US involvement in world politics after World War 2 was drastically altered to address the new political landscape that arose from the ashes of the European imperial system and was focused on containing communism and promoting US economic and ideological dominance across the globe. The United States moved out of its self-imposed isolation to fill the power vacuum left by Western Europe and embarked on extensive foreign intervention, using the military, big-business, intelligence agencies and aid programs to transform the global balance of power into a system of bipolarity between two world powers, the Soviet Union and the United States. The conflict for a dominant ideology that began with the Second World War continued into the Cold War until the fall of the iron curtain in 1989.
             The United Kingdom's ability to maintain itself as a world power was greatly diminished after the ravages of the war. The US was quick to replace the UK as the pre-eminent leader of democratic and capitalist ideals. The Truman and Eisenhower Doctrines of containment of international communism spelled an end to the United States' pre-war interests, instead focusing on projecting American might and influence across an increasingly larger sphere, while simultaneously subverting communist and socialist governments and combating the Soviet Union through proxies.
             Even more important than the fight for political hegemony was the construction of the international economic system set up by the Bretton Woods conference of July 1944. Representatives from 44 Allied nations met to set up a system of procedures, institutions, and rules to regulate the international political economy based on market capitalism. The US had become the strongest economy in the world, experiencing both rapid industrial growth and accumulation of wealth. The war years had promoted a thriving industry with American businesses selling the Allies weaponry and offering mone...