The Foreign Policy Of The United States - 1759 Words

Between 1918 and 1953 there was a major change regarding the foreign policy of the United States. At the end of the First World War, we practiced a foreign policy that was first established by George Washington in his Farewell Address back in 1796, which set a precedent of isolationism that was adopted until the beginning of World War II. Following Washington s Neutrality Proclamation, the US did not engage in many global affairs such as the French Revolution and remained neutral through all foreign affairs. At the end of World War I, we continued to practice isolationism by not engaging in foreign affairs and limiting military spending believing that by pursuing this policy we could maintain peace and avoid war. Unfortunately, this†¦show more content†¦As stated by Document B, many governmental employees, such as Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Sr., believed that after World War I we should stay out of foreign affairs such as the League of Nations. The League of Nations was an al liance system similar to the one that was present before World War I; the prior alliance system had ultimately played a role in the commencement of the war raising concern to many citizens. This isolationist perspective was prompted by the large amount of casualties and damages done from World War I, which led many to want to disengage from Europe completely and work on rebuilding our own country. By engaging in the League of Nations, as Woodrow Wilson had proposed, we would have created a second alliance system and this was contradictory of itself as a method of maintaining peace because the first alliance system was one of the key components that led to World War I. His perspective on the foreign policy topic was popular among the citizens, expanding the influences of isolationism. With this expanding concept, the government employed numerous strategies to maintain the peace. As displayed by Document A, one method that they employed was to reduce military spending to an extreme m inimum. As shown on the graph, the amount of military spending spiked from 1918-1920, this was due to our participation in World War I. Right after World War I, in the