American Century - Wikipedia American Century From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search For other uses, see American Century (disambiguation). Term for American geopolitical dominance United States of America The American Century[1][2] is a characterization of the period since the middle of the 20th century as being largely dominated by the United States in political, economic, and cultural terms. It is comparable to the description of the period 1815–1914 as Britain's Imperial Century.[3] The United States' influence grew throughout the 20th century, but became especially dominant after the end of World War II, when only two superpowers remained, the United States and the Soviet Union. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States remained the world's only superpower,[4] and became the hegemon, or what some have termed a hyperpower.[5] Contents 1 Origin of the phrase 2 Early characteristics 3 Pax Americana 4 Post-1945 characteristics 5 Criticism and usage 6 See also 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 Further reading 10 External links Origin of the phrase[edit] The term was coined by Time publisher Henry Luce to describe what he thought the role of the United States would be and should be during the 20th century.[6] Luce, the son of a missionary, in a February 17, 1941 Life magazine editorial urged the United States to forsake isolationism for a missionary's role, acting as the world's Good Samaritan and spreading democracy.[7] He called upon the US to enter World War II to defend democratic values: Throughout the 17th century and the 18th century and the 19th century, this continent teemed with manifold projects and magnificent purposes. Above them all and weaving them all together into the most exciting flag of all the world and of all history was the triumphal purpose of freedom. It is in this spirit that all of us are called, each to his own measure of capacity, and each in the widest horizon of his vision, to create the first great American Century.[8] Democracy and other American ideals would "do their mysterious work of lifting the life of mankind from the level of the beasts to what the Psalmist called a little lower than the angels". Only under the American Century can the world "come to life in any nobility of health and vigor".[9] According to David Harvey, Luce believed "the power conferred was global and universal rather than territorially specific, so Luce preferred to talk of an American century rather than an empire".[10] In the same article he called upon United States "to exert upon the world the full impact of our influence, for such purposes as we see fit and by such means as we see fit".[11] Early characteristics[edit] Post–Spanish–American War map of "Greater America" Beginning at the end of the 19th century, with the Spanish–American War in 1898 and the Boxer Rebellion, the United States began to play a more prominent role in the world beyond the North American continent. The government adopted protectionism after the Spanish–American War to develop its native industry and built up the navy, the "Great White Fleet". When Theodore Roosevelt became president in 1901, he accelerated a foreign policy shift away from isolationism and towards foreign involvement, a process which had begun under his predecessor William McKinley. For instance, the United States fought the Philippine–American War against the First Philippine Republic to solidify its control over the newly acquired Philippines.[12] In 1904, Roosevelt committed the United States to building the Panama Canal, creating the Panama Canal Zone. Interventionism found its formal articulation in the 1904 Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, proclaiming a right for the United States to intervene anywhere in the Americas, a moment that underlined the emergent US regional hegemony. After the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the United States pursued a policy of non-intervention, avoiding conflict while trying to broker a peace. President Woodrow Wilson later argued that the war was so important that the US had to have a voice in the peace conference.[13] The United States was never formally a member of the Allies but entered the war in 1917 as a self-styled "Associated Power". Initially the United States had a small army, but, after the passage of the Selective Service Act, it drafted 2.8 million men,[14] and, by summer 1918, was sending 10,000 fresh soldiers to France every day. The war ended in 1919 with the Treaty of Versailles. The United States then adopted a policy of isolationism, having refused to endorse the 1919 Versailles Treaty or formally enter the League of Nations.[15] During the interwar period, economic protectionism took hold in the United States, particularly as a result of the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act which is credited by economists with the prolonging and worldwide propagation of the Great Depression.[16]:33 From 1934, trade liberalization began to take place through the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act. With the onset of World War II in 1939, Congress loosened the Neutrality Acts of 1930s but remained opposed to entering the European war.[17] In 1940, the United States ranked 18th in terms of military power.[18][19][20] The Neutrality Patrol had US destroyers fighting at sea, but no state of war had been declared by Congress. American public opinion remained isolationist. The 800,000-member America First Committee vehemently opposed any American intervention in the European conflict, even as the US sold military aid to the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union through the Lend-Lease program. In the 1941 State of the Union address, known as the Four Freedoms speech, President Franklin D. Roosevelt made a break with the tradition of non-interventionism. He outlined the US role in helping allies already engaged in warfare. By August, President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had drafted the Atlantic Charter to define goals for the post-war world.[21] In December 1941, Japan attacked American and British territories with near-simultaneous offensives against Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific including an attack on the US fleet at Pearl Harbor.[22] These attacks led the United States and United Kingdom to declare war on Japan. Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States, which the United States reciprocated.[23] During the War, the Big Four powers (the United States, United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China) met to plan the post-war world.[24][25] In an effort to maintain peace,[26] the Allies formed the United Nations, which came into existence on October 24, 1945,[27] and adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, as a common standard for all member states.[28] The United States worked closely with the United Kingdom to establish the IMF, World Bank and NATO.[29][30] Pax Americana[edit] Main article: Pax Americana Pax Americana represents the relative peace in the Western world, resulting in part from the preponderance of power enjoyed by the United States of America starting around the middle of the 20th century. Although the term finds its primary utility in the late 20th century, it has been used in other times in the 20th century. Its modern connotations concern the peace established after the end of World War II in 1945. Post-1945 characteristics[edit] Map of United States at furthest extent The American Century existed through the Cold War and demonstrated the status of the United States as the foremost of the world's two superpowers. After the Cold War, the most common belief held that only the United States fulfilled the criteria to be considered a superpower.[4] Its geographic area composed the fourth-largest state in the world, with an area of approximately 9.37 million km2.[31] The population of the US was 248.7 million in 1990, at that time the fourth-largest nation.[32] In the mid-to-late 20th century, the political status of the US was defined as a strongly capitalist federation and constitutional republic. It had a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council plus two allies with permanent seats, the United Kingdom and France. The US had strong ties with capitalist Western Europe, Latin America, British Commonwealth, and several East Asian countries (Korea, Taiwan, Japan). It allied itself with both right-wing dictatorships and capitalist democracies.[33] The American Century includes the political influence of the United States but also its economic influence. Many states around the world would, over the course of the 20th century, adopt the economic policies of the Washington Consensus, sometimes against the wishes of their populations. The economic force of the US was powerful at the end of the century due to it being by far the largest economy in the world. The US had large resources of minerals, energy resources, metals, and timber, a large and modernized farming industry and large industrial base. The United States dollar is the dominant world reserve currency under the Bretton Woods system. US systems were rooted in capitalist economic theory based on supply and demand, that is, production determined by customers' demands. America was allied with the G7 major economies. US economic policy prescriptions were the "standard" reform packages promoted for crisis-wracked developing countries by Washington, DC-based international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, as well as the US Treasury Department.[34] The military of the United States was a naval-based advanced military with by far the highest military expenditure in the world.[35] The United States Navy was the world's largest navy, with the largest number of aircraft carriers, bases all over the world (particularly in an incomplete "ring" bordering the Warsaw Pact states to the west, south and east). The US had the largest nuclear arsenal in the world during the first half of the Cold War, one of the largest armies in the world and one of the two largest air forces in the world. Its powerful military allies in Western Europe (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation states) had their own nuclear capabilities. The US also possessed a powerful global intelligence network in the Central Intelligence Agency. The cultural impact of the US, often known as Americanization, is seen in the influence on other countries of US music, TV, films, art, and fashion, as well as the desire for freedom of speech and other guaranteed rights its residents enjoy. US pop stars such as Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, and Madonna have become global celebrities.[36] Criticism and usage[edit] Critics have condemned Luce's "jingoistic missionary zeal".[37] Others have noted the end of the 20th century and the American Century, most famously the late gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson who titled his autobiography Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star Crossed Child in the Last Days of the American Century. With the advent of the new millennium, critics from the University of Illinois stated that it was a matter of debate whether America was losing its superpower status, especially in relation to China's rise.[38] Other analysts have made the case for the "American Century" fitting neatly between America's late entry into World War I in 1917 and the inauguration of its 45th President in 2017.[39] Other scholars, such as George Friedman, stipulate that the 21st century will be the U.S. century: "The twenty-first century will be the American century."[40] See also[edit] Pax Americana American Empire Project American exceptionalism American imperialism Britain's Imperial Century Confessions of an Economic Hit Man Golden Age New World Order Project for the New American Century References[edit] ^ Lamb, Brian, and Harold Evans. The American Century. West Lafayette, IN: C-SPAN Archives, 1999. ^ The American Century. randomhouse.com. ^ Hyam, Ronald (2002). Britain's Imperial Century, 1815–1914: A Study of Empire and Expansion. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-7134-3089-9. Retrieved December 15, 2013. ^ a b "Analyzing American Power in the Post-Cold War Era". Archived from the original on March 11, 2007. Retrieved February 28, 2007. ^ Definition and Use of the Word Hyperpower ^ Harvey, David (2003). The New Imperialism. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-926431-7. ^ Luce, Henry (February 17, 1941). "The American Century". Life Magazine. ^ Luce, H. R (1999). "The American Century". In Hogan, M. J. (ed.). The Ambiguous Legacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-77977-4. ^ Luce, Henry (February 17, 1941). "The American Century". Life Magazine: 64–65. ^ Harvey, David (2003). The New Imperialism. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 50. ISBN 0-19-926431-7. ^ Luce, H. R (1999). "The American Century". In Hogan, M. J. (ed.). The Ambiguous Legacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 20. ISBN 0-521-77977-4. ^ Gates, John M. (1984). "War-Related Deaths in the Philippines". Pacific Historical Review. 53 (3): 367–78. doi:10.2307/3639234. ^ Karp 1979 ^ "Selective Service System: History and Records". Sss.gov. Archived from the original on May 7, 2009. Retrieved July 27, 2010. ^ Kennedy, David M. (1999). Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 386. ISBN 0-19-503834-7. ^ Eun, Cheol S.; Resnick, Bruce G. (2011). International Financial Management (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. ISBN 978-0-07-803465-7. ^ Schmitz 2000, p. 124. ^ "WWII Overview". The National WWII Museum. Archived from the original on March 5, 2015. Retrieved February 28, 2015. ^ "Excerpt – General George C. Marshall: Strategic Leadership and the Challenges of Reconstituting the Army, 1939–41". ssi.armywarcollege.edu. Archived from the original on January 24, 2018. Retrieved January 23, 2018. ^ "U.S. army was smaller than the army for Portugal before World War II". Politifact. Retrieved January 23, 2018. ^ Langer and Gleason, chapter 21 ^ Wohlstetter 1962, pp. 341–43. ^ Dunn 1998, p. 157 ^ Doenecke, Justus D.; Stoler, Mark A. (2005). Debating Franklin D. Roosevelt's foreign policies, 1933–1945. ISBN 978-0-8476-9416-7. Retrieved March 19, 2016. ^ Kelly, Brian. "The Four Policemen and. Postwar Planning, 1943-1945: The Collision of Realist and. Idealist Perspectives". Retrieved August 25, 2015. Cite journal requires |journal= (help) ^ Yoder 1997, p. 39. ^ "History of the UN". United Nations. Retrieved January 25, 2010. ^ Waltz 2002 ^ "The "Special Relationship" between Great Britain and the United States Began with FDR". Roosevelt Institute. July 22, 2010. Retrieved January 24, 2018. and the joint efforts of both powers to create a new post-war strategic and economic order through the drafting of the Atlantic Charter; the establishment of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank; and the creation of the United Nations. ^ "Remarks by the President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron in Joint Press Conference". whitehouse.gov. April 22, 2016. Retrieved January 24, 2018. That's what we built after World War II. The United States and the UK designed a set of institutions—whether it was the United Nations, or the Bretton Woods structure, IMF, World Bank, NATO, across the board. ^ US geography ^ US Census census.gov ^ Stephen Kinzer (2007). Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq. Times Books. ^ Williamson, John: What Washington Means by Policy Reform Archived June 25, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, in: Williamson, John (ed.): Latin American Readjustment: How Much has Happened, Washington: Institute for International Economics 1989. ^ Military spending ^ Biddle, Julian (2001). What Was Hot!: Five Decades of Pop Culture in America. New York: Citadel, p. ix. ISBN 0-8065-2311-5. ^ Michael, Terry (February 16, 2011) The End of the American Century, Reason ^ Unger J (2008), U.S. no longer superpower, now a besieged global power, scholars say Archived October 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine University of Illinois ^ Pascoe, Michael (January 20, 2017). "Donald Trump in the White House is the end of the 'American Century'". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on May 5, 2018. Retrieved January 21, 2017. ^ Friedman, George, The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century, p. 18 Bibliography[edit] Dunn, Dennis J. (1998). Caught Between Roosevelt & Stalin: America's Ambassadors to Moscow. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-2023-2. Hogan, Michael J. (1999). The Ambiguous Legacy: U.S. Foreign Relations in The "American Century". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-77019-4. A symposium of scholarly articles assessing aspects of Luce's editorial and its significance originally published in Diplomatic History 23 (2 & 3), 1999 Karp, Walter (1979), The Politics of War (1st ed.), ISBN 0-06-012265-X, OCLC 4593327, Wilson's maneuvering US into war Langer, William L.; Gleason, S. Everett (1953), The Undeclared War 1940–1941: The World Crisis and American Foreign Policy, Harper & Brothers, ISBN 978-1258766986 Northedge, FS (1986), The League of Nations: Its Life and Times, 1920–1946, New York: Holmes & Meier, ISBN 0-7185-1316-9 Painter, David S. (2012). "Oil and the American Century" (PDF). The Journal of American History. 99 (1): 24–39. doi:10.1093/jahist/jas073. Schmitz, David F. (2000), Henry L. Stimson: The First Wise Man, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, ISBN 978-0-8420-2632-1 Waltz, Susan (2002). "Reclaiming and Rebuilding the History of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights". Third World Quarterly. 23 (3): 437–48. doi:10.1080/01436590220138378. JSTOR 3993535. Wohlstetter, Roberta (1962), Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision, Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, ISBN 978-0-8047-0597-4 Yoder, Amos (1997). The Evolution of the United Nations System (3rd ed.). London & Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 1-56032-546-1. Further reading[edit] Evans, Harold (1998). The American Century. ISBN 0-679-41070-8. Henry Luce, "The American Century", Life (February 17, 1941) Andrew Bacevich, "Farewell to the American Century", Salon (April 30, 2009) Terry Michael, "The End of the American Century", Reason (February 16, 2011) The Unmaking of a Company Man by Andrew Bacevich External links[edit] "The American Century", BBC Radio 4 discussion with Harry Evans and John Lloyd (In Our Time, Dec. 17, 1998) v t e Power in international relations Types Economic Energy Food Hard National Power politics Realpolitik Smart Soft Sharp Status Small Middle Regional Emerging Least Great Great Potential Super Hyper Geopolitics American (Pax) Asian British Soviets Chinese Indian Pacific History List of ancient great powers List of medieval great powers List of modern great powers International relations of the Great Powers (1814–1919) Theory Balance of power European Center of power Hegemonic stability theory Philosophy of power Polarity Power projection Power transition theory Second Superpower Sphere of influence Superpower collapse Superpower disengagement Studies Composite Index of National Capability Comprehensive National Power Organizations and groups by region Africa African Union Union for the Mediterranean Africa–Asia Arab League Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Americas Association of Caribbean States (ACS) Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Community of Latin American and Caribbean States Mercosur North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Organization of American States (OAS) Union of South American Nations (Unasur) Asia Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) China–Japan–South Korea trilateral summits Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Europe Council of Europe (CE) European Union (EU) Nordic Council Visegrád Group Eurasia Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU) Turkic Council North America–Europe North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Arctic Council Africa–Asia–Europe Union for the Mediterranean Africa–South America South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone Oceania–Pacific Australia–New Zealand–United States Security Treaty (ANZUS) Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Polynesian Leaders Group (PLG) Non–regional Brazil–Russia–India–China–South Africa (BRICS) Commonwealth of Nations Organisation internationale de la Francophonie Colombia–Indonesia–Vietnam–Egypt–Turkey–South Africa (CIVETS) E7 E9 G4 G7 G8 G8+5 G20 G24 G77 India–Brazil–South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA) Mexico–Indonesia–Nigeria–Turkey (MINT) Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Uniting for Consensus Global United Nations (UN) v t e History of the United States Timeline Prehistory Pre-Columbian Colonial 1776–1789 1789–1849 1849–1865 1865–1918 1918–1945 1945–1964 1964–1980 1980–1991 1991–2008 2008–present Topics Agriculture American Century African Americans Cities The Constitution Demography Economy Banking Education Higher education Flag Foreign policy Diplomacy Immigration Labor LGBT Lumber Medicine Merchant Marine Military Army Marine Corps Navy Air Force Space Force Coast Guard Music Native Americans Postal service Railway Religion Slavery Sexual slavery Sports Technology and industry Territorial evolution Historic regions Voting rights Women By Region New England The South The West The West Coast Category Portal Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_Century&oldid=1002493128" Categories: 20th century 20th century in the United States Eras of United States history Superpowers Rises to prominence Nostalgia in the United States Hidden categories: CS1 errors: missing periodical Webarchive template wayback links Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata Use American English from January 2019 All Wikipedia articles written in American English Use mdy dates from May 2017 Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version Languages العربية Deutsch Español Français हिन्दी Italiano 日本語 Português Tiếng Việt 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 24 January 2021, at 18:30 (UTC). 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