During the past few weeks, news in Washington has focused on the extreme budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration. Namely, the almost 30% decrease in the budget of the State Department has drawn bipartisan opposition. According to individuals on both sides of the political spectrum, underfunding the Department of State would negatively affect the United States’ national security. Though the White House claims that the budget is still in discussion, many state that the proposal is “dead on arrival” and would disastrous to enact. Though the decision to make some major cuts is a part of Trump’s campaign promise to “reprioritize how American tax dollars are spent”, …show more content…
When thinking of major events that relate to this topic, I believe that Dollar Diplomacy under Taft and Kennedy’s diplomatic efforts show a contrasting message on the importance of maintaining good foreign relations. When it comes to dollar diplomacy, many historians see Taft’s efforts as focused on economic gain through foreign relations. Though Taft maintained that his efforts were to “ “, today we cannot say that all foreign relations are purely for the benefit of our counterparts. Today like during Taft’s era, the Department of State has many departments and Foreign Service Officers dedicated to dealing with the economic affairs of the two countries. On the more altruistic side, Kenney also founded the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to provide the international community with a better image of the United States. And very much like Dollar Diplomacy, its efforts were geared towards transforming the politics of the country and ensure the Untied States best interest. Today, cutting funding to the source of the diplomatic branch of our government forces the US to rely solely on military means. And reinforces our image as a world aggressor. If not in this article, others noted that the established protocol that is tradition in the Department State if disrupted, could cause offense to nations and ruin our