Changes in American Foreign Policy in the 1890s-1950s

Introduction

The US foreign policy changed and evolved throughout its history. Its vectors have always different depending on one period or another. In the period between the 1890s to 1950s foreign policy was governed by reactionary policies towards the rest of the world, heavily informed by the economic and political situation at home. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate these trends by covering three specific periods, namely the Great Depression, the World War period, and the ensuing start of the Cold War shortly after.

Foreign Policy during the Great Depression

The Great Depression hit the US in 1929, and was considered to be the classic example of overproduction. During this crisis, many goods and foodstuffs were destroyed, while people starved.¹ Extraordinary measures had to be taken in order to save the economy. President Roosevelt’s New Deal program forced companies to give huge concessions to the government and workers, while extensive public services were funded directly from the federal and state budgets.²

Foreign policy during that time was strictly isolationist and focused on the country’s own problems. It is a pattern repeated throughout the US history – internal affairs first, foreign policy – second. Therefore, when the US president and senate decided foreign policy during that time period, they were isolationist because it corresponded with their own political stability as well as the desires of the electorate.

US Foreign Policy during the Second World War

The Second World War saw a conflict between the rising and recovering US economy in combination to its clinging to political isolationism when it came to foreign relations. At this point, the US was content with simply trading and utilizing its economic might to influence the events in Europe and Asia. The US was notorious for supplying Great Britain with food and ammunition during the battle of England, offering assistance to the USSR, and boycotting fuel exports to Imperial Japan.³

At the same time, US politicians were unwilling to engage in war efforts abroad, like they did during their imperialist phase during the 1890s – WW2 promised to be a protracted and bloody conflict, and no president or politician wanted to be associated with casualties and losses of American lives.⁴ However, isolationist rhetoric was soundly proven to be short-sighted when Imperial Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in a surprise attack. This showed the American public that anything short of complete neutrality would paint the US as a target for its enemies.⁵ Now, politicians were forced to react to this attack by fully engaging in the war. This event primed the return of the US to its expansionist foreign policy.

US Foreign Policy in the 1950s

After the Second World War, the US has undertaken a policy of expansion of its spheres of influence, both politically and militarily. The preconditions for that were obvious – the US economy was the only one emerging from WW2 without much harm to its productive facilities.⁶ Europe and the USSR, on the other hand, were bombed to ruins. Europe and Asia both had a great interest in purchasing the products US had to offer, to rebuild themselves. The US military, on the other hand, was one of the strongest in the world, with the largest fleet.⁷ Thus, the country was put in a dominant position from an economic and a military perspective. At the same time, the USSR posed opposition to the US and the capitalist system at large, offering a reason to expand – to protect one’s own economic as well as ideological interests. This policy is present in modern-day US, showing its longevity even after the USSR had collapsed.

Conclusions

US policy has always revolved around its internal politics first and outside situation second. Its increasing role in foreign policy was largely perpetrated by its economic and military might, which was at its highest after the end of the Second World War. It continues to pursue an expansionist foreign policy even now, after its dominance had been challenged. It is possible for the US to return to isolationism once it suffers an internal crisis.

Bibliography

Adams, Michael. The Best War Ever: America and World War II. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.

Gaddis, John L. The Cold War: A New History. New York: Penguin, 2005.

Fraser, Steve, and Gary Gerstle, eds. The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order, 1930–1980.

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989.

Footnotes

1. Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle, eds., The Rise and Fall of the New Deal Order, 1930–1980 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989), 42.
2. Fraser and Gerstle, 45.
3. Michael Adams, The Best War Ever: America and World War II (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994), 29.
4. Adams, 33.
5. Adams, 34.
6. John L. Gaddis, The Cold War: A New History (New York: Penguin, 2005), 50.
7. Gaddis, 52.