The façade of defending democracy

US Imperialism and the military-industrial complex, 1933 to 1964

     In my last commentary of June 25, I looked at the emergence of U.S. imperialism in Latin America from the 1890s to 1932.  I described imperialism as the search for markets and raw materials in other lands, which was an integral component of U.S. economic development during the period.  I maintained that imperialism was a logical response to the problem of overproduction, which was a consequence of the nineteenth century concentration of industry and the transition to the stage of monopoly capitalism. 

      Franklin D. Roosevelt assumed the presidency during the height of the Great Depression.  The deep impact of the depression on the economy undermined the legitimacy of the prevailing liberal ideology that had advocated little governmental intervention in the economy.  FDR adopted the prescriptions of the British economist John Maynard Keynes, who had called for state spending in order to give a boost to the economy and employment.  Keynes had maintained that higher wages and fu…