How did the US become a SUPERPOWER?

Question

I think by deceit, lies, cheating, stealing, murder, fraud, aggression, hypocrisy and self-delusion. And some 'good works here and there' try to fool the rest of the world. How is it possible that they 'get it wrong' every time? Taleban, Saddam, Vietnam, Katrina, Enron, nearly every Presidential election, etc. Please, prove me wrong. And if you feel the urge to insult me, go ahead, it will just prove my point.

I am pleased to see that some people argee with me. So why don't you change the %7$"&° system? After all, YOU are the voters.

We also have some good examples of self delusion.

Come on! I need one more answer!

I did it!!!!!!!!!

Thanks everybody! I just won US$250 from my good friend, the Gringo. Where I live all Americans are called Gringos. I bet him that I would get 25 answers in 25 mins.
(10 dollars an answer) Now we are going to spend his money. Can I add 'gullible' to the list above? (Obviously, he didn't see the question, he's as bigger than Rambo!)

While I´m waiting for my mate to return from the ATM, let me tell you a few 'truths'.
Many of you cited WWll as the start of your 'Empire'. The truth is you sat on the sidelines waiting to embrace the winner, and were forced, kicking and screaming, into the fight. If Pearl Harbour hadn't happened, you would NEVER have entered the war. You guys were too obsessed with becoming rich, to worry about your 'kin' across the pool. We look back on this and ask ourselves, can we trust these people? You stuck your noses into the Suez Canal 'crisis', thereby undermining the British and French, for your own selfish interests. Need I go on?
You as a nation, are disliked throughout the world for reasons like these. You change allegiances faster than a mother changes the diapers of a baby with diarrhoea.
And don't tell me to take American History classes, I probably know more about the history of America than the majority of you.

And don't try to blame your leaders. Who elected them?

I am surprised! Some of these answers are serious and analytical. I am not an American, but although my question doesn't show this, I admire the role the US is playing in Colombia, where I live. (Although I think all this bloodshed that is connected to the drugs trade could so easily be stopped if drugs are legalised.) The truth is that Americans consume more drugs than the rest of humanity, but you are in self denial. Legalise, regulate and tax. Or stop consuming, which is not on the cards. (Hypocrisy)

Answer 1

I'm way more left than right politically but the factual answer is that the U.S. became a superpower because of its economy. By the opening of the 20th century the U.S. was an incredible economic power, surpassing other industrialized economies--it was the largest country with such developed industries and markets with an unparalleled abundance of natural resources. Other than some (admittedly shameful) colonialist exploitation adventures in places like Hawaii, the Philippines and Latin America, the U.S. didn't have much of a reputation as a military power--we were a nation of merchants. (Read General Smedley Butler's "War is a Racket" to learn about the proto Military-Industrial complex: http://lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm)
The U.S. was also across the sea from the constant battlefield that was Europe. We were isolationists. This continued for the most part until our participation in WWII. That's when "the sleeping giant" woke up, and the power of the U.S. economy--which had become stagnant in the Great Depression--turned towards war. Anyone who's played any sort of civilization-type game knows that if you've got enough money, raw materials, workers and military units you're going to win eventually and the U.S. had nothing but industry, raw materials, and a population that wasn't small or being attacked on its home soil.

Fast forward to the end of the war, when the U.S. defeated Japan while simultaneously racing the Russians to Berlin. At that point, with the atom bomb and the most developed economy--not destroyed by war but supercharged by it--America was the only 'Superpower' before the word was invented. For the next decade the rest of the developed economies of the world were shoveling out from the rubble. The U.S. helped Japan and Europe rebuild though the Marshall Plan and MacArthur's stewardship of Japan. That's the America that I'm proud of. The U.S. had also learned the value of technology and science through the war and had a big head start on that front as well, especially with the help of scientists and engineers from Nazi Germany. With a stellar economy and recovering trade partners the U.S. went through an incredible period of economic growth again through the 50's. It couldn't last forever but the U.S. was already so incredibly far ahead militarily, technically and economically that no one could conceivably catch up to them in any reasonable span of time (think 50 years). The U.S. has tried to keep that gap as wide as possible ever since.

Vietnam was a huge mistake on every level but the U.S. didn't start the conflict (which was going on before the Gulf of Tonkin) or create the inequity that did. That honor falls to the French.

The U.S. has done plenty to be ashamed of and I honestly think it's in a bit of decline today--with GW and his pals making it worse--but as bad as it is it's still the best game in town. The ideas still embedded in the U.S. constitution, under attack as they might be, played a big part in why the U.S. was able to grow as it did and why it behaved pretty well considering its size and power.

The fact that throughout most of its history the U.S. was new, young, strong, open, and composed of people from all over--the first "Mutt" country--had to have something to do with its rise to superpower status. People were told that if they worked hard enough in the U.S. they could have great lives and live free. That's a powerful motivator for the people that didn't have those opportunities where they came from. Multiply that extra motivation by millions of lives and it's got to make a big difference.

I can't say anything good about the current administration, the shenanigans that got them elected or the things that have happened on its watch like Katrina, Enron, or Iraq. But I still have faith in the U.S. If you're an American please do not give up on it. Get out and vote against the bastards. Even if they rig elections, trot out ridiculous social issues like Gay Marriage or Flag burning every time substantive issues threaten, set up political opponents as responsible for all the evils of the world when they control all branches of government, conduct our foreign policy in ways that make us hated--they can't win forever. America can move back towards what it should be. People will wake up here. I honestly believe that.

So I guess I don't agree with your basic idea that the U.S. has been more evil than most countries. Perhaps it has been more hypocritical than other countries that weren't founded on as great and noble of aspirations, but it isn't more evil. Dig in history books or even contemporary news and you'll find that nearly every country's government has its hands in all kinds of dirt. The U.S. just has higher stake dirt and very lofty ideals to live up to.

Answer 2

Superpowerdom is so delusional don't you think? Athenians thought that they were the Superpower in their time, the little guys ganged up on them, Thucydides tells the story, Athens never should have lost to Sparta,but they did. The story of the fall of Rome, sacked a couple of times by Vandals and Celts before the total collapse of the Empire. The most recent rise and fall of a Superpower was Nazi Germany, they were the economic and military powerhouse of the late thirties and even managed to assemble a coalition (axis). They by all rights should have been unbeatable. They were not. Again the world ganged up on them and kicked their butts, and then made fun of them in movies and on TV for the next fifty years with their beloved leader the symbol of ultimate evil and depravity.
And now the US is a Superpower. There is a saying that pride goes before a fall, I wonder if a great pride means a great fall.
The sense of caution that should be present in world politics and the willingness to use force to achieve political ends does not look good, the US is loosing friends at a very rapid rate, and as always everybody hates the power.
The US wants hegemony over the middle east and desires to establish a world empire, welcome to it,Empires are so expensive,so high maintanance,England could not afford it and like the wise bankers they are divested themselves of it as soon as they could (if the US had not rebelled it would likely have been told to look after itself fifteen years later anyhow), the Romans were basicly bankrupt through the last four or five centuries of their empire(balance of trade problems plus the fact that the taxes from the provinces were bled right back out to the provinces in military aid) So once again welcome to being the only Superpower. I only hope that My part of north america survives alright.

Answer 3

This is untrue, and it shows that you have never taken a US history class, and that you have a fairly bad grasp of twentieth century politics.

The US is a superpower because of WWII. After WWII, the former superpowers of England and France were decimated by bombs. They were in a crisis situation, because farmland had been destroyed and roads to transport any kind of food that was still available were also destroyed. Manufacturing centers had also been destroyed by bombs. England and France had built their power on having huge empires, but the crumbling of these empires that had begun in the first half of the twentieth century accelerated after WWII, partly because these countries could not adequately provide for people on their own soil.

The US, in contrast, was a more robust country because of WWII. Manufacturing was at it's peak because factories had been working so hard to create enough supplies for WWII, and jobs caused by the war in the military and manufacturing had made people in the US quite wealthy. Of course, when people in a country are wealthy, the government of the country is wealthy from taxes. The US was the strongest western country almost by default, since it had not been decimated in the same way the European countries had. If you'll read Truman's "four points" speech, he really lays out the plans that the US has to use their new-found power. We used it to lift Japan, England, France and other countries from poverty. Sure, we thought that by raising them from poverty we could prevent them from becoming communist countries, so our motives weren't entirely pure, but the fact is Europe and Asia's recoveries from WWII would have been much longer and more arduous without US help. We also were key in forming the UN, and we started NATO with other countries, so we were entering an era of taking charge in international collaborations for the safety and well-being of people around the world.

All these things combined to make the US a superpower. Now, I'm all for looking critically at the US, and we were doing some bad things even then in the 1950's, like our commie paranoia and testing of nuclear weapons on small islands we owned but didn't care about, but it's not those things that made us the superpower we are today. It was our incredible manufacturing capacity, the fact that we (unlike Europe and Asia) were not bombed repeatedly during WWII, and the new wealth that our country enjoyed in the 1950's. If you're going to criticize the US, my suggestion is that you first learn something about it.

Answer 4

Essentially, we're human. Because we are a superpower, we're under the microscope -- no other country would stand up to the kind of scrutiny we're expected to (i.e., your rant). I know I don't need to start naming things that other countries are doing and have done wrong.

We became a superpower by luck, a work strong, capitalistic work ethic (given to us by the good Brits and being a colony country), being large, beating up countries who we didn't like/didn't like us, and more luck. Please note that we are not always wrong (see Hitler, downfall of) but certainly not always right (see Saddam Hussein, rise of). Also, it is ridiculous (and I'm sure that you're intelligent enough to realize it) to blame an entire country for things like Vietnam, Katrina, and Enron. Vietnam wasn't bad for anyone but us and the poor Vietnamese who eventually were taken over by a Communist state. Enron was a few people. Katrina was a natural disaster, and if our reaction sucked, that's our problem, not anyone else's. As far as "just about every Presidential election," that's totally subjective.

Finally, you ALWAYS remember the bad things (especially when you want to) and forget the good (especially when you want to).

Answer 5

Critical timing in wartime investments are what created the superpower we know today. WWII was the real capper. We had a significant amount of money invested on both sides of the fence. Who did we help? England, but only after it looked like they were going to lose. We had the most capital invested in England's forces. We couldn't get a return on money from a country that no longer exists, so we bailed them out to ensure a sound investment return. We have done this for every war since the beginning of our tiny little country. We also generated a great deal of clout during the days prior to the Civil War, as we were the number one cotton producing nation, and used slave-labor to achieve the largest market share. Research U.S. Wartime Economy, and you will discover that we achieve the most financial success in the years during and following a war.

Answer 6

Hitler made us a superpower by almost destroying the original superpowers of England, France, Portugal, Spain, and Germany. The last ones standing was Russia and USA. China came along once they decided to break away from Japans iron rule and became a superpower.

Answer 7

By Inventing the Atom Bomb, and using it. Anyplace that has usable Atomic Weapons is a Superpower. News always reports on the bad. They (the press) would not tell you how many times the government got it right, or did a good job. Now would they?

Answer 8

America wont be a superpower for long

Answer 9

you got it. Every empire in the world was forged on the backs of politics and soldiers. Lucky us that we came up on top.

Lets think about other countries that tried and failed.

Japan tried to Conquer Asia and attacked US and got bombed

Germany tried to conquer the world and lost 70% of their male populatin above the age of 14

Russia colapsed

Should I keep going. there is no innocent nation here. We are just better at it so wuite being jelous and go back to your cave.

Answer 10

Blood ,Sweat and Tears. We might stumble from time to time ,but we have the best system going. It works better than most . We have bad people its true , but in a system as ours is I'll take it any day rather than Communisim or be in a poor nation.
You can get or do anything you want , go get it.
Remember who fought to keep your freedom.