U.S. Foreign Policies during 1920s and 1930s

The United States was at a crucial point in its international relations after WWI. Some scholars say that the U.S. pulled out of world affairs, that it didn't actively participate in post-war reconstruction of Europe, and that it failed to behave as a powerful nation should. They most often cite the Senate's failure to ratify the treaty establishing the League of Nations as evidence of this unwillingness to participate in world affairs (Constitutional Rights Foundation 1).

Other scholars, however, say that in the post-war period "the U.S. emerged as world's most respectable country," (Howard 1). They note that the U.S. became more involved economically, that it joined in enforcing penalties against Axis powers and that it contributed immeasurable amounts of influence on world cultures.

One answer to this difference might be that the U.S. did participate in world affairs, but that it did so unilaterally, without international organizations like the League of Nations (Lake xi). The U.S. was involved in world affairs, but in doing this it didn't necessarily interact in depth with other nations, giving the impression that it was not active in the international community.

But the truth is that the U.S. was definitely not isolationist during the 1920s and 30s. Woodrow Wilson actively pursued the establishment of the League of Nations, involving other nations with a spirit of cooperation; Wilson realized that the U.S. could not be isolationist any longer without "bringing down upon the world the most frightful consequences" (Hampton 11). The U.S. also contributed economically to many projects -- rebuilding in Europe, and investment worldwide. These actions show that the U.S. was definitely involved in the international community during the post-WWI period and not isolationist.

Sources

Hampton, Mary. The Wilsonian Impulse: U.S. Foreign Policy, the Alliance, and German Unification. Westport:Praeger, 1996.

Lake, David. Entangling Relations: American Foreign Policy in its Century. New Jersey:Princeton University Press, 1999.

No author, "The Evolution of U.S. Foreign Policy," Howard University AFROTC notes, Powerpoint, available online at http://www.howard.edu/howardlife/AFROTC/files/sld407_policy.ppt

No author, "War in Iraq," Constitutional Rights Foundation, 18 paragraphs, available online at http://www.crf-usa.org/Iraqwar_html/Iraqwar_foreignpolicy1.html

Patterson, Thomas. American Foreign Relations. Houghton Mifflin, 2004