ABSTRACT
Robert A. Taft labor legislation provoked so much hostility from liberals and radicals as did his endeavor to present a conservative foreign policy, in opposition to the diplomatic and military measures of the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. One may doubt whether A Foreign Policy for Americans advanced Taft's candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. Taft's chief immediate achievement in foreign policy was to restore congressional debate over the conduct of American foreign relations. Taft's most spirited defense of his conduct during and after the Second World War may be found in his "Foreign Policy Statement" of April 24, 1952. Sherman Adams's distortion of Taft's positions was a gross example of the treatment Taft's recommendations in foreign policy frequently received from journalists and academic critics, as well as political rivals. Unattractive to him though the realm of foreign policy may have been, Taft set about his new responsibility with his accustomed vigor.
