Post-World War II era and its transformations

¶ … history after the Second World War. Specifically, it will briefly compare U.S. foreign policy toward the U.S.S.R./Russia under Presidents Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Bush Jr. Each president had their own ideas about foreign policy with Russia, and how they could achieve certain goals. Each man also had ideals and agendas they hoped would create a more powerful and prosperous United States. How these men achieved (or did not achieve) their foreign policy objectives tells much about them as men and as politicians.

Each president faced different conditions in the country and the world when they took office. Nixon took over the Vietnam War from Johnson, and this colored how he dealt with superpower the U.S.S.R. during his administration. Since the Communists were funding the North Vietnamese, one of Nixon's policies was to cut off relations with the U.S.S.R. until they withheld weapons from North Vietnam. Nixon and his National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, dubbed this policy "linkage." Author Ambrose notes, "The United States would withhold favors from the Russians until they behaved in Southeast Asia by cutting off the arms flow to Hanoi. Peace would follow" (Ambrose 313). Of course, that was not the case, and most of Nixon's policies revolved around ending the war in Indochina while developing all-encompassing agreements with the U.S.S.R. To help ensure lasting peace around the world. The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), meant to limit weapons on both sides, were some of the most important foreign policy decisions Nixon made regarding the U.S.S.R. during his administration. In addition, during the Nixon administration Congress passed the War Powers Act, which severely limited the president's power in foreign aggression. All of these occurrences were important in foreign policy, especially with the Soviets.

President Carter's foreign policy was largely based on human rights and his own sense of idealism, which did not always make for the best foreign policy decisions. Carter's chief goal turned out to be the elimination of nuclear weapons from the world, but he failed in that goal. As Ambrose notes, Carter's relationship with the Soviet Union became strained when they were resentful of his strong feelings about human rights (Ambrose 391). Ambrose continues, "The principle causes of the gap [between goal and achievement] were an excess of idealism, the lack of experience, and an overreaction to Russian actions" (Ambrose 391). Of all these modern-day presidents, Carter was probably the most inexperienced with foreign policy and the most unsuccessful in dealing with the Soviets. Carter tried to negotiate positively with the Russians by removing arms and making advancements, which the Russians saw as weakness they exploited. Eventually Carter took a hard line against the Soviets, which further strained relations. When he left office, "relations with the Soviet Union were worse than they had been when he was inaugurated" (Ambrose 398). Carter's administration failed in most all aspects of dealing with Russia.

President Reagan's two terms marked a shift in Soviet foreign policy. Reagan took a much harder stance against the Soviets, and they seemed to respect this. Reagan increased defense spending and weaponry, but he discovered that military might did not always add up to influence over the Soviets. When the Soviets quelled the Solidarity movement in Poland, Reagan found he was powerless to stop them, and he did not like it. However, by the end of Reagan's two terms, the Soviet Union was on the eve of political breakdown, and Reagan's policy included urging the Soviets to give up control of the nations they had taken over at the end of World War II. Reagan's policy started out slowly, but gained momentum to be quite important by the time he left office. He developed a strong, lasting relationship with Russian leader Gorbachev, which helped bring the countries closer together, but he totally believed in containing the Soviet Union to keep them from gaining too much power (Scott 34).

George H.W. Bush took office after eight years of Reagan's foreign policy, and for the most part he continued that policy, but dealing with post-Cold War considerations when it came to Russia. However, he also built on America's continuing military superiority in order to shape world events, such as the 1991 Gulf War. Bush hoped to show the world, and especially Russia, that our superiority gave us options that other countries did not have in shaping diplomacy and world policy. However, this was new ground for any U.S. president, and the Bush administration seemed tentative in their dealings with Russia. Another writer notes, "For those issues that were beyond the cold war, such as profound change engulfing Europe and Russia, the Bush administration was usually quite tentative and cautious, allowing others to take the foreign policy initiative" (Scott 36). Thus, the Bush administration was strong on the Middle East and terrorism, but soft on Russia and the Soviets.

President Clinton's foreign policy was strong, because the U.S. held the clear advantage in weaponry and manpower after the fall of the U.S.S.R. Another author notes, "No one could remotely challenge U.S. military and economic capacity and insofar as America's 'core concepts' were driving the technological, social, and cultural dimensions of globalization American values were deemed ascendant as well" (Oliver). Thus, American became the dominant world power once again, and it would take on a more "global" aspect rather than zeroing in on one or two important areas, such as the Middle East or Russia. He attempted to blend foreign and domestic policy to create a more globalized vision of diplomacy and accord. Historian Oliver continues, "The substantive focus of American foreign policy was to be, therefore, on the North American-European-Japanese core and the international economic regimes, institutions, and arrangements designed to foster trade" (Oliver). Thus, Russia was not the dominant player in foreign policy that it had been. However, since the breakup of the Soviet Union, there was still much negotiating and diplomacy to work out, and Clinton's administration, while creating a more global outlook, still had to deal with arms control and proliferation, and creating a workable liaison with the Russians. This was difficult with the Russian president Boris Yeltsin, known more for his drinking bouts than his foreign policy skills.