How did America Become a Superpower After WW2? | Animated History

[Music] it's morning in america all over the newly built suburbs men who just months earlier were fighting in europe or asia are climbing into their cars and heading to work in the cities returning veterans crowd lecture halls at universities and colleges receiving advanced advanced educations they never thought or thought possible and all on uncle sam's time manufacturing booms under a tsunami of private investment the lean times of the great depression fading from memory as stores are flooded with a bevy of american-made appliances gadgets and goods and abroad american servicemen keep watch over lands from cuba to korea a new world has come into being an american one [Music] hi i'm griffin johnson the armchair historian in today's video we will examine how the united states went from an isolationist democracy uninterested in world affairs to one of the two superpowers spreading their influence around the world first we'll look at the effects that entering the second world war had on the american economy next we'll look at how america placed herself in a preeminent position in the post-war world and lastly we'll take a look at the political maneuvering economic luck and the cloak and dagger exercises it took to get there so now let's look at where america was before entering the second world war with the growth of historical content on youtube it's vital that creators equip themselves with the best tools possible understandably many first-timers find video editing a daunting process fortunately our sponsor for today wondershare formula 10 makes complex editing a breeze thanks to its many presets templates overlays and filters that can be applied at the press of a button basic features like clipping trimming and cropping are of course included as well made intuitive and easy to use by beginners just drag and drop your files into femora's editing track and get started within seconds here we're using the motion tracking tool all you have to do is place a tracking box over a constant section of film resize the box set the movement path select an asset to link to the path preview it and you're done very cool head to the description for a link to try femora for free before purchasing armchair historian fans can also avail themselves of a special deal just comment i want to try femora to make history videos and i'll select three winners to get a free femora account the stock market crash of 1929 and the resulting great depression were especially hard on the united states in a desperate attempt to revitalize the economy president herbert hoover signed the 1930 smoot hawley tariff act which raised customs duties to such an extent that imported goods became unaffordable to all but the wealthiest americans instead of spurring domestic purchasing and production as intended the smoot-hawley tariffs succeeded only in further damaging the world's economy as other nations passed retaliatory tariffs against american exports international trade plummeted by 65 percent leading to the full collapse of banks in america and europe as the world economy only increased its tailspin when franklin delano roosevelt became president in 1933 he immediately set about implementing his new deal program to strengthen america's economy and get people back to work he insured americans bank accounts through the federal deposit insurance corporation or fdic implemented the social security program to provide income to the disabled and elderly and brought thousands onto the federal payroll through public works projects while these programs certainly benefited countless americans the effects of roosevelt's new deal paled in comparison to those of america joining the second world war with the sleeping giant awakened the united states saw a tectonic shift in economic activity between the draft and the industrial sector experiencing a massive demand for new laborers to produce more materiel unemployment plummeted overnight america's women also stepped into the breach taking jobs traditionally reserved for men government contracts and investment spurred continued growth and america's economy roared back to life through victory in 1945 [Music] arguably the dropping of the atomic bombs on hiroshima and nagasaki marked a new chapter in american history the isolationist america of old perished in the nuclear holocaust that ended the second world war the united states was the only allied country to emerge from the war with her economy not only intact but thriving as government contracts ended and subsidies were withdrawn private investment took their place consumers were able to purchase goods and appliances that had long been outside of their economic reach and they used their new economic power to spur more and more spending and growth this transition from a war economy to a consumerist one was the bedrock of america's post-war preeminence but none of it would be possible without the influx of working age men coming home from the war ready to start their new lives in this revitalized country returning gis stepped off their boats planes and trains to find an america totally different from the one they had left many would remember the mistreatment their fathers and grandfathers had endured after the first world war when they were given a pittance of a bonus and a train fair home but things would be different this time the gi bill of rights was signed into law by president roosevelt in 1944 and promised myriad benefits to returning veterans from federal guarantees on home loans to subsidized university or vocational education between 1944 and 1956 7.8 million veterans went to college or trade schools with gi bill subsidies while 2.4 million home loans were guaranteed by the veterans administration these loans were used to buy houses in the newly built suburbs where a plethora of new single-family homes drew people from the cities to these new developments this was the start of american car culture and the suburban population began commuting from their new homes to their new jobs in the cities on the new interstate highway system life was good in the new america but there were many excluded from this newfound prosperity black veterans faced a brand new war on the home front their first battle was obtaining gi benefits one of the key compromises that ensured the original law's passing was the condition that aid be administered by state governments rather than a federal agency this meant that segregationist jim crow laws overshadowed the promises of the gi bill and aid was often contingent on skin color separate but unequal schools set what few black veterans were able to use their benefits up for failure while the majority were simply intimidated into never collecting what they were do black unemployment was also endemic throughout the 1950s and 1960s with what work that was available paying only the smallest of wages and offering no chance for upward mobility america's women found themselves in a battle of their own hired in droves to fill the factories and provide support for the armed services in the minds of many the end of the war meant the end of rosie the riveter they were laid off on mass from their wartime jobs to make way for returning servicemen and those who were kept on the payroll were placed in part-time clerical jobs with no union protections women in uniform were denied gi bill benefits outright and magazines began running ads and opinion pieces designed to pressure america's women to leave the workforce and settle down as homemakers this was the dawn of the nuclear family and the beginning of the baby boom and america asked its women to do a different kind of duty with its domestic house in order the united states began to make changes abroad as well in july of 1944 the united states invited representatives of the allied nations to bretton woods new hampshire where the u.s treasury department proposed an international bank and trade control network to promote worldwide cooperation and prevent the economic brinkmanship that led the world to war and with that the international monetary fund was born but this was only a preamble to a much greater effort at american international influence president roosevelt believed the world needed a strong international body to prevent future conflict and such a body would need strong leadership in his view american leadership roosevelt gathered representatives of the united states united kingdom soviet union and republic of china at dumbarton oaks a historic residence outside of washington d.c and from august to october of 1944 they laid the groundwork for the united nations one year later on october 24th 1945 the u.n was officially established in san francisco honoring the wishes of his predecessor president harry s truman personally signed the u.s charter for the united states and pressured congress to ratify it but america had more than economic and political means to promote her interests the u.s never truly demobilized and she was unafraid to use her military might or shadowy intelligence service to spread her influence the only roadblock to that influence in america's view was communism the soviets had already reorganized much of eastern europe after the war and were busy converting these new socialist republics into buffers between them and the rest of the world through investment in the marshall plan and propaganda coups like the berlin airlift america sought to combat soviet influence on the pr front while simultaneously putting her thumb on the scales of elections in the newly created post-war states and elsewhere on the asian front america was busy rebuilding the shattered empire of japan into a bulwark against the red spread in east asia on september 8th 1951 the empire of japan and the united states signed the treaty of san francisco which officially ended the state of war between japan and the us one of the core tenants of the treaty was japan's total disarmament with japan seeding land and resources for the establishment of american garrisons some of which still stand today japan submitted to the u.s military government and the americans were quick to punish the former empire for its pre-war militarism demobilized officers of the imperial army were barred from certain occupations such as government service while the wealthy landowners who supported the war had their property seized by the americans and redistributed to tenant farmers but america had more discreet ways of getting what she wanted throughout the 1950s and 60s the cia undertook a bevy of covert operations throughout the world in support of american foreign policy the cia fermented supported or outright incited numerous coups and regime changes throughout the post-war years american support for the vehemently anti-communist regimes of south korea and south vietnam is well known but cia-backed revolutions also occurred in iran in 1953 and guatemala in 1954 among many others worldwide the 1953 iranian coup saw the cia install shah muhammad raza palavi the cia accomplished this by bribing among others iranian clergy who spoke out against the previous government these same clergy who would go on to speak out against the shah pulavi and incite the iranian revolution of the 1970s the 1954 guatemalaku saw both the cia and the us ambassador to guatemala john purifoy support and direct a military overthrow of guatemala's democratically elected government in favor of a hard-line anti-communist dictatorship under president castillo armas while the cia would come to judge the armas regime as inept despite holding near absolute power the heads of the agency quietly congratulated each other on a job well done this was reflective of the cia's modus operandi the suppression of democracy to ensure the suppression of communism between the areas occupied by her military and her existing possessions america emerged from the second world war a territorial giant the u.s established an empire spanning from alaska to hawaii from berlin to tokyo with her economic growth sudden territorial breadth and willingness to use any means to ensure her position america had cemented itself as the new superpower on the proverbial block the eagle had [Music] landed america was forever changed by the second world war spared the chaos and destruction of fighting on her own soil america was able to take her war economy into the post-war world becoming a manufacturing juggernaut and calling the tune of international trade the gi bill created an educated middle class but its unequal implementation left both black and female veterans to fend for themselves in the resurgent united states and with clandestine efforts all around the globe america was able to affect regime change wherever it deemed necessary overturning elections and installing sympathetic governments to further her foreign policy goals america had become an empire to dwarf any throughout history

Channel: The Armchair Historian

Views: 622,685

Rating: 4.8806982 out of 5

Keywords: The United States, American History, US History, APUSH, American Superpower, The United Nations, Second World War America, The 1950s, The 1960s, Cold War, Soviet Union, History of the United States, how did america get so powerful?, why is america the greatest country?, American superpower, the united states of america

Id: 7OBUaPShXwE

Length: 15min 7sec (907 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 21 2021