USA Isolationism: selfishness or survival?

“In the large view the major forces of the depression now lie outside of the United Staes, and our recuperation has been retarded by the unwarranted degree of fear and apprehension created by this outside forces” 

                                                             - Herbert Hoover

By Brenda Pedreschi 

New York. A favorable boom in the economy of USA led the Americans to invest large amounts of money in stock market. To afford it many people asked for loans to banks, over $8.5 billion was out on loan.     On October 24th the share on the New York Stock Exchange collapsed. About 16 million shares were traded, and the Dow lost an additional 30 points, or 12%. When the stock market collapsed it cause disastrous financial effects on worldwide markets. 

The United States optes a system of isolation to survive the crisis after World War I, affecting not only their economy but also other nations. One of the main nations to be affected by this system was Germany as all their incomes from USA were cut and become loans.The Young Plan by Stresemann appealed to the USA for further assistance in paying reparations. The Young committee reduces Germany's liability to £2,000 million (about 1/3 of the original sum), to be paid over 59 years. This plan collapsed because of the Wall Street Crash on 1929. 

The reality of a worldwide economic depression and the need for increased attention to domestic problems only served to bolster the idea that the United States should isolate itself from troubling events in Europe.

USA was not in a favorable position to continue supporting them neither was able to support with money foreign countries as Germany, causing the block of international payments and begun collecting loans back. 

Isolationists held the view that USA's perspective on the world was different from that of European societies and that USA could advance the cause of freedom and democracy bu means other than war.

Even thought Isolationism did not mean disengagement from the world stage, USA isolated her in terms of trade. Tariffs were put on foreign goods to protect USA industry, and because Europeans couldn't sell their goods to hem they could not afford to buy agricultural goods from USA. This was one of the causes of the Depression.

But isolationism is not only applied for economy, isolationism refers to USA's longstanding reluctance to become involved in european alliances and wars, any conflict or international politics.

A main consequence of this isolation toward the world was shown in USA turning its back on Europe by restricting the number of immigrants permitted into the country. Until World War I, millions of people, mostly from Europe, had come to USA to seek their fortune and escape from poverty and persecution. Britons and Irishmen, Germans and Jews constituted the biggest groups. In 1921 the relatively liberal policy ended and quotas were introduced. By 1929 only 150,000 immigrants per year were allowed in.

Isolationism might be seen as a way to survive interwar crisis especially economical but in the end it just was a factor that gave place to the great Depression that followed also as it gave crisis to other nations it gave place to new leaders arrive, those leaders who will later be main characters in World War II. A cut in loans to foreign countries is undeniable a optimum decision as the nation couldn’t afford to keep doing it but that is just one way of isolation, some others were just over exaggerating decisions that could be managed in better situations and better ways. Isolation affected the whole country and will leaf serious consequences for the following years.