Republican presidential candidates and foreign policy
Published on The National Interest (http://nationalinterest.org) Source URL (retrieved on Oct 18, 2011): http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/reaganite-among-neocons-the-2012-gop-race-6020 A Reaganite among Neocons: The 2012 GOP Race | More [1] | October 18, 2011 Leon Hadar [2] It is tempting to predict U.S. foreign policy under prospective presidents by deconstructing their campaign statements. But such exercises can produce misleading conclusions. Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt both campaigned on pronouncements that they wanted to keep the United States out of European wars. Both later led the country into direct military involvement. And two Republican presidential candidates who had run on staunch anticommunist platforms ended up transforming U.S. ties with communist rivals: Richard Nixon’s opening to China and policy of détente with the Soviet Union; and Ronald Reagan’s historic nuclear arms-control agreement with Moscow. More recently, presidential candidate Bill Clinton...