1898  - War with Spain over Cuba
1901-1909  - Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt
1906  - Pure Food and Drug Act guarantees the quality of food for consumers
1914  - Construction of Panama Canal completed
1913-1921  - Presidency of Woodrow Wilson
1913  - Direct election of Senators approved
1917  - The USA enters The First World War
1920  - The USA does not enter the League of Nations; Prohibition on sale and consumption of alcohol
1929  - The Wall Street Crash
1933-1945  - Presidencies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
1941  - The USA enters The Second World War
1945  - The USA joins the United Nations
1949  - NATO is founded

An End to Isolationism.

As the 20-th century dawned, the USA changed its relationship with the rest of the world. Up until then it had been content to stay out of international disputes, but as its economic power grew, it saw how colonial influence over other countries had benefited European powers and consequently began to end its historic isolationism.

In 1898, the inhuman treatment of Cuban rebels at the hands of the Spanish colonists had strongly affected public opinion in America and led to a short war with Spain which saw the USA victorious. The Spaniards left Cuba and ceded Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines to the Americans. The USA became a colonial power. As the economic and strategic importance of Latin America became obvious, intervention in the affairs of central and southern American states became accepted policy. Perhaps the most significant intervention was the construction of the Panama Canal in 1914, which linked the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The First World War.

Although public opinion in the USA was against any involvement in the First World War, insistent German provocation eventually led to American intervention in April 1917.

While foreign policy changed, the economy continued to expand. Average incomes rose steadily, there was a five fold increase in exports, and the world looked on admiringly at the economic miracle of the age. The 1920-s were years of excess and enjoyment as people put the First World War firmly behind them. The brash prosperity of those years, however, was to come to a sudden end in 1929 when the Stock Exchange in Wall Street collapsed. Public confidence in financial institutions vanished, and America slipped into the Great Depression during which millions lost their jobs while some farmers were reduced to starvation. In order to rescue the economy and restore public confidence in the financial system, President F.D. Roosevelt launched the New Deal. This was a policy aimed at stimulating economic activity in order to combat poverty. The New Deal managed to save a dying economy which would then enjoy a massive boom after the Second World War.

 

Despite the great hardships of the 1930-s American society continued to evolve and develop. One of the major features of the Roaring Twenties was the freer role allowed to women. In the jazz era young women, often preferring a masculine to a feminine style of dress, danced and drank the night away in illegal drinking clubs. These clubs were illegal because between 1920 and 1933 the sale and consumption of alcohol was prohibited. But the only lasting effect of the measure was the increased power and influence of organized crime gangs who trafficked in alcohol. Money that could not be spent on alcohol was spent on other goods. The consumer boom really started only after 1945, but before that, the radio, telephone and fridge had become features of most American homes.

 In 1950-s the USA, thanks to its economic power and military might, became a superpower that was ready to face and challenge the world’s other superpower, the Soviet Union.