The usa after World War II

The United States came out of World War II more powerful than they had ever been before. It was the only country that possessed the atomic bomb, American air forces and navy were the largest in the world. The USA was the only warring nation that experienced no raids, so its economic resources were immense comparing to other post-war countries.

The war had the most positive effect on the US economy – it underwent profound change. The big businesses became even bigger, while small enterprises and family farms disappeared. The enlargement of business caused the increase of membership in the labor unions, which grew into a real force in fighting for worker's rights.

The war also stimulated the growth of government, there appeared new agencies (a Department of Defense, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Atomic Energy Commission) that constantly grew in size and influence. The budget of the federal government expanded.

The war changed American patterns of living – many women, African-Americans, and Mexican-Americans filled the working places that appeared in new industries. Many traditionally male jobs were reclassified for women. Though women were paid less than men, they had an opportunity to support their families and be economically independent.

Many American industries were stimulated by the Marshall Plan, aimed to finance a European recovery program. General George Marshall, President Truman's secretary of state, worked out a plan for rebuilding Europe. Marshall planned to include Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union into the plan, but these countries refused to join an American-dominated project. According to this plan in 1948–1951 Western Europe received $12,4 billion with the only condition – these dollars must be spent in the United States. The plan stimulated business in the USA, though in Europe it caused inflation. But it also promoted the growth of investment and West European industrial production.

The Post-War Foreign Affairs

The post-war years witnessed the deterioration of Soviet-American relations – the Cold War. Anti-Communism propaganda became the central theme of Harry Truman's presidency, which was announced in the Truman Doctrine. In his doctrine President Truman called for the fight against "totalitarian regimes" to support free peoples. For the coming year the Truman Doctrine dominated the US foreign and domestic policy leading the country into armed conflicts in Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, and giving way to the anti-Communist policy at home.

Truman saw the Soviet threat as global and wanted to project American power on a worldwide scale. The development of the Cold War seemed inevitable after World War II due to the following reasons:

1. Serious economic troubles in the post-war countries made co-opera tion between them difficult.

2. The collapse of Germany and Japan created a power vacuum in the world politics – the world was waiting for other powers to claim influ ence.

3. Political turmoil within post-war nations gave way to Soviet-Ameri can competition.

4. After World War II empires were disintegrating, new nations were born in the Middle East and Asia. America and the Soviet Union competed to win them as new friends who might provide military bases, resources, and markets.

5. The "air age" made the world more compact – nations were brought together by faster travel and, at the same time, they became more vulner able to surprise attack from the air. For safety complex systems of defense, sometimes far from home, were needed.

The United States and the Soviet Union marched into the Cold War with a sense of righteousness – each side saw the other as the obstacle to peace. The USA feared "communist aggression" while the Soviet Union was afraid of "capitalist encirclement". Besides, each country had its own plan of further stability and peaceful reconstruction: America sought to create world markets for its agricultural and industrial products and to promote democratic development of post-war Europe while the Soviet Union tried to protect its territories from future military invasions.

The Cold War began, when in 1946, Stalin declared that peace was impossible "under the present capitalist development of the world economy". Britain and the USA responded that they had to work together to counter the Soviet threat. Both sides began to establish defensive positions, sometimes far from home.

On April 4, 1949, the United States, Canada, and much of Western Europe founded NATO – the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The creation of military alliance was hotly debated at home, as since 1778 the USA had stood apart from European military organizations. NATO was aimed to provide collective security – an attack against one member was to be considered an attack against all and be met by appropriate force.

The same year the National Security Council derived a top-secret document NSC–68. The document assumed that "the Soviet Union was engaged in a fanatical effort to seize control of all governments wherever possible" and appealed for an enlarged military budget to assist the allied nations everywhere in the world.

Now both the USA and the USSR proceeded to increase their defense spending.