Documents from Reading the American Past

Chapter 31

Introduction to the Documents

After World War II, the Cold War set the basic parameters of American foreign policy. When the United States withdrew from Vietnam and communist forces swept across much of Southeast Asia, many Americans called for greater military spending and a renewed commitment to turn back communism elsewhere in the world. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the appeal of communism in most of the world collapsed with it. The dominance of the United States was now undisputed, but the foreign policy implications of American supremacy remained unclear. This supremacy was challenged on September 11, 2001, when President George W. Bush confronted the terrible realities of terrorism. The religious and political impulses motivating Islamic terrorists became the focus of worldwide attention and led the United States to announce a new national security strategy. Meanwhile, the Religious Right, which had gained strength since the Reagan years, played a crucial role in the rise of conservative thought at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The financial meltdown of 2007–2008 dramatized the consequences of conservative economic principles. The election of President Barack Obama in 2008 partially reversed conservative trends and renewed hope for peaceful relations between the United States and the Muslim world.