After, before, and during the Vietnam War, America has tried to push democracy, or at least democratic ideas, onto other countries. In Africa, Zaire was a country that was heavily influenced by the morals of the U.S. - a stable government and a greedy, capitalistic economy, barely held in place, thanks to its exports. According to historians, America did follow through with their proposal of foreign policy - a stand-off form of economic and democratic assistance - although it was up to the country whether or not to use this prod in the "right" direction effectively.

The U.S., during the time of the Cold War, felt that anyone against communism was a friend, and therefore promoted Zaire and its leaders, at least temporarily. During most of the 20th Century, Zaire (then called The Republic of the Congo) was ruled by Joseph Desire Mobutu (Mobutu Sese Seko), a corrupt leader who seized the power for nearly 30 years, until he was later overthrown. The U.S. influence here was visible, in that the country gained independence from Belgium in the mid-1960's. After Zaire received this independence from Belgium, it experienced five years of political mayhem. In 1965, army chief of staff

The U.S. did not stick to its promise, posed by Truman which was to "assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own ways, [and] help should be primarily through economic and financial aid, [and America must promote] representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion and freedom of political oppression." Clearly this was seen in Zaire, because of its crooked leaders and their tendency to bully their favorite government into action, but the sad part of all this is not just that we as a nation screwed up here, but in practically every other land foreign to us which we try to help, as well - Angola, Somalia, Ethipoia, Nigeria, Mozambique, Chile, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Dominican Republic, Iraq, Indonesia, India, Iran, Guatemala, and El Salvador - with the occasiona l, and minor exceptions. Making a statement of such obligation and responsibility, was simply too much for the U.S. to handle, or any country for that matter, and for this reason, it is not moral to scold the U.S. for its mistakes. But, since we did make this proposal, it was our duty to stand behind our word, and abide by it, and unfortunately, this plainly did not happen.

Some common words found in the essay are:
WWII Nazi's, Sese Seko, Mobutu Kabila, Africa Zaire, Minister Lumumba, East Korean, El Salvador, Zaire America, Revolution MPR, Cold War, independence belgium, cold war, foreign policy, war communism,
Approximate Word count = 822
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)