{"id":352,"date":"2026-01-13T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cfrdevwp.wpenginepowered.com\/?page_id=352"},"modified":"2026-02-09T20:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T20:04:09","slug":"all-decisions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/all-decisions\/","title":{"rendered":"All Foreign Decisions"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n\n\n

The 25 Best Decisions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. Marshall Plan (1948)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Creation of the United Nations (1945)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Treaty of Alliance with France (1778)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Louisiana Purchase (1803)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Lend-Lease Act (1941)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Creation of NATO (1949)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Creation of the Bretton Woods System (1944)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves (1807)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Monroe Doctrine (1823)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. Handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  11. Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (1968)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  12. Immigration Act of 1965<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  13. Berlin Airlift (1948\u20131949)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  14. Opening to China (1971\u201372)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  15. Good Neighbor Policy Toward Latin America (1933)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  16. Entry into World War I (1917)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  17. Management of the Collapse of the Soviet Union (1990\u20131991)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  18. Support for the Reunification of Germany (1990\u20131991)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  19. Proclamation of Neutrality (1793)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  20. SALT I Agreement and the ABM Treaty (1972)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  21. Helsinki Final Act (1975)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  22. Limited Test Ban Treaty (1963)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  23. Override of Reagan\u2019s Veto of the Anti-Apartheid Sanctions Bill (1986)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  24. Camp David Accords (1978)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  25. American Relief Mission to Post\u2013WWI Europe (1919)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The 25 Worst Decisions<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    1. Invasion of Iraq (2003)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Deployment of Combat Forces to Vietnam (1965)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. Indian Removal Act (1830)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. Support for the Overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh (1953)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    5. Senate Rejection of the Treaty of Versailles (1919)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    6. Forcible Removal of Cherokee Nation (1838)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    7. Withdrawal from Paris Climate Agreement (2017)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    8. Limits on Jewish Refugees from Germany (1939\u20131944)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    9. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    10. Bombing of Nagasaki (1945)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    11. Secret Bombing and Invasion of Cambodia (1970)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    12. Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    13. Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    14. Support for the Overthrow of Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz (1954)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    15. Annexation of the Philippines (1899)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    16. Bombing of Hiroshima (1945)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    17. Enhanced Interrogation of Terrorism Detainees (2002)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    18. Invasion of Afghanistan (2001)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    19. Immigration Act of 1924<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    20. Support for the Overthrow of Salvador Allende (1973)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    21. Smoot\u2013Hawley Tariff (1930)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    22. Nonrecognition of Haiti (1804)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    23. Crossing the 38th Parallel in the Korean War (1950)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    24. Overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem (1963)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    25. Iran\u2013Contra Affair (1986\u20131987)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      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 The 25 Worst Decisions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-methodology.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-352","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"banner_images":[{"add_banner_image":3851},{"add_banner_image":3855},{"add_banner_image":3555}],"top_text":"U.S. Foreign Policy Decisions","banner_middle_text":"","banner_bottom_text":"Full Rankings (1-25)","left_image":"","right_content":"","button":"","author_heading":"","add_authors":null,"credits_heading":"","add_credits":null},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3856,"href":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/352\/revisions\/3856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/ten-best-ten-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}