WASHINGTON — President Obama's decision to reestablish full diplomatic relations between Cuba and the United States for the first time since 1961 reflects the president's conviction – laid out in his first inaugural address – that engagement with foreign adversaries is better than isolation.

Mr. Obama's historic decision means that two longtime antagonists – who have what the president himself described Wednesday as a "unique history" – will establish embassies in each other's capital and exchange ambassadors. While lifting the half-century-old US embargo on the Communist island would take an act of Congress, Mr. Obama will go as far as legally permissible to ease travel and trade restrictions between the two countries and get relations to "normal."

"It's time for a new approach" with Cuba, Obama said in an Oval Office televised statement. "These 50 years have shown that isolation does not work."

The president's action is only the latest "item on Obama's bucket list," said Mike Gonzalez, senior fellow in international affairs at Washington's Heritage Foundation. A Cuban-American opposed to Obama's actions, Mr. Gonzalez warned Wednesday that more executive actions, like recent steps on immigration, could be coming from the White House.