Unit Essay: Isolation and Intervention

Post date: Feb 22, 2012 4:46:8 PM

Foreign PolicyEssay 1914-1945, Isolation and Intervention

In the period from 1914-1945 America reluctantly participated in two world wars, and by the end of WWII America had been dragged kicking and screaming to the forefront of global power. Sitting safely on our side of the Atlantic Ocean, Americans were never easy with being a global power or the defender of democracy, and after WWI congress rejected the Versailles Treaty and passed one isolationist law after another through the 1930's. As it became more evident that Europe would certainly descend into another war, American neutrality gradually gave way to a spirit of intervention: the nation first became the arsenal of democracy, and finally finally became the supreme power guiding the allied coalition against the Axis powers. Looking at 6 pieces of contrasting legislation listed below, write an essay of 600 or more words explaining America's vacillation between isolationism and interventionism from 1914-1945.