hello richard,

thank you so much for sharing your reasoning! while i think you bring up very valid points, i have to note that this question was written by college board itself. during the test, it’s in the best of your interest to find “the best answer” even if you consider that it’s not entirely correct or accurate. you have the option, of course, of appealing a question for inaccuracies, but this will happen after you’re done with your exam, on top of the fact that it can be quite a lengthy process.

for one, he was clearly not referring to europe specifically (arguably using it as more of an example), but to foreign relations as a whole. likewise, the question is stated with regards to foreign policy regardless of hemisphere. as such, to justify ruling answer b (the support for cuban revolutionaries) incorrect based on the conflict being based in the western hemisphere is illogical.

moreover, us involvement in ww2 cannot have resulted in the speech ceasing to carry significant influence, as that implies it carried said influence prior to the us entering ww2. in order for involvement in ww2 to occur as it did, it would have had to already lose its influence by that time. if the speech still influenced policy, it most likely would’ve prevented the lend-lease act and the materiel support we provided, invalidating the reasons for the japanese to pre-emptively attack pearl harbor. in this case, the us would have thus likely never entered the war.

lastly, answer c (wilson supporting international democratic principles during ww1) is dismissed because wilson’s support was linked to domestic policies and domestic safety. even if this wasn’t irrelevant (relation to domestic policies and safety clearly wouldn’t prevent causing washington’s speech to lose influence) and thus arbitrary, it’s so vague that it can apply to almost any foreign policy situation – not least of which being answer d, which is *far* more linked to domestic policy and (especially) security, yet is considered the “correct” answer!

it is for these reasons that answer c (or even lend-lease!) is, if not more correct, arguable enough that d should not be considered the correct answer.