Spreading the American Dream: American Economic & Cultural Expansion 1890-1945

by Emily S. Rosenberg

Book Overview

In examining the economic and cultural trs that expressed America's expansionist impulse during the first half of the twentieth century, Emily S. Rosenberg shows how U.S. foreign relations evolved from a largely private system to an increasingly public one and how, soon, the American dream became global.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809001462
• ISBN13: 9780809001460
• Release Date: February 1982
• Publisher: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux-3pl
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.4"

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Review of "Spreading the American Dream" by UH Grad Student

Emily Rosenberg contends that "American expansion was dominated by and ideology of 'liberal developmentalism' that used the rhetoric of peace, prosperity, and democracy to promote Americanizing the world in the name of modernization." From the 1890s to 1945, "America's economic and cultural influence spread worldwide," simultaneously infiltrating the many crevices of foreign countries and markets alike. According to Rosenberg, "this American dream of high technology and mass consumption was both promoted and accompanied by an ideology...[of] liberal-developmentalism... this ideology matured during the twentieth century...[an ideology] that merged nineteenth-century liberal tenets with the historical experience of America's own development, elevating the beliefs and experiences of America's unique historical time and circumstance into developmental laws thought to be applicable everywhere." This ideology, according to the author, is a term used to describe "the system of beliefs, values, fears, prejudices, reflexes, and commitments--in sum, the social consciousness of the Americans--which generally dominated the expansion of America's influence into foreign lands." Moreover, "ideology is viewed as a 'political weapon, manipulated consciously in ongoing struggles for legitimacy and power, as an instrument for creating and controlling organizations." In the context of previous class discussions, particularly in terms of internalized notions of North American superiority and racism, one is struck with the historical thread that connects the ideas and practices of each generation and how those concepts are then weaved and contorted to fit the mold of a justifiable international expansionism. Indeed, Rosenberg herself concludes, "most Americans believed that Protestant Christianity was a spiritual precondition for modernization... [thus] religious duty and national destiny fused together," an idea reminiscent of Max Weber's famous thesis. The ideology of liberal-developmentalism, according to the author, can be broken down into five major features: "(1) belief that other nations could and should replicate America's own developmental experience; (2) faith in private free enterprise; (3) support for free or open access for trade and investment; (4) promotion of free flow of information and culture; and (5) growing acceptance of governmental activity to protect private enterprise and to stimulate and regulate American participation in international economic and cultural exchange." This ideology, particularly during the so-called "Great Depression" of 1929, ignited the stagnating economy of the US during one of the worst financial slumps of the century. Private economic expansion overseas and corporate determination decided-early on-the direction that US policy would take in terms of monopolizing various companies and, in effect, legalizing a number of "cartels." In tune with Thomas Ferguson's article, Rosenberg essentially states that previous notion

An illuminating look at U.S. diplomacy from 1890-1945

I found this book to be more informative and unbiased than I expected. Since Rosenberg approaches her subject from a revisionist standpoint, I feared there would be a politicized undercurrent that would turn me off. Rosenberg's thesis is well-stated and clearly explained. She examines America's economic and cultural expansion in the period between 1890 and 1945 (although she dips rather significantly at times into the late 1940s). What she discovers is a steady progression from private activity to government-led efforts to expand America's influence in the world. At the heart of her study is an ideological concept she calls liberal developmentalism; this uniquely American thinking was, she posits, pervasive in American government and culture by 1890. Americans believed their system was the best in the world and that the export of the American system (free trade, free enterprise, the free flow of information) throughout the world would guarantee America's economic preeminence while building up weaker nations and ultimately securing world peace. American motives were quite selfish, as expansionism seemed to hold the only solution for the depression of the 1890s, but Americans also truly believed the world would benefit by Americanization. She identifies three distinct eras: a "promotional state" from the 1890s up until World War I, in which the government took a hands-off approach to diplomacy while American entrepreneurs and investors worked hard to expand their business to foreign markets; a "cooperative state" in the 1920s, in which government publicly appeared to stay out of diplomatic wrangling but behind the scenes sought to guide investment that would benefit the United States, even if it involved monopolies or American-dominated cartels; and a "regulatory state" in the 1930s and beyond, in which the government actively began to seek the means by which to control the world economy that had fallen into depression as a result of the long-term failures of the cooperative approach. The Great Depression and spread of fascism convinced Roosevelt and others to seek the reins of the world economy. Rosenberg points out the contradictory nature of American policy. While espousing free trade and free access, America continued to employ protectionist tariffs and did not mind the lack of free access for other nations in American-dominated zones of interest. She clearly explains how de facto diplomacy by private businessmen, while successful in the short-term, was helpless to stop the terrible descent into economic bad times. She easily shows that America was far from isolationist during the first three decades of the twentieth century despite appearances to the contrary. The subject I found most interesting in the book had to do with the export of American cultural values. Rosenberg provides an enlightening discussion of movies/radio, communications, philanthropy, and missionary work in spreading the American way of life to other countries