Unit 2 Additional Materials

The period of 1914-1945 marked America's transition from rising industrial power to world superpower. At the outbreak of WWI, America enriched itself from the European war, but as the slaughter became immense, the US began lending money exclusively to the Allied Powers, on whose behalf it entered the war in 1917. The American public, perhaps disgusted with the senselessness of WWI or perhaps because of the disastrous Versailles Treaty, retreated into isolationism during the 1920's and 1930's. After the Stock Market crashed in 1929, for three years the American public watched as both the domestic economy and the world economy fell apart, and they eventually elected Franklin Roosevelt when he promised a "New Deal". The years 1932-1937 represented a massive change in the role of government in the life of its citizens as the New Deal relief programs fundamentally changed American society and government. With the outbreak of WWII, as FDR guided America into becoming the "arsenal of democracy", the size of American government continued to increase. By 1945, America was the premier global superpower and Americans had become used to a government that now had significant control of the economy and social programs.