What were the Five Best American Foreign Policy Decisions?

Answered on Quora.

This is an excellent question. Its also very difficult to answer unless we constrain the subject matter to a specific time period. I will look at the Cold War (1945–1991). As a lover of history these would be my Top Picks (not necessarily in order).

1. The adoption of the Marshall Plan after World War Two by the Truman Administration. This played an important role in creating a more stable structural framework in Western Europe to counter the Soviet Menace. Included under the general rubric of said policy was the Formation of NATO (1949).
2. The decision by the Reagan administration to force the Soviet Union into an Arms Race that they couldn’t afford. The end result was economic pressure on the Soviet Union that hastened its collapse.
3. JFK’s tough stance in opposition to Khrushchev during the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962). Although this raised the political stakes to a high level it ended in a strategic victory for the US.
4. Nixon’s visit to China (1972). This greatly eased tension between the US and China and helped to further drive a wedge between the two great Communist Powers (the Soviet Union and China).
5. The Camp David Accord (1978). It has proved to be beneficial for both Israel and Egypt. Although I am not a Jimmy Carter fan this is one aspect of his foreign policy that he actually got right.