US Foreign Policy Between World Wars
“How accurate is it to describe US foreign policy between the two World Wars as isolationist? ... Washington’s vision of a nation independent from the “toils of European ambition” was emphatically not a policy of isolationism or complete withdraw from international affairs as it is sometimes interpreted. His hope was only for a policy of strict “unilateralism” in world politics. American foreign policy between the world wars is also often misinterpreted to be “isolationist,” implying the U. ... Rather than isolationist, America assumed the same unilateralist foreign policy defined by Washington centuries before. “Its main aim” was not withdraw, Manfred Jones writes, but “the avoidance of political military commitments to, or alliances with, foreign powers” . The unilateralist approach to foreign affairs has however evolved since Washington first spoke those historic words. Originally the policy was in reaction to the Franco-American alliance which was crucial in America’s fight for independence. However, the alliance posed a threat to American’s peace as a string of Revolutionary wars evolved in Europe. At the dawn of the 20th Century, the ’Unilateralist’ policy changed to a more active role in World Politics. ... In 1910, President William Taft succeeded Roosevelt’s militaristic foreign policies with a strategy based more upon business investment. ... This event marked a turning point between Japanese and American relations that would not be settled until World War II . When Woodrow Wilson took office in 1913, he hoped to discontinue the strong focus preceding administrations had placed on diplomatic relations and instead revert back to a unilateralist foreign policy and pay more attention to domestic matters. When World War I broke out in 1914, with Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia.