U.S. foreign policy/Timelines

The diplomatic history of the United States oscillated among three positions: isolation from diplomatic entanglements (but with economic connections to the world); alliances with European and other military partners; and unilateralism, or becoming entangled in the world but operating on its own decisions.[DeConde et al, 2001]

Timeline of United States diplomatic history

18th century

• 1776 - Declaration of Independence signed in July
• 1776 - three commissioners sent to Europe to negotiate treaties
• 1777 - European officers recruited to Continental Army, including LaFayette, De Kalb, Steuben, Kosciusco
• 1777 - December. France decides to recognize U.S. after victory at Saratoga
• 1778 - Treaty of Alliance (1778). France and US agreed to come to each others aid in event of British attack from the present time and forever; abrogated in 1800.
• 1778 - Carlise Peace Commission sent by Britain; offers Americans all the terms they sought in 1775, but not independence; rejected
• 1779 - Spain enters the war as an ally of France (but not of U.S.); John Jay appointed minister to Spain; he obtains some money but not recognition
• 1779 - John Adams sent to Paris to negotiate peace terms with Britain
• 1780 - Russia proclaims "armed neutrality" which helps Allies
• 1780-81 - Russia and Austria propose peace terms; rejected by Adams
• 1781 - Benjamin Franklin, Henry Laurens and Thomas Jefferson named to assist Adams in peace negotiations; Congress insists on independence; all else is negotiable
• 1782 - Netherlands recognizes U.S. independence and signs treaty of commerce and friendship; Dutch bankers loan $2 million for war supplies
• 1783 Treaty of Paris (1783) ends American Revolutionary War; US boundaries confirmed as Canada on North, Mississippi River on west, Florida on south.
• 1784 - British allow trade with U.S. but forbid some U.S. food exports to West Indies; British exports to U.S. reach £3.7 million, imports only £750,000; imbalance causes shortage of gold in U.S.
• 1784 - New York based merchants open the China trade, followed by Salem, Boston, Philadelphia merchants
• 1785 - Adams appointed first minister to Court of St. James (Britain); Jefferson replaces Franklin as minister to France
• 1789 - Jay-Gardoqui Treaty with Spain, gave Spain exclusive right to navigate Mississippi River for 30 years. Not ratified because of western opposition.
• 1793-1815 - Major worldwide war between Britain and France (and their allies); US neutral until 1812 and does business with both sides
• 1795 - Jay Treaty with Britain. Averts war, opens 10 years of peaceful trade with Britain, fails to settle neutrality issues; British eventually evacuate western forts; boundary lines and debts (in both directions) to be settled by arbitration. Barely approved by Senate (1795) after revision; intensely opposed, became major issue in formation of First Party System
• 1795 - Treaty of Madrid established boundaries with the Spanish colonies of Florida and Louisiana and guaranteed navigation rights on the Mississippi River.
• 1796 - Treaty of Tripoli; Peace treaty with Barbary State of Tripoli. US says the American government is non-religious in origin and practice. Violated in 1801 by the Basha of Tripoli which led to the First Barbary War.
• 1797 - XYZ affair; humiliation by French diplomats; threat of war with France.
• 1798-1800 - Quasi-War. Undeclared naval war with France; Adams ends it with the Murray delegation, disrupting Federalist Party

19th century

• 1800 - Treaty of Monfortaine with France ends the Quasi-War and ends alliance of 1778
• early 1800s - Barbary Wars: Algiers, Morocco, Tripoli, and Tunis require US to pay protection money; US Navy sent in and forces abandonment of tribute. Other states demanded tribute until 1815 when Decatur again prevailed.
• 1803 - Louisiana Purchase from France for $15,000,000.
• 1806 - Essex Case; British reverse policy and seize American ships trading with French colonies; US responds with Non-Importation Act stopping imports of some items from Britain
• 1806 - Napoleon issues Berlin Decree, a paper blockade of Britain
• 1806 - Monroe-Pinkney Treaty with Britain; rejected by Jefferson
• 1807-1809 - Embargo Act of 1807, inclusive to all shipping exports.
• 1807-12 - Impressment of 6000 sailors from American ships with US citizenship into the British Navy; Britain ignores vehement American protests
• 1812 - President Madison calls for Declaration of War against Britain; causes are impressment, violation of neutral rights, support on hostile Indians in Northwest; War Hawks led by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun support him, beginning the War of 1812.
• 1814 - December 24: Treaty of Ghent ended the War of 1812, providing status quo ante bellum; Americans celebrate victory at New Orleans over main British army (Jan 1815) and gain sense of winning "second war of independence"
• 1819 - Adams-Onís Treaty: Spain ceded Florida to US for $5,000,000; US agrees to assume claims against Spain, US gives up claims to Texas.
• 1823 - Monroe Doctrine. British propose US join in stating that European powers not be permitted further American colonization. Monroe states it on December 2 as independent American policy.
• 1833 - Argentina: US Navy attacks the Falklands Islands, at the time under Argentine control, in retaliation for the seizing of US ships fishing in Argentine waters.
• 1837 - Caroline Affair; Canadian military enters US territory to burn a ship used by Canadian rebels.
• 1838 - Aroostook War re: Maine-Canada border; no combat
• 1842 - Webster-Ashburton Treaty-settled Maine-New Brunswick border and rest of US Canadian border, settling Aroostook War and Caroline Affair.
• 1844 - Oregon Question; US and Britain at sword's point; "54-40 or fight" is American slogan; compromise reached splitting the region, with British Columbia to Britain, and Washington, Idaho and Oregon to U.S.
• 1844 - Treaty of Wang Hiya.
• 1845 - Polk Doctrine, Manifest Destiny.
• 1845 - Annexation of Republic of Texas; Mexico breaks relations in retaliation
• 1845 - Slidell Mission fails to avert war with Mexico
• 1846 - Mexican-American War begins; Oregon Settlement with Britain.
• 1848 - Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo- settled Mexican-American War, Rio Grande as border of Texas, Territory of New Mexico rest of west ceded to US, California ceded, US paid Mexico $15,000,000 and assumed $3,250,000 liability against Mexico.
• 1850 - Clayton-Bulwer Treaty. US and Britain agreed that both nations were not to colonize or control any Central American republic, neither nation would seek exclusive control of Isthmian canal, if canal built protected by both nations for neutrality and security. Any canal built open to all nations on equal terms.
• 1853 - Gadsden Purchase: Purchase of 30,000 square miles (78,700 km²) in southern Arizona for $10,000,000 for purpose of railroad connections
• 1854 - Kanagawa Treaty; Matthew Perry to Tokyo in 1853; returning 1854 with seven warships; treaty opened two Japanese ports and guaranteeing safety of shipwrecked US seamen.
• 1857 - Nicaragua; US Navy forces the surrender of filibusterer William Walker, who had tried to seize control of the country.
• 1861 - Lincoln proclaims blockade of Confederate States of America, giving it some legitimacy
• 1861-65 - Lincoln threatens war against any country that recognizes the Confederacy; no country does so
• 1864-65 - Maximilian Affair: In defiance of the Monroe Doctrine, French Emperor Napoleon III placed Archduke Maximilian on Mexican throne, US warns France against intervention, with 50,000 combat troops being sent to the Mexican border by President Johnson; Maximillian overthrown and executed
• 1867 - Alaska Purchase: US purchases Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000.
• 1868 - Treaty on Naturalization with North German Confederation marked first recognition by a European power of the right of its subjects to become naturalized U.S. citizens.
• 1868 - Burlingame Treaty established formal friendly relations with China and placed them on Most Favored Nation status, Chinese immigration encouraged. Reversed in 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.
• 1872 - Alabama Claims. During the United States Civil War, Confederate States of America raider CSS Alabama built in Britain, U.S. claimed direct and collateral damage against Britain, awarded $15,500,000 by international tribunal.
• 1891 - Baltimore Crisis, minor scuffle with Chile.
• 1893 - Hawaii; January 16 to April 1. Business community overthrows Queen and proclaims provisional government; US Marines landed to protect American lives; Hawaii and President Harrison agree to annexation but treaty withdrawn by President Cleveland who rejects annexation
• 1898 - De Lôme Letter: Spanish minister wrote disparagingly of President William McKinley
• 1898 - Spanish-American War; combat lasted less than 6 months
• 1898 - Treaty of Paris
• 1898 - Hawaii; July 7. The Newlands Resolution in Congress annexes the Hawaiian Republic, with full US citizenship for inhabitants regardless of race
• 1899-1901 - "Philippine Insurrection" under Aguinaldo, attacks Filipinos who support American government
• Open Door Policy for equal trading rights inside China; accepted by Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Russia and Japan

20th century

• 1900 - U.S. forces participate in international rescue in Peking, in Boxer Rebellion
• 1901 - Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. US agreement with Britain nullifying Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850; guarantee of open passage for any nation through proposed Panama canal.
• 1901 - Platt Amendment, to protect Cuba's independence from foreign intervention. The amendment effectively makes Cuba a U.S. protectorate and allowed for U.S. intervention in Cuban affairs in 1906, 1912, 1917, and 1920. Permits U.S. to lease Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. Abrogatedn in 1934.
• 1902 - Drago Doctrine. Foreign Minister Drago of Argentina announced policy that no European power could use force against any American nation to collect debt, supplanted in 1904 by Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine.
• 1903 - Big Stick Diplomacy. Theodore Roosevelt refers to US policy as "speaking softly and carrying a big stick", applied the same year by assisting Panama's independence movement from Colombia. U.S. forces sought to protect American interests and lives during and following the Panamanian revolution over construction of the Isthmian Canal. U.S. Marines were stationed on the Isthmus (1903-1914)
• 1903 - Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty with Panama; leased strip of land increased to 10 miles (16 km) wide.
• 1903 - Hay-Herbert Treaty resolved the Alaska Boundary Dispute between the United States and Canada in favor of U.S.; Canada angry at Britain.
• 1906 - Algeciras Conference. Roosevelt mediated the First Moroccan Crisis between France and Germany, essentially in French favor.
• 1908-9 - US negotiates arbitartion treaties with 25 countries (but not Germany
• 1911 - Reciprocity treaty with Canada fails on surge of Canadian nationalism led by Conservative party.
• 1911-1920 - Mexican Revolution; hundreds of thousands of refugees flee to US; Taft recognizes Madero regime; Madero assassinated by Huerta, not recognized by US
• 1912-41 - China. U.S. forces sent to protect American interests in China during chaotic revolution. In 1927, the United States had 5,670 troops ashore in China and 44 naval vessels in its waters.
• 1914 - Veracruz Incident a standoff between US and Huerta; Congress authorizes force in president's discretion; ABC Powers try to mediate; US seizes Vera Cruz; Huerta breaks diplomatic relations; war seems near
• 1915 - British passenger liner RMS Lusitania torpedoed off Irish coast by German submarine; 1200 dead include 128 Americans; Theodore Roosevelt demands war; Wilson issues strong protest
• 1915-34 - Haiti. U.S. forces maintained order and control customs revenue during a period of chronic political instability.
• 1916-24 - Dominican Republic; American naval forces maintained order and control customs revenue during a period of chronic and threatened insurrection.
• 1916 - Pancho Villa raid into U.S.; punitive expedition under John J. Pershing chases Villa deep into Mexico; verge of war
• 1917 - Zimmerman Telegram. Germany proposes military alliance between Germany and Mexico against US. Publication outrages American opinion; Mexico rejects proposal.
• 1917 - April. U.S. Declares war on Germany and Austria (but not Turkey); stays independent of Britain and France
• 1917 - Lansing-Ishii Agreement. US recognized Japan's claim to special interests in China, particularly in contiguous territory. Objection to Japan assuming German Asian territories.
• 1918 - Fourteen Points. Statement of US War aims by Woodrow Wilson, served as basis for Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations.
• 1919 - Versailles Treaty- Wilson one of "Big Four" negotiators; signed by Wilson but not ratified by Senate.
• 1919 - League of Nations- part of Versailles Treaty; US did not join.
• 1922 - Washington Naval Conference held in Washington, D.C. concluding in the Four-Power Treaty, Five-Power Treaty, and Nine-Power Treaty. Major naval disarmament
• 1924 - US led conference results in the Dawes Plan. Eased reparations for Germany and improvement of its economic situation.
• 1926-33 - Nicaragua; The coup d’etat of General Chamorro aroused revolutionary activities leading to the landing of American Marines intermittently until January 3, 1933.
• 1927 - Naval Disarmament Conference in Geneva; failure to reach an agreement.
• 1927 - Clark memorandum repudiates Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine.
• 1928 - Kellogg-Briand Pact, multilateral treaty outlawing War by moral force of 60 signatory nations.
• 1929 - Young Plan reduces amount of reparations due from Germany to $8.0 billion over 58 years.
• 1930 - Smoot Hawley Tariff raised US tariffs on imports; 1000 economists protest it will worsen depression; retaliation by Canada and others.
• 1931 - Stimson Doctrine U.S. will not recognize Japanese takeover of parts of China; policy endorsed by the League of Nations.
• 1932 - Lausanne Conference cancels 90% of reparations owed by Germany; remainder is never paid
• 1933 - Montevideo Conference. Franklin Delano Roosevelt declares the "Good Neighbour Policy", US opposition to armed intervention in inter-American affairs.
• 1933 - London Economic Conference, to deal with Great Depression, fails when the US withdraws.
• 1933 - Diplomatic recognition of the USSR.
• 1935 - Neutrality Act of 1935; when war breaks out prohibits all arms shipments (allowing shipment of oil, steel, chemicals); US citizens can travel on belligerent ships only at own risk
• 1936 - Neutrality Act of 1936; no loans to belligerents
• 1937 - Spanish Civil War; US neutral;
• 1937 - Neutrality Act of 1937; 1935 laws apply to civil wars
• 1937 - War between Japan and China; US strongly sympathetic to China; Roosevelt does not invoke neutrality laws
• 1941 - Atlantic Charter. FDR and Winston Churchill agree (1) no territorial gains sought by US or Britain, (2) territorial adjustments must conform to people involved, (3) people have right to choose their own govt. (4) trade barriers lowered, (5) there must be disarmament, (6) there must be freedom from want and fear (4 Freedoms of FDR), (7) there must be freedom of the seas, (8) there must be an association of nations.
• 1943 - Cairo Conference. FDR, Churchill and Chiang Kai-Shek meet to make decisions about postwar Asia: Japan returns all territory, independent Korea.
• 1943 - Casablanca Conference. FDR and Churchill meet to plan European strategy. Unconditional Surrender of Axis countries demanded, USSR aid and participation, invasion of Sicily and Italy planned.
• 1944 - United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference held in July in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire; International Monetary Fund and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) created to aid nations devastated by the war and to stabilize the international monetary system.
• 1944 - Dumbarton Oaks Conference held in August in Washington, DC. United Nations was formulated, followed up by San Francisco Conference. Security Council veto powers established.
• 1945 - Feb 4-11 Yalta Conference with Stalin and Churchill; agreement on division of Eastern Europe
• 1945 - Surrender of Germany (V-E Day) and Japan (V-J Day)
• 1945 17 July-2 Aug. Potsdam Conference; President Harry S Truman meets with Stalin British PM Clement Attlee; tells Stalin of atomic bomb; gives Japan last warning to surrender; Germany (and Austria) divided into 4 zones of occupation
• 1945 - 26 June United Nations Charter signed in San Francisco. U.S. becomes a founding member and has veto on the Security Council along with Soviets, Briatin, France and China
• 1945-1947 - Marshall Mission to China tries and fails to force coalition government of Nationalists and Communists
• 1947-1989 - Cold War, the period of tension and hostility between Soviet bloc and US/West Europe/Japan
• 1947 - General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Signed in Geneva by 23 nations including the US, membership has since increased, for the purpose of eliminating trade barriers of all kinds on industrial and agricultural goods.
• 1948 - "European Recovery Plan" (called Marshall Plan); US gives out $11 billion to rebuild and modernize Western European economies. Increased trade between Europe and the USA; no repayment asked for.
• 1948 - Berlin Blockade imposed on June 24 by the Soviet Union, blocking traffic into western sectors of Berlin, followed by Operation Vittles, US airlifted massive amounts of food, fuel and supplies into city. Soviet blockade lifted on May 12, 1949.
• 1949 - The United States along with eleven other nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty, creating NATO, a military alliance with the purpose of countering the USSR and its allies.
• 1950-53 - Korean War; U.N. orders defense of South Korea against invasion by North Korea. (USSR boycotting UN and did not veto.) U.S. forces deployed in Korea exceeded 300,000 during the last year of the conflict.
• 1951 - ANZUS Treaty unite Australia, US and New Zealand in a defensive regional pact; Britain not included
• 1953 - Iran: U.S. and Britain support Shah's coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq
• 1954-1977 - SEATO alliance in Southeast Asia. South Vietnam not a signatory
• 1954 - Baghdad Pact. Central Treaty Organization (or CENTO) initiated by U.S. Members were U.S., Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Turkey; US military aid.
• 1954 - Guatemala: Military overthrows left-wing government of Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán with U.S. approval.
• 1957 - Eisenhower Doctrine stated that the US would use armed force upon request of imminent or actual aggression, applied in Lebanon that year successfully.
• 1957 - US embarrassed when Soviets launch Sputnik space satellite and leapfrog US in high technology
• 1958 - US foreign aid appropriation, $3.2 billion for military and economic aid; lending authority of the Export-Import Bank raised to $7 billion; US admits 32,000 Hungarian refugees from 1956 revolt
• 1959 - Cuba Castro comes to power. first of 1 million Cuban exiles go to US, concentrating in Miami
• 1960 - Khrushchev cancels summit conference with Eisenhower after American U-2 spy plan shot down over USSR and pilot captured
• 1960 - Act of Bogotá makes social reform a prior condition for US economic aid
• 1960 - Cuba: US suspends sugar quota; (sugar was 80% of Cuban exports to US); Soviet Union agrees to buy Cuban sugar and provide oil; Cuba seizes $1.5 billion of American properties; US imposes complete trade embargo (except food, medicine);
• 1961 - President John F. Kennedy launches space race, promising Americans on the moon; they landed July 20, 1969
• 1961 - Cuba: US breaks diplomatic relations as Castro aligns with Soviet Union
• 1961 - Alliance for Progress. inter-regional agreement funded by US to modernize region, bring prosperity and counter the appeal of the Cuban revolution.
• 1961 - Bay of Pigs invasion in April; CIA-trained Cuban exiles invaded Cuba and were defeated at the Bay of Pigs; captured, and ransomed by President Kennedy
• 1961 - Berlin Crisis. Soviets give East Germany control over East Berlin; in August the Berlin Wall is built to stem wave of refugees escaping to the Western side. Kennedy proclaims "Ich bin ein Berliner" ("I am a Berliner") to cheering West Berliners.
• 1962 - Organization of American States (OAS) excludes Cuba, sets up trade embargo; dropped in 1975
• 1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis. John F. Kennedy on October 22 announced that there existed Soviet missiles in Cuba and demanded their removal while imposing an air sea blockade. Soviet missiles are withdrawn on condition that US won't invade Cuba.
• 1963 - Partial Test Ban Treaty. US and Soviet Union agreed not to conduct nuclear tests in space, in the atmosphere or underwater. Underground tests permitted; signed by 100 nations, excluding France and the China.
• 1964 - Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gives President Lyndon B. Johnson Congressional approval to act in Vietnam; repealed in 1970.
• 1965 - Indonesia; Military coup against Sukarno's pro-Communist government brings Suharto government to power, friendly to U.S.
• 1965 - Intervention in Dominican Republic.
• 1968 - Tet Offensive in Vietnam causes political crisis at home.
• 1972 -SALT signed by nixon
• 1973 - Paris Peace Treaty ends the American war in Vietnam; POW's returned
• 1973 - Chile, military coup against Salvador Allende given US approval
• 1975 - North Vietnam invades and conquers South Vietnam; over 1 million refugees eventually come to the US.
• 1978 - Camp David Accords (1978), Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin, and Jimmy Carter meet to determine "land for peace" exchange in Mideast
• 1979-89 - USSR invades Afghanistan; U.S. works with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in funding, training, and arming Muslim mujahideen insurgency against Soviet occupation.
• 1979 - After Afghanistan, President Carter agrees detente has failed; calls for boycott of Moscow Olympics in 1980
• 1979-90 - Nicaragua; U.S. supports the Contras fighting against the Sandinista government; Sandinistas forced to call democratic election in 1990 and are defeated
• 1979-81 - Iran becomes an Islamic Republic after the overthrow of U.S.-backed Shah; militants seize 63 American diplomats for 444 days during the Iran hostage crisis; U.S. seizes $12 billion in Iranian assets; American rescue effort fails; on Jan 20, 1981 hostages and assets are freed.
• 1980 - Cuba 125,000 Cuban refugees arrive in U.S.; another 159,000 arrive 1981-90; plus 181,000 1991-2000
• 1980-88 - Iran-Iraq War. U.S. officially neutral in war between Iraq and Iran; US flags oil tankers to protect flow of oil in Persian Gulf., and sells arms and weaponry to both sides of the conflict.
• 1981 - President Ronald Reagan escalates Cold War with heavy new military spending and research in new weapons; forward strategy for Navy;
• 1986 - Iran-Contra Affair White House officials sell weapons to Iran and give the profits to Contras; President Reagan embarrassed
• 1989 - End of Soviet Empire; fall of Berlin Wall; all East European satellites break away from Moscow
• 1990 - Panama; U.S. invades to oust Manuel Noriega
• 1991 - Gulf War; U.S. leads a UN-authorized coalition to repel an Iraqi invasion out of neighboring Kuwait.
• 1991-2003 - Iraq sanctions; U.S. and Britain maintain no-fly-zones in the north and south of Iraq with periodic bombings.
• 1991-1993 - START accords with Russia to limit nuclear weapons
• 1991 - End of Communism; end of USSR; Gorbachev ousted by Yeltsin;

21st century

• 2001 - US and NATO forces invade Afghanistan and overthrow the Taliban.
• 2003 - US-led coalition invades Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Troops remain to fight insurgency against the UN-approved elected government.
• 2006 - George W. Bush signs the United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act into a law

References

• Bailey, Thomas A. Diplomatic History of the American People (1940), standard older textbook
• Beisner, Robert L. ed, American Foreign Relations since 1600: A Guide to the Literature (2003), 2 vol. 16,300 annotated entries evaluate every major book and scholarly article.
• Bemis, Samuel Flagg. A Diplomatic History of the United States (1952) old standard textbook
• Bemis, Samuel Flagg, and Grace Gardner Griffin. Guide to the Diplomatic History of the United States 1775-1921 (1935) bibliographies
• Brune, Lester H. Chronological History of U.S. Foreign Relations (2003), 1400 pages
• Burns, Richard Dean, ed. Guide to American Foreign Relations since 1700 (1983) highly detailed annotated bibliography
• DeConde, Alexander, Richard Dean Burns, Fredrik Logevall, and Louise B. Ketz, eds. Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy 3 vol (2001), 2200 pages; 120 long articles by specialists.
• DeConde, Alexander. A History of American Foreign Policy (1963) online edition
• Findling, John E. ed. Dictionary of American Diplomatic History 2nd ed. 1989. 700pp; 1200 short articles.
• Hogan, Michael J. ed. Paths to Power: The Historiography of American Foreign Relations to 1941 (2000) essays on main topics
• Hogan, Michael J. and Thomas G. Paterson, eds. Explaining the History of American Foreign Relations (1991) essays on historiography
• Lafeber, Walter. The American Age: United States Foreign Policy at Home and Abroad, 1750 to Present (2nd ed 1994) textbook; 884pp online edition
• Paterson, Thomas G. et al. American Foreign Relations (4th ed. 1995), recent textbook