As Senator Arthur Vandenberg Famously Stated In 1947, “We

As Senator Arthur Vandenberg famously stated in 1947, â€Å"we must stop partisan politics at the water’s edge.† Vandenberg’s declaration suggests that domestic policy differences should not affect how the United States conducts itself abroad. This notion is especially relevant in understanding the discrepancies – or lack thereof – between foreign and domestic policy in the modern United States. Since its founding, the United States has prided itself on its exceptionalism, with many of its leaders endorsing a â€Å"foreign policy driven more by domestic values than by the vagaries of international politics.† In recent decades, however, this principle has been tested. Since the end of World War II, the United States has emerged as an international†¦show more content†¦Amid World War I, the United States began to develop into a global power, but retreated into isolationism once the war ended. The United States’ international pre sence truly began to take shape after World War II. Although â€Å"there was a rapid demobilization [and] another yearning to ‘bring the boys home,’† the United States would never follow an isolationist foreign policy again. Throughout the twentieth century, the United States developed an increasingly extensive foreign policy, but it was not until the 1990s that humanitarian efforts began. These endeavors advanced the United States’ international presence – blurring the line between foreign and domestic policy. Following the conclusion of the Cold War in 1991, the United States shifted its focus to developing nations in Africa and the Middle East. Combating communism and the Soviet Union had been the United States’ utmost concern for decades, and the latter’s collapse left American foreign policy in an uncertain state. In 1992, President George H.W. Bush launched a humanitarian mission in Somalia that sought to help â€Å"restore orde r and get food to the Somali people.† This undertaking, which continued with President Bill Clinton, failed, with the United States’ exiting less than a year later following the deaths of eighteen American soldiers. Although this mission was unsuccessful, it marked a shift in