The United States has always faced a challenging world. Some of its responses have bolstered U.S. interests and values. Others have not.
U.S. foreign policy expert James M. Lindsayasked members of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR), a professional association dedicated to the study of the history of U.S. foreign relations, what they considered to be the best and worst foreign policy decisions in U.S. history.
SHAFR members were asked to select 10 foreign policy decisions from a list of 120 decisions that in their “judgment did the most to advance U.S. national interests and values.” Then they were asked to review the same 120 foreign policy decisions and select the 10 decisions that in their “judgment did the most to harm U.S. national interests and values.”
On The President’s Inbox podcast, Lindsay sat down with historians Mary Dudziak and Christopher Nichols for a wide-ranging discussion on the best and worst decisions lists.
