Terry Sanford's Realist Strategy

The realist strategy that arose in the bipolar communist and anticommunist world encouraged the U.S. government to make numerous foreign policy decisions that directly contradicted core values. For example, the first major meeting of Asian and African nations with the Bandung Conference in 1955 exposed the United States’ disingenuous support of democratic self-determination because of America’s continuing support of Western European colonial holdings. According to historian Robert J. McMahon, an expert on foreign relations, the “sphere of influence, or ‘empire’, that the United States forged in postwar Europe [stood] as a product of its fears more than its ambitions.” Even still, the violent pragmatism of America’s realist strategy often
He produced descriptive reports after his trips to Central America with the specific intention of finding a way to implement the Commission’s findings. After one trip during the summer recess of 1990, he documented how the president of every country – Calderon in Costa Rica, Chamorro in Nicaragua, Cristiani in El Salvador, and Cerezo in Guatemala – were eager and ready to begin implementing the CADCC’s findings with the support of the American government. In 1991, Sanford sponsored a bill titled the Central American Democracy and Development Act, which called for the American government to support the peace initiatives taking place in Central America and focus on providing economic and political support rather than military
Tobacco, textiles, and furniture, or the “Big Three,” dominated North Carolina’s economy in the latter half of the twentieth century. In 1977, the Big Three made up 22 percent of North Carolina’s economy and 64 percent of its manufacturing base. These labor-intensive manufacturing industries were highly susceptible to low-cost competition from foreign countries. Even before the passage of NAFTA in 1994, North Carolina companies faced intense competition from abroad. Many special interest groups lobbied Senator Sanford to stop free trade negotiations, including the American Textile Manufacturers Institute, a trade group based in Washington D.C. In a speech on the Senate Floor to support not extending President Bush’s fast-track capabilities, Sanford called for his fellow legislators “to take a realistic look at whether the mythical goal of free trade is worth the toll it has taken.” Sanford’s two major concerns centered around labor and environmental concerns, reminiscent of the principle on free trade in the Atlantic Charter, which supported free trade as long as it improved “labor standards, economic advancement, and social