Skip to content

Final Writing Portion

Prompt

What is America's role in the world?

You can take this in any direction you would like: political, economical, militarily, socially, etc.

You can look at any one period of time from 1945 to present or examine the shift over time from the World Wars.

Criteria

  • Length needs to be 4-5 paragraphs.
  • There should be synthesis in your paragraphs-not just events. (synthesis: the combination of ideas to form a theory)
  • Please use examples from US history - events, acts, people, etc.

Response

America is known today as one of the world’s economic superpowers. Since WWII, the US plays a major role in global economy. For example, America has one of the biggest industries regarding technology innovation, which has brought America huge wealth. Another examples would be with the U.S dollar still (although decreasingly) being used as the global form of currency. We are also able to see how America can influence the global economy, with real-life examples such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict and how American decisions resulted in economic burdens on America. It’s important to analyze why and how the U.S rose to this position. Therefore, one of America’s roles in the world is to provide global economic stability as well as innovation with it’s economic superpower status.

One crucial initiative was the implementation of the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan aimed to help nations of Europe in their reconstruction efforts. The United States provided the money they would need, which at the time was around $10 billion dollars, which not only helped rebuild European infrastructure but also stimulated demand for American goods and services. The plan fostered economic interdependence and strengthened ties between the United States and its European allies, establishing America's economic influence on a global scale.

Another important topic to bring up is the innovation which America has done for the world. One of the first people to “innovate” could be the dude who created the cotton gin, which reduced the labor required for processing cotton back the the 1800s. From there, you would have people such as Henry Ford, who created cars using the unique assembly-line, lowering prices on cars to the point where the average American could own one. Henry Ford could be considered one the factors cars are so ingrained within American culture, which could also allow for the rapid urbanization/sprawl and creation of suburbs. Finally moving a bit closer, America would be home to the new technologies which we use today, such as the internet. I think the very first implementation of the internet came from Stanford and MIT/Harvard (not exactly sure which one) You also have Silicon Valley, where major companies such as Google, Apple, Oracle, Intel, etc. all are home to. The iPhone, which was released in the 2000s, was designed in California. Overall, the U.S has had a massive influence on the global world, in terms of economics and innovation.

Finally, I think it would be suitable to mention when exactly I would consider America to have established it’s economic dominance - after WWII, when America dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan. While the attacks were devastating for Japan, it allowed for America to establish itself as a world power - as we pretty much brought the end to WWII.

Overall, I think that America’s role in the world is to provide global economic stability and innovation with it’s economic superpower status. With examples such as the Marshall Plan assisting the European reconstruction efforts, innovation from Henry Ford to Silicon Valley, and America establishing itself as a world power, America proves itself to have role in the world as a major economic influencer globally.