have foreign policy triumphs? Flaws?

The purpose of this second class is to give students a better sense for American foreign policy in the years after the conclusion of the war for independence. The class meeting and readings should leave you with a firm grasp of what international concerns occupied the attention of the country’s first foreign policymakers, and how they began to craft U.S. foreign policy. You should understand how the first cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy became isolationism and the second, neutrality. What was the importance of George Washington as an American foreign policymaker? What, in particular, is he remembered for? Did he have foreign policy triumphs? Flaws?