American Supremacy
“The war had overturned the world, and many American’s believed that they were now on top of it.”
Thomas Patterson: The Origins of the Postwar International System
This is the first of three essays I am looking at to evaluate the impact of WWII on America at home and abroad. This first is very well written, capturing attention with descriptive insight as well as historical foundations. Patterson examines the impact of WWII on politics around the globe and the early attempts of US leaders to guide the rebuilding process of the changing international system.
With the world in shambles, America was forced to shift from total war to peacetime production. Americans were ready to spend some of the money they had been saving during the war years. Women, who had replaced many men in factories and the general work force, were having to shift back to traditional roles as men came home from the war. (This is an intense side note here, but the article does not address so I will have to address it later as I further discuss women and industrialization in America.) Although America celebrated the end of WWII there was fear that the era of prosperity would collapse. The war, not FDR’s New Deal, brought America out of the depression. . . could it’s end send Her back? Although the rest of the world struggled with rebuilding their cities, societies, and governments, Americans were enjoying the excitement of vacations, entertainment, and industrial boom. Wages had kept up with inflation and with nothing to spend on during the war, Americans made up for it afterwards.
Abroad the US accepted the role of superpower. Patterson states, ” more than statistics establish American supremacy. World conditions did so. The United States was powerful because almost every other nation was war weakened.” The US had the opportunity to shape the rebuilding of the postwar system. The greatest concern was who would be on which side. Although devastated by the war, the Soviet Union accounted for a huge rival for American security. Patterson feels, and accurately so, that the major powers in the world exploited the opportunities presented by postwar reconstruction. Smaller nations alligned themselves with one power or another in an attempt to secure aid, independence, and security. Some nations embraced neutrality. In the eyes of the US such nations were either with America or against, believing the neutral nations were an alliance against America. Decolonization was an issue facing all major powers, none were immune. Independence was granted by the US to the Philippines, where the US continued to aid with security. A significant involvement is that of Vietnam. Both the US and Soviet Union competed for allegiance of new governments, Washington backing the French and Soviets allying with the Vietminh insurgents, as Patterson refers to them. Both sides saw the benefits of their alliance in the potential for strategic bases and new markets.
International politics were strained, with the bomb resting in the back of everyone’s mind. It’s power of immense destruction served as a deterrent as well as a means. It presented an arms race on an unseen scale. New problems arose in the post war world, new instabilities. Conflict of interests carried and hardened into a four-decade Cold War.
August 28 2005 12:54 am | History and Ramblings
