After the Second World War, the world was more interesting in oil than ever before. The conflict itself made the countries of the world realize that oil was a serious factor in the quest for power. From this point in history, oil was considered the driving force behind a successful economy and therefore attaining power. Therefore the quest for oil heightened during and after World War II. In the effort to acquire more oil, many countries began to seek out additional locations to drill and this drove the United States to the Middle East. In late 1943 a man named DeGolyer who was a geologist went on a mission to Saudi Arabia to survey the possibility for oil. His mission there concluded that “the oil in this region is the greatest single prize in all history”. With such a conclusion it is not surprising that the United States began extremely concerned with the oil concessions there.
U.S. policymakers then began to focus on Mideast oil in 1943 and began to make decisions about whether or not the venture would work in the long run economically. However there was also another superpower that had their eye on the Middle East and its rich foundation of oil. The British began also to desire concessions in the Middle East and to become a contender in the race towards power. This competition caused problems between the two countries and in 1944 the countries attempted to form an agreement however, this agreement failed because of the opposition in the United States senate.
Therefore the two countries continued in their own pursuit for oil. This competition became extremely apparent in the battle for concessions in Saudi Arabia. On February 13, 1945: President Roosevelt met with the King of Saudi and made great strides with him personally...
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...nd eventually morph it into what it has become modernly. The industry is transformed over time into a cut-throat game of international relations. The United States specifically becomes overwhelmed with the amount of public relations that are involved. In many cases, the country has much more pull in the affairs than that of the United States’ interests. As a result, President Eisenhower imposes mandatory quotas which protect domestic oil and stabilize the price of U.S. oil.
After that global oil consumption increased and oil became the main source of energy for many countries. The United States government remained very involved in the relations for the oil industry because of its increasing importance to the global economy and its incredible conversion into international power. Foreign policy reflected their interest in the quest for oil and continues even today.
As the Reconstruction Era ended, the United States became the up and coming world power. The Spanish-American war was in full swing, and the First World War was well on its way. As a result of the open-door policy, England, Germany, France, Russia, and eventually Japan experienced rapid industrial growth; the United States decided to pursue a foreign policy because of both self- interest and idealism. According to the documents, Economic self- interest, rather than idealism was more significant in driving American foreign policy from 1895 to 1920 because the United States wanted to protect their foreign trade, property and their access to recourses. While the documents also show that Nationalistic thought (idealism) was also crucial in driving American foreign policy, economic Self- interest prevailed.
In the colonization period, the urge to conquer foreign territories was strong, and many lands in the Western Hemisphere were conquered. With the colonization of these areas, a mercantilist relationship was formed between the conquered civilization and the maternal country. A major part of this was the restriction of exportation of native resources only to the mother country as well as the banning of trading with colonies of other countries. In turn, there was an increasing in the number of smuggling activities during the time. According to a British sailor named William Taggart in 1760, the illegal smuggling of goods into these areas had a positive impact because it brought prosperity to the people in Monte Christi, as there were only one hundred poor families. Likewise, Dominica governor John Orde praised the trading because it created prices much lower than with its maternal country. However, British admiral David Tyrell, Roger Elletson, Dominica governor John Orde, and a 1790 Bahaman newspaper report all had similar views on the harmful effects and corruptness present in smuggling. Despite this, physician George Lipscomb and British Lieutenant Governor Thomas Bruce had neutral opinions on the matter, and only stated what they witnessed in the process.
Without the energy source that was provided by East Texas to power our industrial war machine. Then America would have failed. Conclusion: One of the greatest economic booms in history had an everlasting ripple effect on culture, businesses, and lifestyle in Texas. The discovery of oil in Texas allowed America to take a leap forward into a leading nation. Texas oil gave America a fighting edge to win the war, giving Americans an advantage to travel faster and quicker.
Throughout Europe in the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, nations were filled with poor and less fortunate individuals. While the nobles of countries such as France and England ruled their lands, many forgot about the underprivileged that roamed the city streets begging for alms. As a result, the opinions towards these lower class people were very differentiated. However, three main opinions stood out. All in all, the views of the poor in fifteenth – eighteenth century Europe included those who believed individuals should help the poor because it is the right thing to do, those who believed individuals should help the poor for God, and those who believed the poor were just idlers
In 1991, Saddam Hussein decided to declare massive aggression on the countries bordering Iraq. The most affected country was Kuwait. Due to the nature of their ties with the United States, Iraq had a well organized and equipped army that was capable of causing massive instability in Kuwait. The United States could not let this happen because of the importance of Kuwait to the US. Kuwait and the US were heavily involved in the oil business with Kuwait being one of the biggest oil suppliers in the world to the US. The aggression by Saddam Hussein to Kuwait was also a major threat to other Arab nations in the region that had formed trade ties with the US. The involvement of the US in this aggression became the first major predicament that President Bush faced regarding foreign policies and relations. The US could not allow Saddam to take over the Arab nations as that would pose a major threat to the supply of oil to the US. In addition, Iraq would have control over 20% of the world’s major oil supplies in the world. As a result President Bush responded to the Iraq despot’s power play with Kuwait to mobilize a global coalition with Arab nations in “Operation Desert Storm” that repelled Saddam Hussein’s aggression in 1991 (Crab and Mulcahy 255).
Carter’s main attempt to resolve the energy crisis came in the form of a national energy program that moved to conserve oil and promote alternative energy sources like coal and renewable energy sources. The President convinced Congress to form the Department of Energy, and pleaded with Americans to control their energy consumption. Oil companies however insisted on more deregulation of the energy industry. In order to prevent oil companies from taking advantage of the American consumer he ...
Arguments: America is dependent on other nations for their ability to create energy. The United States is the world’s largest consumer of oil, at 18.49 million barrels of oil per day. And it will continue to be that way for the foreseeable future, considering the next largest customer of oil only consumes about 60% of what the U.S. does. This makes the U.S. vulnerable to any instability that may arise in the energy industry. In 2011, the world’s top three oil companies were Saudi Aramco (12%), National Iranian Oil Company (5%), and China National Petroleum Corp (4%).
Oil has always been a coveted natural resource. Oil was discovered in the United States in 1859; since it was a young industry, it was without any structure. That is where John Davison Rockefeller stepped in. John Rockefeller was at one point one of the richest men in the world, monopolizing the oil industry which played a major role in shaping the economy.
Though the United States was the military power of the world prior to World War II, its foreign policy was one of detachment. The government was determined not to get involved in other countries affairs barring unusual circumstances. A World War provided big enough means to become involved, as many Americans became enraged with the military ambitions of Japan and Germany.
Numerous families living in small town America lost their income because of Standard Oil and forced hardship upon many. The legacy of John D. Rockefeller shall always live on as he has permanently shaped how this country looks. He has funded huge advancements in the fields of education and medicine along with starting the events to end lassiez-faire economics. The petroleum industry changed greatly during his career thanks to his research and completely new business methods were thought up of by him, some still in practice today.
Overall, America’s foreign policy changed dramatically throughout the course of the 20th century. From the Monroe Doctrine to the Vietnam War, foreign policy has had a major impact on American society. It has shifted from not interfering with internal European affairs, to maintaining internal peace and security, to containing the spread of Communism, to playing ping pong with the Chinese to create and maintain trade with them. The idea of Foreign Policy has changed since it has started and will continue to change until the United States of America is no longer.
Aside from national security interests domestic thirst for oil boomed. The war brought us out of the Great Depression. During the Depression a traditionally capitalist American society embraced a kind of socialism with the New Deal. WWII transformed the bear turned in a raging bull. Capitalism was back with a vengeance, charging forward stronger than it had ever been before. The heavy industry built up to sustain the war effort was retooled to meet the demands of the emerging consumerist culture of the 1950s. The new explosion of industrial output became so pervasive that the decade ended with President Eisenhower warning of the dangers of the growing “Military-Industrial Complex.”
The United States has had several scares throughout its history in terms of oil, most turn out to be over exaggerations of a small event. However, these scares highlight a massive issue with the U.S. and that issue is the U.S.’s dependence on foreign oil. Why does it matter that our oil should come from over seas? In a healthy economy this probably wouldn’t be as relevant, but the U.S.’s economy is not exactly healthy at the moment. There are 4 things that I would like to address: what the problem is, how it affects us, what some solutions are, and what solutions I feel are best.
Before 1953 foreigners, more specifically the British, and the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlevi, were the benefactors of the wealth generated by oil production. In 1953 Prime Minister Mosaddegh confronted the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and took control of oil production in Iran. His intent was to use the oil production profits to improve the lives of the Iranian people. The British response was a blockade of the Persian Gulf in conjunction with an economic boycott. This brought oil production to a standstill. Winston Churchill, The British Prime Minister, turned to the United States President, Dwight David Eisenhower, to intervene. Churchill suggested to Eisenhower that Iran was close to aligning with the Soviet Union. The U.S. policy of containment meant that the U.S. would step in to avoid the spread of Communism. (Prior Knowledge) Operation Ajax, a joint effort by the CIA and MI6, caused the Shah to dismiss Mosaddegh which caused many Iranians to hate America. (Document A) The Shah used the wealth generated by oil production to westernize Iran, giving women more rights, peasants an opportunity to own land, and better health care and education. (Document D) The S...
Significance: The United States must face the fact that the world is running out of oil and with today’s rising oil prices, economic and political instability in regions where the United States gets the majority of its oil, this country must begin looking into alternative means of energy to replace oil and end our dependence on foreign powers.