Final answer:
The U.S.'s prosecution of the Cold War departed from realism by not just seeking to maximize national security and power, but also pursuing humanitarian objectives and advocating democracy, such as in the cases of Vietnam and post-Cold War conflicts. Its strategies reflect a more complex global reality, transcending the constraints of realist view.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the Cold War era, the United States adopted a strategy that diverged from traditional realism to contain or eliminate Communism, a perspective that views international relations as a struggle for power among self-interested states. Reflecting on one instance, the U.S. misinterpreted Vietnam's civil war as a global struggle between communism and democracy, which led to a prolonged, costly military involvement. The American policy is also a departure from realism in how it responded to the imploding of the Soviet Union and the emergence of new ethnic conflicts and cross-national terrorist organizations. Instead of exclusively seeking to maximize national security and power, the U.S. pursued diverse goals in different regions, including humanitarian aid and democracy promotion. In hindsight, these undertakings reflect the complexity of the United States prosecution of the Cold War that often transcended the constraints of realism.
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