Representative Gephardt defended his support of the war in Iraq, saying it was "the Bush administration itself that bungled the debate at the United Nations … and now has no apparent plan to bring safety and democracy to the Iraqi people." He outlined his view of a foreign policy that would allow the United States to "join forces with nations to build a better global community for all and in so doing isolate the terrorists and the autocrats, not our own beloved nation."
Video

The League of Nations was championed by President Woodrow Wilson in a fourteen-point speech to a joint session of Congress on January 8, 1918, and formally began its operations in January 1920. However, the League failed to win Senate approval and is forever remembered as a major example of a communications breakdown between the president and the Senate.

Read full answer

Michael A. Levi, CFR's David M. Rubenstein senior fellow for energy and the environment, and director of the program on energy security and climate change, leads a conversation on President Obama's climate change policies.

Listen to CFR Senior Fellow Shannon K. O'Neil and former foreign minister of Mexico Jorge G. Castañeda discuss President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto and the future of U.S.-Mexico relations.

In an op-ed that appeared this week in USA Today, O'Neil argued that the main obstacle to better relations between the two countries is Americans' perceptions of Mexico and its people:

"In Americans' psyches, drugs dominate. When advertising firm GSD&M and Vianovo strategic consultants asked Americans to come up with three words that describe Mexico, nearly every other person answered 'drugs,' followed by 'poor' and 'unsafe.' Other questions reveal Americans see Mexico as corrupt, unstable and violent, more problem than partner. Americans had more favorable views of Greece, El Salvador and Russia."

Read O'Neil's USA Today op-ed "Mexico Isn't a Gangland Gunbattle."

In the November/December issue of Foreign Affairs, Castañeda and historian Héctor Aguilar Camín claim that there is a political mandate in Mexico that calls for less corruption, greater rule of law, and improved economic justice:

"Mexicans' clamor for prosperity is no longer negotiable, and today, the country is less than a generation away from becoming the full-fledged middle-class society it aspires to be. But only if it gets to work now."

Read Camín and Castañeda's essay "Mexico's Age of Agreement."

CFR's James M. Lindsay leads a conversation on what the U.S. president needs to know about foreign policy, how past presidents have navigated their portfolios, and the challenges facing the Obama administration in its second term.

Former president Jimmy Carter discusses the foreign policy accomplishments of his administration, as well as his work with the Carter Center.

The Home Box Office History Makers Series focuses particular attention on the contributions made by a prominent individual at a critical juncture in international relations.

Undersecretary of Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment Robert D. Hormats addresses the CFR's Council of Councils inaugural conference.

The Council of Councils is an international initiative designed to connect leading foreign policy institutes from around the worked in a common conversation on issues of global governance and multilateral cooperation. The initiative is funded by a generous grant from the Robina Foundation.

Tim Pawlenty, candidate for the 2012 republican presidential nomination, asserts the need for strong U.S. leadership in the Middle East during this time of transition.

Experts analyze President John F. Kennedy's foreign policies including those pertaining to the Soviet Union, and review the lasting implications of his first year in office.

Newsweek editor-at-large, Evan W. Thomas III discusses U.S. military history and the various reasons that former presidents have gone to war.

This meeting is part of a series hosted with the National History Center featuring prominent historians who will examine the events and times that shaped foreign policy as we know it today.

Listen to Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, discuss his recent Foreign Affairs article, "Empty Promises? Obama's Hesitant Embrace of Human Rights," with students as part of CFR's Academic Conference Call series.

Learn more about CFR's Academic Initiative.

Listen to experts for a discussion of foreign policy during President Obama's first 100 days.

Listen to Peter Beinart, senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at CFR, discuss the first one hundred days of the Obama administration.