Full Rankings (1-25)

U.S. Foreign Policy Decisions

Scroll to begin

All Foreign Decisions

We surveyed over 330 historians, who considered the following list of U.S. foreign policy decisions to include in their rankings of the twenty-five best and twenty-five decisions made in the history of the United States.

The 25 Best Decisions

  1. Marshall Plan (1948)
  2. Creation of the United Nations (1945)
  3. Treaty of Alliance with France (1778)
  4. Louisiana Purchase (1803)
  5. Lend-Lease Act (1941)
  6. Creation of NATO (1949)
  7. Creation of the Bretton Woods System (1944)
  8. Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves (1807)
  9. Monroe Doctrine (1823)
  10. Handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
  11. Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (1968)
  12. Immigration Act of 1965
  13. Berlin Airlift (1948–1949)
  14. Opening to China (1971–72)
  15. Good Neighbor Policy Toward Latin America (1933)
  16. Entry into World War I (1917)
  17. Management of the Collapse of the Soviet Union (1990–1991)
  18. Support for the Reunification of Germany (1990–1991)
  19. Proclamation of Neutrality (1793)
  20. SALT I Agreement and the ABM Treaty (1972)
  21. Helsinki Final Act (1975)
  22. Limited Test Ban Treaty (1963)
  23. Override of Reagan’s Veto of the Anti-Apartheid Sanctions Bill (1986)
  24. Camp David Accords (1978)
  25. American Relief Mission to Post–WWI Europe (1919)

The 25 Worst Decisions

  1. Invasion of Iraq (2003)
  2. Deployment of Combat Forces to Vietnam (1965)
  3. Indian Removal Act (1830)
  4. Support for the Overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh (1953)
  5. Senate Rejection of the Treaty of Versailles (1919)
  6. Forcible Removal of Cherokee Nation (1838)
  7. Withdrawal from Paris Climate Agreement (2017)
  8. Limits on Jewish Refugees from Germany (1939–1944)
  9. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964)
  10. Bombing of Nagasaki (1945)
  11. Secret Bombing and Invasion of Cambodia (1970)
  12. Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
  13. Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961)
  14. Support for the Overthrow of Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz (1954)
  15. Annexation of the Philippines (1899)
  16. Bombing of Hiroshima (1945)
  17. Enhanced Interrogation of Terrorism Detainees (2002)
  18. Invasion of Afghanistan (2001)
  19. Immigration Act of 1924
  20. Support for the Overthrow of Salvador Allende (1973)
  21. Smoot–Hawley Tariff (1930)
  22. Nonrecognition of Haiti (1804)
  23. Crossing the 38th Parallel in the Korean War (1950)
  24. Overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem (1963)
  25. Iran–Contra Affair (1986–1987)