Interwar Years
In 1930, the Americans realized that they were facing strategic threats specifically from two countries. The communist Russia, under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, was trying to spread its influence to other parts of the world and the United States was one of the targeted regions because of its strategic importance (Tucker, Arnold, and Wiener 28). Germany, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, was getting increasingly aggressive and preparing for war despite the existing restrictions that were placed on it by the League of Nations. These two great world powers were preparing for a major war and it was becoming apparent that the United States would not be spared by the imminent threat.
In the United States, the Communist Party of the USA (CPUSA) had been formed in 1917, but the party gained massive popularity in the 1930, having about 900,000 card-carrying members (Kalayjian and Eugene 31). This was considered a strategic threat to a country that was championing for capitalism. The members of the communist party felt that the Soviet Union offered hope to a world that was under the threat of capitalism. The Americans felt that this was a direct infiltration of the national fabric and that the country was under threat of a section of its members. The United States viewed the Soviet Union as one of its greatest enemies in the world, and the fact that some of its citizens were sympathizers of the Soviet Union was a strategic threat.
The threat posed by the Soviet sympathizers in the United States was real, as was later confirmed by the United States’ Army. Julius Rosenberg and his wife Ethel Rosenberg were some of the members of the American Communist Party (Tucker 36). It was discovered that when they were working at the New Jersey-based US Army Signal Corps Laboratory, they leaked sensitive information about the development of the atomic bomb by the US Army to the Soviet Union. Leaking of sensitive military strategies to the enemies was one of the greatest fears of the Americans in the 1930s (Lovern and Locust 78). They felt that such leaks would leave the country vulnerable to external threats.
Germany was another emerging threat that left many Americans worried about the future of the country. Some of the closest allies of the United States in Europe, especially France and Great Britain, were already worried about the military developments in Germany under the leadership of Adolf Hitler (Lundquist 58). Given that the United States had aligned with forces that defeated the German-led coalition in World War One, the United States felt that it would be a target of Germany. Since its geographical distance from Europe was seen as an advantage, the increasing naval strength of the German Army meant that Americans would not be safe if Germany and its allies decided to attack. The government had to find ways of addressing this threat.
The threats that the United States was facing was worsened by the Great Depression that had started in 1929 and was getting worse in the 1930s. Unemployment was at an all-time high and most families felt that capitalism that the country had embraced was largely to blame for the ongoing economic problems. This economic situation made some Americans to rethink the values and principles of Capitalism that the country had embraced. However, Gregory says that the spirit of nationalism was strong enough to unite the country against the emerging threats (42).
Works Cited
Gregory, Sheila. Voices of Native American Educators: Integrating History, Culture, and Language to Improve Learning Outcomes for Native American Students. Hoboken: Wiley, 2013. Print.
Kalayjian, Ani, and Dominique Eugene. Mass Trauma and Emotional Healing Around the World: Rituals and Practices for Resilience and Meaning-Making. Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2010. Print.
Lovern, Lavonna, and Carol Locust. Native American Communities on Health and Disability: A Borderland Dialogue. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Print.
Lundquist, Suzanne. Native American Literatures: An Introduction. New York: Continuum, 2005. Print.
Tucker, Spencer, James Arnold, and Roberta Wiener. The Encyclopedia of North American Indian Wars, 1607-1890: A Political, Social, and Military History. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2011. Print.
Tucker, Spencer. Almanac of American Military History. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2013. Print.