Impact of WWI on the USA

Economic Benefits
1. Tariffs
  1. good for the economy in the short term
  2. However American economy damaged because other countries retaliated and stopped American exports
2. Borrowing
  1. European countries borrowed huge amounts from America to fund the war
3. Demand from Europe
  1. Higher demand stimulated technological advancement
  2. Europe was desperate for supplies and so was quite reliant on the USA
    1. Economies were devastated
    2. Trade routes and production of goods had been interrupted by the war
    3. Britain's wartime and post-war borrowings added up to $4277 million
    4. France owed $3405 million
  3. Higher demand led to development of new materials such as plastic
4. Many industries applied principles of mass production during the war
  1. Goods able to be produced more efficiently both during the war and afterwards
    1. USA in good positions to produce goods for the mass market after the war's end
5. USA used the large amount of money from Europe to fund growth in US industry and agriculture
  1. High productivity
  2. Full employment
  3. In a good position at the end of the war
    1. producing goods and food at full capacity
    2. Hadn't been affected really by war because of late entry
      1. 1917
6. Exports
  1. Able to take over industry of other countries whilst they were caught up in war
  2. USA exported cotton from Japan
7. Food shortages in Europe
  1. USA exported food
  2. Farms expanded and modernised often taking out loans to achieve this
  3. Early 1920s - USA was producing 30% of world's wheat, 75% of its corn, 55% of its cotton, 70% of petrol
  4. Saw itself as the world's supplier of necessities
Attitude to the Versailles settlement and League of Nations
1. Woodrow had wanted to set up the League of Nations
  1. People didn't approve of his policies
  2. They wanted America to be isolationist
  3. They voted categorically for the Republicans who took control of the senate and the House of Representatives
  4. People didn't want America's foreign policy to be controlled by anyone other than Americans
  5. They didn't want to have to fight somebody else's war again
  6. September 1919 - He went on a tour of USA to try gain support for League of Nations
    1. However he was run-down and collapsed on 25th September
      1. Never recovered his health
      2. March 1920 - Senate rejected Versailles Treaty
        Returned to isolationist policies
2. Versailles Peace Conference
  1. 1919
  2. Wilson was away from America trying to prevent Germany's punishment from being overly harsh and detrimental to peace
    1. While he was away, the support for isolationism grew
    2. Many leading American politicians were now strongly against joining the League of Nations
  3. German-Americans felt as though they had been betrayed at Versailles
  4. Right-wing Republicans said Wilson wasn't tough enough on Germany
  5. Left-wing Democrats said that Wilson had been too tough on Germant
  6. Irish-Americans were also angry as they said that Wilson had done nothing in Versailles to see that Irish people were treated fairly by the British in particular
  7. Some leading politicians disliked Wilson as a person - they believed that he was an arrogant hypocrite
  8. Many senators felt that the President was becoming too powerful and wanted tighter control over foreign affairs
  9. 1920 was a presidential year and so many republicans opposed Wilson's policies so that the Democrats couldn't say that they had not only won the war but also brought about a successful Peace Treaty
Isolationism
1. The political policy of refusing to become involved with the political affairs (or any business) of other countries
2. Policy pursued for multiple reasons
  1. Multicultural background - didn't want to anger the population by taking sides
    1. Tensions were high after the Treaty of Versailles
  2. distance between USA and Europe meant it was easier not to get involved
3. The war made them want to pursue this policy
  1. feeling that USA was fighting someone else's war
    1. it was being fought over 3000 miles away
  2. didn't feel as though they had gained anything
  3. Most major politicians agreed with the policy as they had seen that when the USA got involved, death followed
    1. Woodrow Wilson didn't support the policy and wanted USA to join the League of Nations
Protectionist policies
1. National policy of being independent from other countries financially
2. American government passed laws as a part of this policy
  1. Emergency Tariff Act
    1. Increased the import taxes on wheat,sugar, meat, wool and other agricultural products
    2. May 1921
  2. Budget and Accounting Act
    1. June 1921
    2. Put controls on government spending
  3. Revenue Act
    1. November 1921
    2. changed taxes, charging businesses more but cutting the wartime tax on high levels of profit
  4. Fordney and McCumber Tariff Act
    1. September 1922
    2. raised tariffs and extended them to industrial goods
    3. gave the president the power to raise the tariff yearly, in line with the selling price of these goods in the USA
3. Effect on the USA
  1. negative effect on how other countries viewed America
    1. Made their own tariffs in retaliation
    2. unhappy that their exports were taxed so highly in America
    3. World Trade fell by 66% between 1929 and 1934
4. Wilson had vetoed the Emergency Tariff Act before handing over power to Harding and the Republicans
5. Republican policies
6. NB also a laissez faire policy
Reasons for pessimism/concern
1. Prices dropped because demand fell at the end of the war
2. Laissez faire - the gouvernement didn't fix prices so people were left to sink or swim on their own
3. Rising unemployment, strikes etc.
4. Farmers couldn't pay back their loans because of falling food prices

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Impact of WWI on the USA

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