American Foreign policy 1897-1939
What Were the Prime Motivations in the Conduct of US Foreign Policy From 1898-1941?Primarily the United States entered the world political spectrum following its comprehensive victory over Spain in the Spanish-American War (1895-1898) and it was to prove the forbearer of American foreign policy for the foreseeable future. An aggressive imperialistic dictum immediately followed the victory as America sought control of Latin America and the Caribbean. This successful annexation of her own backyard was followed by a more subdued economic imperialism using a 'Dollar diplomacy' instead of a 'big stick' ethos, extending her influence across the Pacific and towards Asia. America turned inwards upon herself with a trend of isolationism whilst she continued to build the infrastructure, which would eventually propel her to major world power classification. America continued a predominate isolationist policy, with exception towards beneficial economic ventures, until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941, where once again matters were forced upon her. A new form of imperialism can be accredited to America during the earlier years of the century. A capitalistically driven imperialism focussed primarily on Latin America, t
William Howard Taft who followed Roosevelt into the White House was entrusted with continuing the policies of Roosevelt, a role he eagerly took upon himself as he famously said in 1912,'The day is not too far distant when three stars and stripes at three equidistant points will mark our territory: one at the North Pole, another at the Panama Canal, and the third at the South Pole. Full of youthful vigour it inevitably rose to greatness through its sheer size and vast array of natural resources. Rapidly matching the established industrial nations, the outbreak of World War One gave America the opportunity for overtaking her rivals and reaching a predominate position in world trade, they failed the first attempt. Pearl Harbour settled in an hour the differences of opinion that had tied Roosevelt's hands, the nation realized it could ill afford an Allied defeat and still maintain a state of neutrality, thus America became a combatant of the war. America became weary of entanglement with the rest of the world on the one hand, yet embarked on numerous pacts, treaties and agreements with its rival trading powers in an effort to further economic expansion. Essentially he needed to gain and nurture the support of both the Senate and Congress. Coolidge was the President who took America from prosperity to recession in rapid time. Theodore Roosevelt viewed economic and strategic expansion as his priorities as president and recognised that a powerful military was necessary to back up his foreign policy plans, thus embarking on a huge armament program. Woodrow Wilson, having entered office in 1913, faced a two-way ideological battle, isolationism or internationalism and the impossible task of appeasing everybody, nationalists, progressives, socialists, pacifists, plus the powerful ethnic lobby groups. Whilst Wilson felt that he was speaking, 'for liberals and friends of humanity in every nation . The outbreak of World War Two gave America a second chance, the recession had seriously impaired her capacity for economic internationalism and the sudden emergence of desperate countries in need of armaments gave Wall Street a fortuitous opportunity, which it capitalized on immediately. The Munroe Doctrine set down the American foreign policy concerning Central and South America. Roosevelt could mingle both a 'Manifest Destiny' and moral high ground with pure capitalism in Europe's hour of desperation. Roosevelt, a distant cousin of Theodore, assumed the presidency and began his radical 'New Deal' policies, namely to offset recession massive public spending was the answer as opposed to the restriction demonstrated by European countries.
Common topics in this essay:
Thirties American,
Pearl Harbour,
Latin America,
America Europe,
Germany's Atlantic,
FD Roosevelt,
Woodrow Wilson,
Theodore Roosevelt,
Wall Street,
Acts Despite,
foreign affairs,
latin america,
foreign policy,
world war,
war america,
public opinion,
world war america,
wall street,
'manifest destiny',
outbreak world war,
own backyard,
league nations,
american foreign policy,
central south america,
towards foreign affairs,
|
Acceptance Essays
