The primary goals of United States in the initial period of the war were to contain and defeat the totalitarian and expansionist powers of Germany and Japan, preferably without getting directly involved in the war. After its direct entry in the war, the U.S. policy was focused on achieving complete victory against the Axis powers at minimum cost. All its policies during the war, including its alliance with the Soviet Union and the use of the atomic bombs on Japan were directed to achieve these aims. As both Germany and Japan were ultimately defeated and surrendered unconditionally, the major wartime aims of the United States were achieved. On the other hand, critics of U.S. wartime diplomacy believe that "the U.S. may have won the war but lost the peace" as it failed to achieve its main aim of preventing the domination of Europe by a totalitarian power. The critics argue that the U.S. should have let Germany and Soviet Union to fight to a standstill instead of helping the Soviets defeat Germany as the policy contributed directly to the emergence of the Soviet Union as a super power and enabled it to control Eastern and parts of Central Europe after the war. The U.S. insistence on unconditional surrender of Germany is also criticized as the policy is alleged to have prolonged the war, enabling the Soviet Union to find a foothold deep into Europe. Such critics ignore the fact that it may not have been possible to defeat Nazi Germany without the combined effort of the allies including the Soviets and abandoning the Russians could have been a greater policy blunder as a lot more American lives would have been lost in defeating Germany sans Russia. It is, however, possible that Roosevelt may have misjudged his ability to "handle" Stalin due to his single-minded focus in winning the war. The U.S. decision of using the atomic bombs on Japan is also condemned by historians who believe that Japanese...

diplomacy followed during the course of World War II. It saw the country trying to stay neutral at the start of the war but being ultimately drawn into the thick of the conflict, not just in Europe but in the Pacific as well. Although several features of the U.S. wartime policy are considered to have been controversial, such as its alliance with the Soviet Union, the main aims of the U.S. policy, i.e., the defeat of Nazi Germany and militarized Japan were fully achieved.
Works Cited

Divine, Robert a., ed. Causes and Consequences of World War II. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1969.

Kimball, Warren F. "Franklin D. Roosevelt and World War II." Presidential Studies Quarterly 34.1 (2004): 83+.

Lend-Lease." Holocaust Encyclopedia: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. N.d. January 18, 2007. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005679

The "Cash-and-Carry" also benefited the American economy, as the sale of its arms helped to create more industrial jobs, which helped the U.S. climb out of the Great Depression.

Roosevelt later justified his arguably unconstitutional act of supplying the destroyers to Britain by pointing to the gains made by U.S. In acquiring the bases and that providing the destroyers to Britain contributed directly to American defense.

Joseph Alsop and Robert Kintner

Gaddis Smith in "American Diplomacy During the Second World War," for example, argues that Roosevelt's "naive efforts" to charm Stalin during the Yalta Conference convinced the Soviet dictator that "the United States would raise no effective opposition to hostile Russian expansions." (Quoted by Livine, 13)

World War II-