America at 250: The Best and Worst U.S. Foreign Policy Decisions, With Mary Dudziak and Christopher Nichols

The President’s Inbox

Council on Foreign Relations

Politics, News:politics, News

4.4 • 734 Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2026

⏱️ 40 minutes

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Summary

Mary Dudziak, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law at Emory University, and Christopher Nichols, Wayne Woodrow Hayes Chair in National Security Studies and Professor of History at the Ohio State University, sit down with James M. Lindsay to unpack a new CFR survey of historians on the best and worst foreign policy decisions in U.S. history. To mark the 250th anniversary of the U.S. declaration of independence, CFR is dedicating a year-long series of articles, videos, podcasts, events, and special projects that will reflect on two and a half centuries of U.S. foreign policy. Featuring bipartisan voices and expert contributors, the series explores the evolution of America’s role in the world and the strategic challenges that lie ahead. Mentioned on the Episode: Christopher McKnight Nichols, Promise and Peril: America at the Dawn of a Global Age Joshua Kurlantzick, A Great Place to Have a War CFR.org, The Ten Best and Ten Worst U.S. Foreign Policy Decisions For an episode transcript and show notes, visit The President’s Inbox at: https://www.cfr.org/podcasts/presidents-inbox/america-250-best-worst-us-foreign-policy-decisions Opinions expressed on The President’s Inbox are solely those of the host or our guests, not of CFR, which takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.

Transcript

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0:00.0	How did the United States become the wealthiest, most powerful country in the world?
0:06.6	History tells us that where we are today is in part the result of decisions U.S. leaders have made about America's engagement with the world.
0:14.1	Some of those decisions have bolstered U.S. interests and values.
0:17.9	Others have not.
0:18.7	American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military
0:22.2	operations to defend the world from grave danger. As the United States celebrates its 250th birthday,
0:28.6	it is important to look back on the consequential U.S. foreign policy decisions over the past
0:33.7	two and a half centuries to understand the successes and to learn from the errors.
0:38.3	In a new era of great power competition, the highs and lows of U.S. history might offer lessons
0:43.7	on how to meet our current challenges while avoiding the mistakes of the past.
0:49.1	From the Council on Foreign Relations, welcome to the president's inbox. I'm Jim Lindsay.
0:55.0	Today I'm joined by Mary Dudziak, professor at Emory University School of Law, and
1:00.0	Christopher Nichols, Professor of History at the Ohio State University.
1:05.0	Mary, Chris, thank you for joining me.
1:07.0	It's great to be here.
1:08.0	Great to be here.
1:09.0	Now, Mary and Chris, I want to set the stage
1:11.1	for our listeners, and the backdrop to our conversation today is that the Council conducted
1:16.9	a survey of members of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, asking them
1:23.6	to identify and rank the 10 best and 10 worst decisions in U.S. foreign policy history,
1:30.6	running from the Declaration of Independence up to the end of the first Trump administration.
1:38.3	Roughly 350 Schaefer members responded. Now, I'm going to stop there. I'm going to ask you a
	...

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