To What Extent Did Us Foreign Policy Achieve Its Aims in 1919-1941

To what extent did US foreign policy achieve its aims in 1919-1941?

The aims of US foreign policy in 1919-1941 were; to avoid the socialist/communist influence that was spreading in Europe, to protect US industries from overseas competition, and to avoid non-beneficial wars. Immigration policies and reaction to the Red Scare were successful in achieving there aims in stopping the socialist and communist influence. The protection of industries mainly due to tariffs was successful. Avoiding non-beneficial wars was also mildly successful.

The immigration policies onf 1919-1941 were to both prevent socialist and communist influence as well as protecting industries. In 1917 a literacy test was passed which was tailored to the Northern and Western Europeans who were welcome in the US. This act however was ineffective in reducing immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe who were considered the 'inferior stock.' Due to this the cry for stronger immigration controls was even louder. The strikes in America in 1919 were used as evidence of communist influence from Eastern Europe, and of corruption stirred by Southern Europeans. The public cried out for more immigration restriction and as a result the Emergency Quota Act in 1921 was passed. This dropped the overall number of immigrants sharply, and quotas were based upon nationality. However even after this, many Americans believed the number of unwanted immigrants was still too large, which lead to the National Origens Act in 1924. This further restricted immigrants to 2% of the number of each nationality that was already in the United States. Further the stats taken for this were of the US population in 1890, as the Southern and Eastern Europeans were a very small number in this time. The other reasons for this restrictions were that the trade unions feared that a huge influx of foreign workers would depress the wages. Their added voice to the cry of 'America for Americans,' is what led to these restrictions. The restrictions and were successful in stopping the socialist and communist movements in America, therefore that aspect of the restrictions was successful in achieving aims of foreign policy. Also the average wage continued to rise throughout the 20s so therefore it was successful in that aspect as well.

Tariffs were imposed to protect American industry from overseas competition. World War One saw a number of infant industries develop and the lack of competition during the war meant that these industries were protected. However after World War I these industries were begging for protection that the Underwood Tariff did not give them. As a result in May 1921, the republicans pushed through and Emergency Tariff Bill which protected American industries from foreign competition, because their goods would seem cheaper than overseas ones. In 1922, the Forney-McCumber Tariff, further raised tariffs on textiles, chemicals, dyes, and