Essay on United States Foreign Policy Following World War II

The United State’s direct involvement in World War II officially began as soon as the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Prior to that event, America had been providing arms and equipment to England but stopped short of any direct military confrontation with the Axis. The War in the Pacific was considered Asia’s War and the European War was considered a local conflict. US-Japanese relations had become strained in 1941, though America felt secure that her naval fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was powerful enough to discourage any aggression from Japan. On July 24, 1941, Japan occupied French Indo-China (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos). Two days after that, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets in the United States. American trade

Another major foreign policy action was the entry to World War I. On August 4, 1914 there was an outbreak in Europe. A war started between the central powers and the allied powers. The central powers consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungry, and the Ottoman Empire. They were also known as the Triple Alliance. The Allied Powers, also know as the Triple Entente consisted of Britain, France, and Russia. An immediate cause of the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914. Some long term causes that started the war were militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism. America tried to keep themselves isolated from the war in Europe. Before the war, America had an idea of neutrality. Neutrality is when American lives and property is not threatened. There was great ethnic diversity in the United States which led to a public union about war. The United States also had the idea of freedom of the seas. This meant the routes for trading were open. The United States had the desire to trade with both the central and the allied powers. The United States had a great economic interest in the war at this time. There were many different

A better way to explain United States Foreign Policy is by high and low tide being isolation. Although the United States Foreign was isolation before World War two started it changed to interevne after the attack on Pearl Harbor which pulled the United States into the war which was ended by the dropping of two atomic bombs. The United States foreign policy is changed to intervene during World War one. In 1920’s was the end of World War One at the Treaty of Versailles. This war was pointless and was a massive destruction of human life.

The U.S was extremely reluctant to be drawn into the wars that emerged in Asia in 1937 and European nations in 1939. Disillusioned with the experience of the first World War, when huge number of trench warfare casualties had led to a peace that Americans believed betrayed the objectives they had fought for, the U.S sought to deflect from all forms of entangling alliances. Between the Manchurian crisis and invasion of Germany in the 1930s, the U.S edged slowly along the road that resulted in the second World War (Allison, Grey and Valentine, 252). During the 1930s, the U.S largely preferred to remain a bystander, even going to an extend of enacting neutrality legislation in the mid-1930s, in a bid to prevent involvement in any potential war.

They came, unwarned. On the 7th of December 1941, the Japanese executed a full-fledged attack on Pearl Harbor. They mercilessly created havoc, with attacks that caused the sinking of eighteen American ships, as well as 170 aircrafts. The casualties were dreadful, with 1,177 of those lost lives had been of the crewmen. The very next day, President Roosevelt declared war on Japan, and thus the United States’ involvement of World War II. Americans of every state were absolutely enraged and bent on their will for vengeance against the Asian country. Within the shadows of galvanized America, Robert Oppenheimer had set his infamous Manhattan Project into action. This project was so disclosed that only a limited number of men truly knew of its purpose. The clandestine project held prior securities to the point in which famous scientists had to use codenames in order to visit Los Alamos, even wives were kept in the dark, and only key scientists could bring their wives along with them. (Source D) This project had been the discreet creation of the Atomic Bombs. Time and time again, this topic had never really dissipated, its controversial who, what and whys prompting generations to debate its palpable purpose. Was the aim really focused for the “good of all?” Was it for America’s self-preservation and wish to promptly put an end to all of the suffering? Many Americans to this day still believe and argue for the usefulness of the atomic bombings, that the droppings were justified.

Why did the U.S. avoid involvement in WWII until December 1941? Why was the Pearl Harbor attack such a shock to the U.S.?

Between the years of 1930 and 1941 american foreign policy changed how it worked and its goals. They changed because of the threats in the outside world and because of all the absolute need for us to get involved in the war. During this time the world war was restarting in Europe and was leaving no choice except for the United States to get involved in the war. People were dissolving treaties and fighting and the united states could not remain neutral if they hoped to avoid losing their allies. The united states foreign policy changed because of threats and because of the need in Europe.

After the Second World War, American foreign policy was, for the most part, different then post World War 1 foreign policy. As a result of the war, we decided that threats to peace and freedom elsewhere in the world did affect us, that if we ignored serious trouble in the world it would probably eventually find us. Thus, after the war we became internationalist using our power and prestige to help and protect our friends and acting to prevent wars wherever possible or to minimize them when they did break out.

McKinley’s presidency starting in 1896 restored American prosperity through the use of higher tariffs and the return to a gold standard. Foreign nations became dependent on the United States’ prosperity because economic problems, such as crop failures, were affecting their stability. This along with many other factors developed America’s strong sense of nationalism. The concept of social Darwinism was applied not only to domestic concerns, but to foreign concerns as well. Americans felt that their previous abilities to empower themselves over the Native Americans set as a precedent for their capability to influence foreign nations. America looked beyond its borders for new markets because after the closing of the frontier, a fear of

World War II was an exceptional war for the United States. The United States emerged from the war as a world superpower and protector of all other nations. There were many reasons why the United States entered World War II, however President Franklin Roosevelt was in some way directly connected to every reason. Roosevelt wanted to enter World War II as soon as it started for political and economic needs. However, the American people did not want to enter in another war, such as World War I, that costs so many lives and money. Therefore, Roosevelt schemed a plan to enter the United States into World War II that would change the minds of the American people,

On December 7, 1941, with Japanese attack on Perl Harbor, all debate over avoiding war and the policy of American isolationism was gone. It was the beginning of a great war that brought death, devastation and finally the victory and power to United States. At the time of Roosevelt’s appointment in 1933, historically crucial events were taking place in Japan, Italy and Germany which had to shape the future and the fate of United States. This paper studies and analyses the major factors which contributed to American success both at home and abroad during WWII in addition to world’s view about American participation in war and bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

When war broke out, there was no way the world could possibly know the severity it would have taken on the people of the world. Fortunately one country saw and understood that Germany and its allies would have to be stopped. America’s Involvement in World War II not only contributed in the downfall of the insane Adolph Hitler and his Third Reich, but also came at the best time and moment. If the United States entered the war any earlier the consequences would probably have been worse.

     As totalitarian sates emerged into power, the United States got involved with World War II to help control these groups and to promote democracy in the European theatre of the world. The party with the most power at the time was the Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler. This socialist party was led by a powerful dictator who broke away from the League of Nations and began to conquer vast amounts of territory at a fast rate. The United States wanted to leave foreign affairs alone in fear of another world war. The United States could not avoid the fact Hitler was taking over Europe and help was needed. The United States became fully involved in the European theatre of World War II when Hitler led his

In their book American Foreign Policy since World War 2, Steven W. Hook, and John Spanier take a historical look at American foreign policy. Since its independence, all through to the start of the 20th century, the United States had a policy of detachment. This was rooted in the believe that Europe, the only other meaningful powerful in the world in the 18th and 19th century, had intrinsic issues related to feudism that kept the continent in a constant state of war (Hook & Spanier, 2015). The U.S on its part was far away from Europe and had a unique chance to chart a different course, one free from the troubles of Europe. As a democracy free from the class systems of Europe and hence maintain peace and stability (Hook & Spanier, 2015). To maintain this peace and stability, it was in the United States interests to maintain detachment from Europe. In fact, Monroe wrote that Europe and its flawed system was evil and America should strive as much as possible to stay away from it (Hook & Spanier, 2015). However, in the 20th century, this policy of detachment was put to the test when the United States was drawn into the first and second world wars by external factors. This led the United States to get more engaged in global affairs. The idea behind engagement was to promote the ideals of democracy which, the U.S believed were the pillars of peace, as well as to protect itself from aggressors like Japan in the Second World War. After the

As we approach the next Presidential election the topic of American foreign policy is once again in the spotlight. In this paper, I will examine four major objectives of U.S. foreign policy that have persisted throughout the twentieth century and will discuss the effect of each on our nation’s recent history, with particular focus on key leaders who espoused each objective at various times. In addition, I will relate the effects of American foreign policy objectives, with special attention to their impact on the American middle class. Most importantly, this paper will discuss America’s involvement in WWI, WWII, and the Cold War to the anticipated fulfillment of these objectives—democracy,