History 479B
Devine
Fall 2012
Study Questions for Warren Cohen, Empire Without
Tears, Chapter 2
- According to international
bankers like Thomas Lamont, why would U.S.
cancellation of European debts after World War I and a reduction of the U.S.
tariff have benefited American businesses and workers? Why was it politically impossible to
have such policies enacted?
- After the war,
why did European nations need American dollars? In what ways did Americans help to get
these dollars into European hands?
In what ways did United
States make it difficult for Europeans
to get these dollars?
- Why was it to
the Americans’ benefit that Europeans had dollars to spend?
- Why would an
American involved in the export business support generous loans to France and Germany?
- Why was the U.S. government unsuccessful in its efforts
to persuade businessmen to increase their exports to China and bankers to increase their
investments in China?
- In what ways was
the relationship between the federal government and Thomas Lamont similar
to the relationship between the federal government and the leaders of
industry who served on the War Industries Board? In each relationship, who seemed to have
the upper hand?
- To maintain its
rate of economic expansion, U.S. businesses needed easy
access to two things. What were they?
- During the
1920s, the U.S.
was the leading importer and consumer of raw materials. The European powers often controlled the
sources of these raw materials. How
did they use this leverage to exact concessions from the U.S.? What concessions did they want?
- Why was the
whole international economic system of the 1920s dependent on the outflow
of long-term loans from the United States? How were German reparations, French war
debt, and American loans all related?
Why was this an unstable system?
- What were the
international consequences of American businessmen and bankers’ decisions
to establish factories or capital investments in some foreign countries
but not in others? For these
nations, what were the tradeoffs of the U.S. economic presence in
their country?
- During the
1920s, how did the United
States use its economic power
throughout the world and what was the impact? What influence did the U.S.
government have on the uses and impact of American economic power during
this period?