| Author: |
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Liggiok Leonard P.
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| Title: |
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Watershed of Empire: Essays on New Deal Foreign Policy |
| Moochable copies: |
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No copies available |
| Topics: |
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| Published in: |
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English |
| Binding: |
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Paperback |
| Pages: |
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219 |
| Date: |
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1976-06-01 |
| ISBN: |
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0879260203 |
| Publisher: |
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Ralph Myles Publisher |
| Weight: |
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0.7 pounds |
| Size: |
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5.43 x 8.43 x 0.63 inches |
| Edition: |
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1st |
Amazon prices: |
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| Description: |
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Product Description
The New Deal was a watershed of American Empire in many ways. It was the period when the United States completely abandoned the neutrality policy, first articulated by President Washington, in favor of world wide intervention. The rationale for this intervention was that as part of a global economy, the United States had interests everywhere and therefore could justify intervening literally anywhere on the globe. Perhaps the most important essay in this volume is by the late Murray Rothbard who notes that the New Deal saw first the rise of dollar nationalism, in which the United States consciously inflated its currency as a means of trying to spend its way out of the depression, followed by a period of dollar imperialism. During the former period, Rothbard highlights how US policies forced the rest of the world into bilateral trade agreements and created conflicts over markets. During the second world war, the United States further attempted (with lasting success) to wrest financial control of the world's markets from London to New York. The dollar became the basis of the world economy. Rothbard also notes that those who stood in the way of this *progress*, notably Japan, but also Germany under the economic policies of Helmar Schacht, became our enemies. In short, Rothbard suggests, it was not the many moral failings of fascism that led to our conflict and eventual war with these powers. Rather, despite our claims of a moral high ground, it was our perceived national economic interests that led to war. Another essay in this volume that supports Rothbard's key points is Robert Freeman Smith's "Good Neighbor Policy" in which he examines how the paternalistic relationship between the US and Latin America began.
But if our foreign policy, beginning in the 1930s, was directed at achieving domestic ends like national control of the economy to help end the depression (which did end with the coming of the war) it was the imperial presidency which shaped such a policy.
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| URL: |
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http://bookmooch.com/0879260203 |
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