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America, An Ever Changing World Superpower

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America, an Ever-Changing World Superpower
America has been viewed in a wide variety of ways on the global stage. From the Progressive Era to containment, the view of the United States as a world power has changed dramatically. The country went through a large process of adopting an isolationist policy during the Progressive Era. This isolationist view was also present pre and post-World War I. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, America took a bold stance and using its industrial power pushed itself to the top of the world superpowers with its peak being the first country to develop a nuclear bomb. The United States went from being a country focused primarily on the home front to a country that would take the spotlight at the top of the …show more content…

Immediately after the end of World War I Woodrow Wilson took an aggressive stance on foreign policy and thus he met with the leaders of the allied powers and wrote the Treaty of Versailles. Wilson discovered that there were “conflicting claims” which ultimately led to the United States refusing to ratify the treaty. This failure in Wilson’s foreign policy allowed for the country to focus on the home front where problems like the Red Scare were quickly becoming a problem.
Following the Paris Peace Conference, in 1919 a nationwide fear of socialism took hold; it was called the Red Scare. The Red Scare was a labor uprising that many people attributed to Russian and communist influence. After the Red Scare, the American government became fearful of outside influence. This fear of outside influence eventually led to the United States passing the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924. The Johnson-Reed Act established a quota that three percent of a single nationality was able to immigrate into the United States. Once again the United States became very insular and tried to limit contact with foreign nations. While the Allied Powers were trying to resolve the issues surrounding the post war era the Axis powers were growing stronger. Many Americans began to question the real reason that the US went to war. To further investigate this suspicion, US senator Gerald Nye formed the Nye Committee. The Nye Committee

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