Discuss the evolution of United States foreign policy from 1919 to 1962
Discuss the evolution of United States foreign policy from 1919 to 1962.
From WWI to the Cold War, the period from 1919 to 1962 is one that is packed with conflict. However, the US’s response to conflict wasn’t always the same. There was a progressive evolution from Isolationism to Interventionism in American foreign policy in the twentieth century in the name of international peace. Shortly after the capitulation of Germany at the end of WWI, Wilson, then president of the United States proposed the fourteen points, a document that would heavily influence the Treaty of Versailles and the creation of the League of Nations, the first international system to have been put into place. However, Wilson did not have the consent of the then Republican dominated senate, which refused to join the League of Nations, therefore rendering it useless. This is first and foremost the prime example of American Isolationism during the 20th century. Following WWI, the US refused to take place in international affairs and desired to remain a neutral state, isolated from European and Asian affairs and conflicts. Furthermore, FDR’s good neighbor policy offers a strong isolationist stance with Latin America, in attempts to clear its past of interventionism and open new trading routes and alliances.
It is questionable, though, whether this stance was true isolationism. While the US may have wanted to stay out of direct political affiliations, and created policies such as the “good neighbor policy”, it still had strong economic interests as well as diplomatic influence over Europe, with the intention of keeping international peace. The Washington Naval Conference of 1922, held in Washington D.C, was hosted in the goals of achieving major naval disarmament. The world’s nine major powers: United States, Britain, China, France, Japan, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, and Portugal with the exception of the USSR met from November of 1921 to February of 1922 to discuss the major foreign
From WWI to the Cold War, the period from 1919 to 1962 is one that is packed with conflict. However, the US’s response to conflict wasn’t always the same. There was a progressive evolution from Isolationism to Interventionism in American foreign policy in the twentieth century in the name of international peace. Shortly after the capitulation of Germany at the end of WWI, Wilson, then president of the United States proposed the fourteen points, a document that would heavily influence the Treaty of Versailles and the creation of the League of Nations, the first international system to have been put into place. However, Wilson did not have the consent of the then Republican dominated senate, which refused to join the League of Nations, therefore rendering it useless. This is first and foremost the prime example of American Isolationism during the 20th century. Following WWI, the US refused to take place in international affairs and desired to remain a neutral state, isolated from European and Asian affairs and conflicts. Furthermore, FDR’s good neighbor policy offers a strong isolationist stance with Latin America, in attempts to clear its past of interventionism and open new trading routes and alliances.
It is questionable, though, whether this stance was true isolationism. While the US may have wanted to stay out of direct political affiliations, and created policies such as the “good neighbor policy”, it still had strong economic interests as well as diplomatic influence over Europe, with the intention of keeping international peace. The Washington Naval Conference of 1922, held in Washington D.C, was hosted in the goals of achieving major naval disarmament. The world’s nine major powers: United States, Britain, China, France, Japan, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, and Portugal with the exception of the USSR met from November of 1921 to February of 1922 to discuss the major foreign