Democracy Compared to Other Forms of Government - Assignment Example

Wilson’s ‘Fourteen Points’ to prevent war included the rejection of secret treaties, independence for colonies, general disarmament, free trade, and the formation of a League of Nations to arbitrate disputes and usher in democracy and peace. Roosevelt was unequivocal in his stand that the defense of democracy required the U.S.A. to actively oppose Nazi aggression. He amended the Neutrality Act to render aid to Britain, France, and China, built up the Armed Forces, enacted a draft for military services, authored the ‘lend-lease’ bill to provide aid to the allies, and made America “the arsenal of democracy, ” supplying arms in the war against Italy and Germany.

Winston Churchill also defined the war as they fight for democracy against the tyranny of Nazism. The victory would ensure the safety of the rights of individuals. He was the architect of the Grand Alliance. He insisted on the subordination of the armed forces to the government. Both men saw war as the defense of democracy and human rights. According to Eisenhower, the keys to maintaining American power lay in his ‘New Look’ national security policy, which included high national security spending, balanced with the needs of the national economy, the reliance on nuclear deterrence against communist Russia, the deployment of the CIA for covert operations during the Cold War and the active strengthening of relationships with allies and with the non-aligned nations of the world.

Eisenhower cautioned against the threat posed by the military-industrial complex to democracy and individual liberty.