LogFAQs > #962707818

Kenri posted...

The word you're looking for there is "racist" then, not isolationist. Especially if you're de facto accepting Monroe Doctrine, "our half of the globe" framing as compatible with isolationism and not the opposite of it.

But my ??? was more about how something can happen "throughout the 20th century" but also end in 1941

I'm not referring to the Monroe Doctrine at all when I say "our half of the globe". I have a Masters degree in Geography and one of the core tenets of Geography is that everything on the globe has a relation to everything else, but the closer two points are, the more of a direct impact is felt between those two points. In the case of the U.S., America benefitted tremendously as an economic power because of the fact that, for a long portion of our history, our nation was THE sole, major economy in the western hemisphere. We had the Pacific Ocean separating us from Asia, and the Atlantic Ocean separating us from Europe and Africa at a time when transoceanic travel was still relatively slow (rather than high-speed as it is today).

In that regard, it was very easy for America to consider an isolationist policy, because we didn't have to worry about encroachment as much from foreign powers, the way Asia and Europe did.