Motivations Behind Us Global Policy From 1880-1973

Motivations Behind U.S. Global Policy From 1880-1973 Throughout the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century, the United States became a stable, powerful nation globally, and has maintained a relatively high geopolitical standing. This is a product of many of the global affairs and events that America has become involved in, namely the Spanish-American War, World War II, and the Cold War. Motivations for this involvement often varied between idealism, improving and supporting the world as a whole, and self-interest, protecting the stability of the country before all else. Regardless, the foreign policy of the U.S. remains directly responsible for their standing as a powerful nation throughout the 20th century. In the U.S. in the late 19th century, most

were the two major superpowers still thriving following WWII, resulting in economic, military, technological, and ideological competition for superiority. Throughout the Cold War American involvement focused on containment, believing it to be the only effective way to stop the spread of communism, so much so that it would become the primary strategy of foreign policy for the following 30 years. One of the biggest fears of the Cold War was communist spies, following the development of an atomic bomb from the Soviet Union. This would lead to an increased stockpiling of weapons, increasing the threat of power from each country. Military combat would only culminate briefly during the Korean War, in which each indirectly fought through their support of opposite sides of the warring Korea. (Corbett 28.2) American involvement in the Cold War would continue in the following years as the fear of communism and the growing Soviet Union protruded throughout the country and the U.S. attempted to gain further geopolitical status. Involvement in the Cold War from the U.S. was mainly motivated by self-interest, with the U.S. aiming solely to prove themselves superior to the Soviet