Politics

This chapter focuses on the politics of foreign policy. It recounts the bitter, and ultimately crippling, political brawls that Eisenhower, Bush, and Obama fought over their foreign policies. The chapter dives into Eisenhower’s battle with “America First” nationalists and his disagreements over national security with Senators Robert A. Taft and Joseph McCarthy. It discusses some of the forces undergirding Bush’s humiliating defeat after only one term in office, including the wounds inflicted by a resurgent “America First” movement and populist leaders such as Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot. The chapter documents the political turbulence of the Obama years, including his defining struggle against those who ridiculed his foreign policies as weak and defeatist. Finally, the chapter charts the role of Taft, McCarthy, Buchanan, and Perot in shaping the combustible politics of foreign policy in the 2010s and today.