Following World War 2, the United States began a traditional period in foreign policy. A new strategy had emerged to contain the spread of communism throughout the world. The goal from containment was to not allow for communism, but rather let it implode on itself. This battle against communism was fought throughout the world, especially in Southeast Asia. In the novel The Ugly American, we see how these efforts of containment and foreign policy played out in a historical fiction manner. The authors show how American and foreign diplomats handled the countries in the region that they were assigned to. These revelations did not sugar coat what was happening in Southeast Asia, revealing holes in the fabric of American foreign policy in…show more content… From these ideas, the determination is that the United States really dropped the ball in their efforts. Many diplomats looked at the positions given to them as a sort of a vacation, taking full advantage of the lavish housing and the native servants who came with them. There is just the feeling from the book that some leaders almost didn’t seem to care what happened to the country they were working in. Did you think Louis Sears gave a crap what happened to Sarkhan? No, he was too concerned with getting his judgeship. Neglect like this caused the United States to loss the support of the native people and eventually the battle (Vietnam) that would last roughly 19 years and cost the government $332,000 per communist killed. Solutions for Southeast Asia were being found by men like Atkins, MacArthur and Wolchek, who made great strides in how to improve the daily lives of natives and how to give the communists a taste of their own medicine. But this vocal minority was shunned by the big wigs in this region and protocol never changed. Eventually, containment of communism in Vietnam would collapse and the United States would go home with their tail between their legs. In the end, communism would prevail in parts of Southeast Asia. This is not due to the communists doing anything right or wrong. The Americans had a tremendous opportunity to verse the fortunes of the Vietnamese people before the country turned into all out anarchy. Alienation, arrogance and think headedness led the United States down the road of no return in Vietnam and these other