ally mixed. Also, Wilson named in his Fourteen Points the benefits of a single-race nation. Although these trends were an impossible task, the United States stuck to them nevertheless. Economic trends were also important. In the Spanish-American War, the United States key motivation for becoming involved was that it would open up and strengthen trade and American investments. Because of the growing need to strengthen its opportunities in Asia, the Philippines played a key role in the American declaration of war against Spain. World War I provided the economic boom that the United States needed in order to become the leading world power while World War II helped to put an end to the worst economic depression in American history. Diplomatic politics revealed the United States awareness that it was becoming a powerful nation. In the Spanish-American War, the U.S. virtually wasted no time telling Cuba, Spain, and the Philippines what to do; while in World War I and II, the U.S. exercised a lot more caution through playing the role of neutrality. As a result, the U.S. became an influential figure in post-World War negotiations. American foreign policies played extremely important roles in shaping these three wars and in return, the United States was appointed as the leading world power and the true nation of the twentieth century....
