Cold War and Beyond World

Cold War and Beyond World War Two was one of the great turning points in American history, as momentous as the Revolution and the Civil War. After the war ended, the United States transformed its foreign policy from political isolationism to political interventionism. The war bolstered the collective sense of self-confidence in America, which had managed to extricate itself from economic depression via its courageous participation in the war. America had also won itself a lengthy list of allies and enemies which would continue to inform its foreign policy throughout the rest of the 20th century. Many of the problems facing the world as a whole today can in fact be traced directly to World War Two and America's role in it. Most notably, the Middle East imbroglio is a product of the Second World War. Bull-headed American intervention into the affairs of other nations during the 20th century has significantly transformed the economic and political balance of power in the world.

Reflecting on American interventionism brings to light numerous instances that sully the nation's reputation because of their undesirable effects on parameters like human rights and wealth distribution. The most notable of these suspect instances include the war in Vietnam and the ongoing war in Iraq. Support of totalitarian dictators in Central and South America and in Asia also marred American credibility. What started out as a legitimate response to the mutual threats of fascism and communism became a brute display of egotism. As a result, the United States earns a B-, a respectable grade but one with definite room for improvement.

The first area historians should assess when grading the United States must be the Middle East. Years before Americans could consider Vietnam to be anything more than a Buddhist backwater, Roosevelt and Truman were working on ways to deal with the Middle East. The Gulf nations posed the most significant strategic problems for the United States and its Western European allies. Oil and control over oil resources were certainly major considerations when the Americans, British and French carved out the geo-political boundaries that currently comprise the Middle East. The state of Israel was created in the wake of the war, with the support of both the Americans and the British. It was as if winning the war gave the United States a sense of bravado and leadership it never had before. Moreover, petroleum products had revolutionized the world's economy by the end of the Second World War and America's car culture can be traced to the 1950s and the post-war consumption patterns. Intervention in the Middle East was necessary if the United States was to fulfill its self-conceived dreams.

Balancing U.S.-Soviet power in the world was also part of the American foreign policy initiatives in the Middle East. Using the Middle East as a buffer against the Soviets emboldened the American initiative there as much as oil did. The Middle East became a symbolic and literal neutral zone, which periodically accepted support from both the Soviets and the Americans. When the indigenous residents of the Middle Eastern nations tried to extricate themselves from the regimes supported by the Western powers, however, the United States became a bully. Installing the Shah in Iran was one of the policy strategies that helped create the fundamentalist fervor coursing through the Middle East.

World War Two also created an unprecedented global paradigm. Two components of the new world order stand out. First, the world was, at least temporarily, polarized between the forces of Democracy and the forces of Communism. As if it was living out a Superman movie, the United States championed the rights of the individual over the rights of the state, suspicious of anything that remotely resembled socialism. Second, the world became irreversibly linked through a network of social, economic, and political interdependence. Telecommunications made it easier to transfer ideas and information instantly and without the delays that hindered previous efforts at military and strategic intervention. Similarly, the barriers to international trade had largely been lifted. The seeds of the World Trade Organization had already been laid by the end of the Second World War. Finally, the United Nations and other trans-national governing bodies would become legitimized sources of power. Nations who could climb on board stood a chance and those who could not join in faced a perilous century of poverty and political disenfranchisement. America directly contributed to the imbalance of power that would ensue throughout the 20th century.

Being a bully seemed to come easy to the Americans. Armed with what had become the largest and most well-endowed military in the world, the United States forged a path toward hegemony almost effortlessly. As if it were trying to be the world's cowboy, America developed a messianic mission to destroy communism in all of its many manifestations. The idea of a communism spreading throughout Southeast Asia was unacceptable to the American government for two reasons. First, the political rhetoric of American presidents painted communism as the stated enemy of the United States: its arch-nemesis. To ignore the spread of communism in Southeast Asia would appear a sign of weakness especially in a binary universe. Second, communism did seem like an actual foe. The Soviets had developed a substantial military force and appeared poised to face-off with the Americans at any time. Americans were legitimately repulsed by the idea of the Soviets emerging the victor in the Cold War.

Communism also took root in regions beyond the borders of the Soviet Union, spurring the Americans to action. In particular, China loomed large as a significant yet mysterious Red power. The way the United States dealt with China during the height of the Red Scare underscores American economic self-interest. Nevertheless, devoting troops to the Korean peninsula seemed like a reasonable response to the threat of communism, and the American government should not be harshly criticized for its involvement there. Having the ability and manpower to offer assistance to smaller nations, America acted out of a sense of duty. After what happened during World War Two, the United States was not about to allow another nefarious tide sweep through the world. Communism also happened to be theoretically opposed to capitalist economic growth. In a post-colonial world, economic imperialism was the only way to ensure global hegemony.