The 20th century marked a significant turning point in world affairs. Significant changes in culture, technology, and diplomacy highlight this century. Great triumphs of human ingenuity such as the first manned aircraft and the Model T gave way to some of the worst tragedies the world has ever seen. These tragedies, in the form of two world wars and several smaller conflicts, gave rise to the United States’ stance as the world’s premier superpower. The United States could not have played such a vital role in these conflicts without support from its people. As technology and education has grown and advanced, so has public opinion in the United States. Public opinion in the 20th Century has been crucial to U.S. military involvement in all of its military conflicts.

At the turn of the 20th Century, America had a strong stance of isolationism in world affairs. Americans were hesitant and even unwilling to get involved with the affairs of European countries. This isolationism caused America to announce its neutrality as the first shots were fired in World War I.

The government was created with the idea that military is controlled by civilians as part of a checks and balance system. Without it, the United States government would be much like Imperial Japan - a figurehead government controlled by the military. Instead, the people elect a civilian who responds to public opinion while serving as Commander in Chief of the armed forces. America has had several opportunities in the 20th century to institute that form of check on the government.

Between 1935 and 1937, Congress passed three separate neutrality laws that created an embargo on arms sales to belligerents, forbade American ships from entering war zone and prohibited them from being armed, and barred Americans from traveling on belligerent ships. Reflecting the sentiment of the American public, Congress was determined not to repeat what it had regarded as the mistakes that had plunged America into World War I.

In 1940, the first peacetime draft for ages 20-36 was instituted. This set up 6,000 local draft boards under General Lewis B. Hershey.

Korea was the first war in the history of the United States where the U.S. neither won nor lost. The United States and Russia both stayed in Korea after World War II. Russia set up a communist government in North Korea under Kim Il-Sum, while the South set up a democracy under Sigmon Rhee. On June 25, 1950, North Korea overran South Korea. In 1953, the war ended with 54,000 men killed and 104,000 wounded. The United States emerged from the war having accomplished nothing. The public was distraught by the “tie.” Many felt that it was a total failure, since nothing was accomplished.

It is here that one realizes that by not “sticking its head in the sand,“ America, along with its allies in Europe, could have easily prevented a second world war. To fully understand this, one must go back to a town in Germany known as Munich, where the word appeasement would take on an ugly meaning.

The growth of Germany’s territory was looked at by Americans as Europe’s problems. Groups such as the America First movement led by Charles Lindbergh promoted isolationism in foreign policy. President Roosevelt furiously tried to sway public opinion toward intervention, but the isolationist movement was too strong. Roosevelt’s attempts to repeal the neutrality laws and quarantine Germany were in vain. America wanted nothing to do with war. Germany was no real threat to their way of life.

President Richard Nixon’s campaign was based around a strategy to get America out of the war. In 1970, the number of troops in Vietnam started to fall and by 1972 there were only 47,000 troops compared to 539,000 in 1969. While the United States was backing out of the quicksand pit known as Vietnam, the Cold War was far from over.

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