The 10 Best U.S. Foreign Policy Decisions, According to Historians

The nation that has never been invited to a war.

I’d also add President Eisenhower’s decision not to intervene and rescue French colonial forces at Dien Bien Phu. He knew it was bad policy to intervene militarily beyond advisors going to South Vietnam afterward. LBJ made a mistake committing to direct military intervention in dogmatic defense of “Domino Theory”.

I would include US initial policy responding to and facilitating the collapse of the Soviet Union and reunification of Germany.

Here are some other good ones:

- our alliance with Japan
- purchase of Alaska
- Polks territorial gains
- Spanish American War
- UNiCLOS/ law of the sea

- the UN items is tricky, the humanitarian aspect obviously helped the world and with building relationships. But in its current form, the UN has lost its effectiveness and does not help US interests.

Most of the problems we have today are caused by many of these, especially the United Nations and NATO. NATO served it’s purpose and is now just fomenting wars and revolutions to justify its existence.

ohhh, "best' means for the U.S. capitalist class, not like, most ordinary people. Hence Monroe Doctrine.

Interestjng

JFK and FDR and undoubtedly some of the best presidents the U.S has ever had

I want to say one more thing. What if Miami was just a nuclear wasteland in 2026? How would you think about the world, United States and Russia? How would you go about your daily life?

Everything else looks great! All i'm saying is if they just launched all those nukes from Cuba... USA would not be here today! One wrong move is all i'm saying and they handeled it perfectly!

Britten Woods makes no sense! It's the reason why we have so many illegals in this country and a ton of fight back against our old core American belifs! Britten woods is one of the most liberal conferences ever! It was a complete push back against the Conservative Right! PS Cuban Missle Crisis should be one. THEY HAD NUKES IN CUBA AND STOPPED THE ARMAGADDIN!

Im surprised that the 'Germany First' decision didn't make the list.

The Monroe doctrine? Great for the US, terrible for the Latin America. You guys really showed how much you cared about Latin American sovereignty during the Banana Wars, huh? Or what about backing Pinochet in Chile? Maybe by invading and stealing Cuba and Puerto Rico? These guys love US imperialism so much they can't even recognize it lmao

10: Handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) – avoiding nuclear war through a mix of firmness, secret bargaining, and willingness to compromise.

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9: The Monroe Doctrine (1823) – declaring the Western Hemisphere off‑limits to new European colonization, shaping two centuries of U.S. regional strategy.

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8: Entry into World War II (1941) – the decision to fight and help defeat the Axis powers, which also set up U.S. postwar leadership.



7: The NATO treaty (1949) – building a durable collective defense alliance that underpinned Western security during and after the Cold War.



6: Opening to China (1972) – Nixon and Kissinger’s normalization process with Beijing, reshaping global geopolitics and the balance against the Soviet Union.

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5: The Lend‑Lease Act (1941) – providing massive material support to Britain, the USSR, and other allies before and during WWII, crucial for their survival.

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4: The Louisiana Purchase (1803) – doubling U.S. territory, securing control of the Mississippi and New Orleans, and transforming America’s long‑term strategic position.

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3: The 1778 Treaty of Alliance with France – obtaining critical military and financial help in the Revolutionary War, without which independence might have failed.



2: Creation of the United Nations (1945) – leading the design of a global institution for collective security, diplomacy, and norm‑setting after WWII.



1: The Marshall Plan (1948) – large‑scale aid to rebuild Western Europe, which historians see as the single best decision because it stabilized democracies, contained Soviet influence, and anchored a prosperous transatlantic orde

These decisions made the world a bit peaceful but nowadays US's decision to withdraw from international institutions and forcing other countries to accept Trump's terms are very dangerous and could result in a devastating war.

World is not ready to afford a global world.

Verry impress me 🎉🎉🎉

Without looking 10 that come to mind

Louisiana Purchase
Alaska Purchase
Marshall Plan
Perry Expedition
NATO
JFK handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Panama Canal
Annexation of Texas
Annexation of Hawaii
1898 Treaty of Paris

Teddy Roosevelts stick policy deserves special mention. He really helped project American power around the globe. Also I’d say there’s waaaay too much hype around the fdr foreign policy. It is his policies that have led to the failures of today’s global order.

Surely the Louisianna Purchase should be number 1

I think the puchase of Alaska also deserves an honorable mention.

Sooo what about the purchase of Alaska?

Great video

You used the wrong image of Louis XVI (the king that was guillotined) with an image of Louis XIV. HUGE DIFFERENCE

The Admin does not understand the value of Oil, and therefore missed the number 1 way of discrimination, I mean, "foreign policy achievement" by US in Modern times.

FDR-Truman really did have the GOAT overall foreign policy

Are you sure about the lend lease and the UN creation

@grok *The "Silicon Sovereignty" era is officially in full swing, and Jensen Huang just handed America a $500 billion vote of confidence that ensures the "Brains" of the future are built right here at home!*

As of *Wednesday night, January 21, 2026**, the tech world is buzzing over Jensen Huang’s recent confirmation that NVIDIA is on track to manufacture and install **$500 billion worth of AI infrastructure* inside the United States over the next four years. This isn't just a corporate expansion; it’s a total reimagining of the global supply chain that moves the epicenter of AI from the Pacific to the American Heartland.

### 1. The $500 Billion American Blueprint (Jan 2026):

* *The "Blackwell" Breakthrough:* Jensen Huang recently joined The Sunday Briefing to celebrate a historic milestone: the production of the first *Blackwell AI chip wafer* at TSMC’s Phoenix, Arizona fab. This is the first time the world's most advanced AI silicon has been "Made in the USA."
* *The Texas "AI Factories":* Beyond the chips, NVIDIA is partnering with Foxconn in *Houston* and Wistron in *Dallas* to build massive supercomputer assembly plants. These facilities will act as the "engines" of the new industrial revolution, turning raw power into digital intelligence.
* *Resilience Over Reliance:* Huang explicitly credited the administration’s *"reindustrialization" policies and tariffs* as the "pressing agents" that made this transition possible at such incredible speed.

### 2. Why Jensen Huang is "Grateful":

Huang’s gratitude stems from three pillars of the 2026 American economic strategy:

* *The Energy Surge:* Huang has praised the President’s **"all-of-the-above" energy initiatives**. He noted that AI data centers are essentially "energy-to-intelligence" factories, and without the administration's push for deregulation in natural gas and nuclear, NVIDIA’s growth would have been "throttled."
* *Tariff Incentives:* By using tariffs as a tool to level the playing field, the administration made the "higher cost" of American manufacturing a strategic advantage. As Huang put it, "It's about resilience and national security, not just the bottom line."
* *The "Blue-Collar Millionaire":* In a move that mirrors the *DOGE* philosophy, Huang predicted that the construction of these "magnificent factories" will create a new class of wealthy Americans from skilled trades—plumbers, electricians, and technicians—needed to build the 1.0 GW sites.

### 3. The "China Trade" Balance:

* *The H200 Approval:* While focusing on domestic growth, NVIDIA also secured a unique win last month when the President approved the sale of *H200 chips to China**—with a **25% revenue-sharing "cut"* going directly to the U.S. Treasury.
* *National Security First:* This "Trump-style" deal allows NVIDIA to maintain market share while ensuring that a significant portion of the profits stays in America to fund our own technological lead.

### 4. The "Apollo Moment" for AI:

* *Department of Energy (DOE) Partnership:* NVIDIA is currently collaborating with the DOE to build **Solstice**, the nation's largest AI supercomputer, featuring **100,000 Blackwell GPUs**. This system will be the backbone of American scientific discovery for the next decade.
* *The "One Million Square Foot" Footprint:* Between Arizona and Texas, NVIDIA’s partners are commissioning over a million square feet of production space, creating an estimated **hundreds of thousands of jobs**.

*The Verdict:* Jensen Huang is proving that the world’s most valuable companies don’t just want "freedom"—they want "certainty" and "energy." By providing both, the administration has turned the "AI Arms Race" into an *"American AI Boom."*

Do you think *NVIDIA's $500B commitment* will force other "Magnificent Seven" companies like *Apple and Google* to move their hardware production out of China even faster to avoid being left behind by the "Trump-NVIDIA" synergy?

*Would you like me to look into the "Texas AI Factory" blueprints to see which specific counties are being designated as "Special Economic Zones" for NVIDIA's supercomputer assembly lines this spring?*

This list is clearly biased, so I made a better list.
1. Getting France to ally with US-resulted in the US becoming a country
2. Louisiana Purchase-2x US and allowed further expansion west.
3. Mexican American war-got the US to the west coast, which includes our 2 most productive states California and Texas. Also tons of natural resources like oil in Texas and gold in California and the Rocky Mountains.
4. Buying Alaska-cost a tiny amount of money and resulted it a state that has eminence strategic value, along with tons of natural resources like oil and gold. Also transportation hub for planes traveling internationally.
5. Monroe doctrine- resulted in US expansion in America and eventually US domination of the western hemisphere.
6. Marshal plan- made Europe reliant on US, resulted in life long allies, and resulted in the Soviet Union having less influence
7. Bretton woods system- resulted in the US dollar becoming world reserve currency, which secures the US economic dominance today.
8. NATO- resulted in US military dominance over Europe and still secures Europe against enemies like Russia
9. Building the Panama Canal- made trade way cheaper and resulted in massive economic growth for the US.
10. US-Saudi petrodollar- secured US dollar reserve currency status even further thus making the US dollar the world reserve currency.

Honorable mentions:
1. lend-lease
2. Korean War
3. Cuban missile crisis
4. Berlin airlift
5. Treaty of Ghent/ war of 1812 treaty.

UN should be number 1.

How is the creation of the UN on this list? that must be the biggest joke ive heard this year so far!

I am not american. But I hope and pray Americans remembers their history. More and more seem to ignorant align themselves as stooges for a globalist/communist cabal trying to undo it. The US, even with its many faults, have undoubtedly ushered in nearly a century of relative peace throughout the world.

Your boys will not be sent into any foreign whaw! However, I am giving British intelligence carte blanche to conduct espionage operations in the US as well as propaganda campaigns aimed at the American people. For example, British intelligence has created, I mean acquired a map showing planned Nazi territories in South America. I am also doing my best to provoke both Germany and Japan to strike us first. The communists in my government are helping convince Japan to strike us rather than our good friend Uncle Joe Stalin. Of course, I cannot reveal this because I would be impeached.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

I’m surprised that the CFR’s own War and Peace Studies Group was not included. This study group was formed in late 1939 and identified America’s war aims to preserve geographic territorial access and the post-war institutions such as the UN. Members then went on to serve in the State Dept. to implement the plans

We were isolationists in 1937 because we were not isolationists in 1917.

Peacetime “defensive” alliances always work to the detriment of the strongest power. Athens and Sparta were dragged into wars when smaller power had conflicts. Austria-Hungary dragged Germany into a minor conflict that turned out to be WW1. NATO is proving to be the same.

The US precipitated the Cuban Missile Crisis. The US deployment of Jupiter missiles in Turkey and Italy was a knee-jerk reaction to Sputnik to shore up US and NATO credibility. The missiles were not ready for deployment until 1961 by which time they were obsolete. The Kennedy administration even paused the deployment to re-evaluate the decision. They decided to deploy the Jupiters because they needed to look tough after Laos, Bay of Pigs and Vienna. The long launch prep time suggested to the Soviets that the missiles were part of a first strike capability. Kennedy’s secret tapes showed that JFK admitted the missiles were provocative and the EXCOM openly stated that the missiles in Cuba were more a political problem than a military problem. Fortunately, Adlai Stevenson proposed the missile swap that eventually resolved the crisis. He was repaid by stories leaked to the press afterwards that he was “weak”. Not only did shoring up NATO lead to the Jupiter deployment, it was fear of dividing NATO that delayed approval of the missile swap which allowed the crisis to nearly spiral out of control. NATO is a war provoking tool rather than a defensive alliance.

We are lucky that the so-called “dove” Robert F. Kennedy’s suggestion of staging a “Remember the Maine” type of provocation to justify a preemptive strike on the SAMs and Soviet missiles was ignored. We are also lucky that the drugs JFK needed to get through the crisis did not negatively affect his judgement.

The resolution was such a great success that the withdrawal of missiles from Turkey had to be kept secret from the American public. Got a mid-term election coming up and a reelection campaign in two years.

The entire affair was a dangerous, self-inflicted error.

Hopefully NATO can survive the current administration.

How do they define best? If they mean best for the world, then this list makes sense. If they mean best for America, then the rank order is a little out of whack

Up next! The top 10 best things Satan has done for humanity!!!

Good to see all warmongers and neocons from left and right on same page when it comes to imperialism 😂

The hopeful, almost jubilant music over the discussion of the Cuban missile crisis and nuclear Armageddon was jarring at first but I don't hate it.

Woah, none of them is from after 1962!

9/10 of these are deserved.

Lmao at the creation of the UN tho. Replace that with the Gulf War and the list would be better.

President Kennedy put Cuba under quarantine and NOT blockade. It is a big difference because a blockade is an act of war. If he had said "blockade" then shooting would have started.

They're having an understandable crashout right now considering Greenland. Very bad way to go about it from the administration, even if you are for the policy.