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A Lifeline For Millions: American Relief In An Age Of Isolationism, Matteo Marsella

The Forum: Journal of History

American military involvement in the Great War is a widely discussed aspect of the conflict. The period following the war is often considered an example of American isolationist foreign policy. Lesser well known are American efforts to provide food relief to starving populations in Europe, which began during and continued well after the war's conclusion. This paper seeks to locate American relief efforts within broader postwar foreign policy. Although President Harding’s 1920 election victory on a platform of a “return to normalcy” is often construed as a rejection of Wilsonian internationalism and a return to prewar isolationism, there is no …