Custom essays on The Period between the 1920s and the 1960s as an Era of Reform

One of the factors triggering the Great Depression was the adoption of Smoot-Hawley Act in 1930, which imposed high tariffs on imported goods, reduced the weak purchasing power of the population, and forced other countries to apply countermeasures that harmed U.S. exporters. Only in the mid 1930s after the agreements on mutual trade, which substantially lowered customs duties, international trade began to recover providing a positive impact on the global economy.
Naturally, the First World War also served as one of the causes of the Great Depression – the American economy was at first overloaded by military orders of the Government, which after the First World fell sharply, leading to a recession in the country’s defense industry and related sectors.
The Great Depression pushed the level of industrial production back to the level of the beginning of the century, left millions of people unemployed, worsened the situation of farmers, petty traders, and the middle class bringing many below the poverty line, increased the number of supporters of both communist and fascist parties.
The economic crisis of 1929-1933 showed that the contradiction between social production and private form of appropriation of the production reached such a pitch, when the capitalist economy could no longer normally function. This required a new politico-economical reform, increasing state intervention in the economy, the use of state influence on the spontaneous processes in the capitalist economy in order to avoid the stresses, which accelerated the growth of monopoly capitalism into state-monopoly capitalism. Since Hoover’s policy was not able to conduct such a reform and resolve the problem of the crisis and restore the American economy, Franklin D. Roosevelt came to power proclaiming the “New Deal”, which started a new period in U.S. history (1933-1941).
In 1939 the Second World War started. The first contributions to the U.S. in the war were breakage of oil and raw materials supply to Japan which was attacking Manchuria, and increased military and financial aid to China. The first aid to allies came with the creation of Lend-Lease program in September 1940. December 7, 1941 Japan suddenly attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, referring to the U.S. embargo as an excuse. The next day, Roosevelt successfully arranged a joint meeting of Congress to declare war on Japan. Four days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Nazi Germany declared war on the United States, drawing the U.S. into a war on two fronts (Takaki 69-78). The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9, 1945), which ended the Second World War, were the only example in history of military use of nuclear weapons. These bombing can be considered one of the most terrible consequences of the Second World War (Takaki 123-26).
After the Second World War, the U.S. became one of the two world superpowers. December 4, 1945 the U.S. Congress approved the admission to the United Nations, thus making a reform in is foreign policy – departing from the traditional policy of isolationism in the direction of greater involvement in international relations.

The postwar era was defined as the beginning of the Cold War (1945-1991), in which the United States and the Soviet Union tried to increase the influence at the expense of other countries, increasing its nuclear arsenal and the doctrine of mutual destruction. It resulted in a series of conflicts, including the Korean War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Cold War aroused fears about the impact of communism inside the United States, and resulted in efforts to support math and science for such campaigns as the “space race” (Whitehead).
Decades after World War II, U.S. possessed global influence in the economy, politics, military affairs, culture and technology. In the culture of the middle class since the early 1950’s there appeared an obsession in the consumption of goods (The Invasion of the Body Snatchers).
John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960. Famous for his charisma, he was the only Catholic U.S. president. Meanwhile, the American people completed their great migration from farms to cities, experiencing the time of prolonged economic growth. At the time, ingrained racism in the United States, and especially in the South, was opposed by the growing civil rights movement, and leaders of African Americans such as Martin Luther King. Due to Kennedy’s reforms, in the 1960s Jim Crow laws legalizing segregation between whites and blacks were canceled (Chafe 82-96). Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas (Texas) on November 22, 1963.
During the Cold War, the United States got involved in the Vietnam War, the unpopularity of which contributed to the emergence of social movements, including movements among women, minorities and young people. Social programs of the Great Society of President Lyndon Johnson and the legal activism of the Chief Justice Earl Warren held a wide range of social reforms during the 1960s (Chafe 82-96). Feminism and the movement for environmental protection became political forces, and the process of providing civil rights for all Americans continued. Countercultural revolution spread all over America in the late 60’s, dividing the society having no common opinion, but also brought more liberal social views.
In general, at different stages of its development during the period between the 1920s and 1960s American society faced a lot of challenges – economic crises, military conflicts, social disturbances, etc. These challenges inevitably caused reforms aimed at overcoming difficulties, recovery and improvement of living standard, and establishment of the rule of democracy in the country. Therefore, in our opinion, this long and rich in events period of the U.S. history can be called the era of reforms.
Works Cited:

Boyle, Kevin. Arc Of Justice. Henry Holt and Company, 2004. Print.
Chafe, William H. Civilities and Civil Rights. Oxford University Press, 1981. Print.
Takaki, Ronald. Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb. Back Bay Books, 1996. Print.
The Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Dir. Don Siegel. Perf. Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, King Donovan, and Carolyn Jones. Walter Wanger Productions, 1956. Film.
Whitehead, John W. “Invasion of the Body Snatchers: A Tale for Our Times”