This module examines the politics of the American foreign policy-making process by examining key Presidential decisions during the period 1898-1979, from the onset of the US war with Spain to the end of the Vietnam War and the normalisation of US relations with China. It analyses how decisions are made, and who and what influences foreign policy. Its emphasis is on the domestic politics of US foreign policy within the context of international relations more generally. An historical approach is adopted during the course but one informed by the main tenets of Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA).

We begin by examining the domestic influences on Presidents and their administrations in formulating and executing US foreign policy, with specific reference to William McKinley and the War of 1898 as a case study. Relevant factors include the attitude of the President, bureaucratic politics (i.e. competing views within the foreign policy-making bureaucracy - the State Department, etc), Congress, interest groups, the political parties, public opinion, the role of the media, etc.

The bulk of the module – from week 2 onwards - consists of a series of case studies drawn from some of the most significant events and decisions in the history of modern US foreign policy, before and during the Cold War. Having examined the domestic politics involved in the US war with Spain in 1898 – an event often taken as signalling America’s emergence as a world power - we focus in week 2 on the decision-making of Theodore Roosevelt in the acquisition of the Panama Canal territory in 1903, plus William Taft’s policies towards China and Japan in 1911. This is followed in week 3 by an analysis of Woodrow Wilson's decision to recommend American entry into the First World War in 1917 and the subsequent US decision to reject membership of the League of Nations in 1919-20. We then consider Franklin Roosevelt’s foreign policy in the 1930s in week 4, culminating in the Lend Lease Act of 1941. FDR’s wartime policies are explored in week 5, especially the internment of Japanese-Americans in 1942, following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The second half of the course, after Reading Week, focuses on Presidential decision-making during the Cold War and begins by discussing the domestic political considerations, such as the growth of McCarthyism, that influenced Harry Truman’s foreign policy, especially the Truman Doctrine of 1947 and US intervention in the Korean War of 1950-53.  In week 7 we look at Dwight Eisenhower’s presidency and US policy towards the Geneva accords of 1954 on Indo-China and the Suez Crisis in 1956. This is followed by a study of John F Kennedy’s foreign policy, especially his handling of the Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. In week 9 we focus on Lyndon Johnson’s foreign policy, in relation to US escalation and retreat from Vietnam, 1965-68. Finally, in week 10, we consider the foreign policies of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, especially Nixon’s decision to visit Beijing in 1972, the ending of the Vietnam War in 1975, and the normalisation of relations with China in 1979.