# When and why did the United States become the sole representative of the West? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 22, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042 "2013-01-22T21:18:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheCrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a6a055/32.png) [@TheCrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCrow)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/1 "2013-01-22T21:18:40Z")
The title, please ☹ ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/2 "2013-01-22T21:25:54Z")
Can we have a cite that the US is the sole representative of The West? Also, reported for forum change. ---
**Author:** ![TheCrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a6a055/32.png) [@TheCrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCrow)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/3 "2013-01-22T21:30:21Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Can we have a cite that the US is the sole representative of The West? > > Also, reported for forum change. > [@](#): > > The United States became the sole representative of the West after 1972, when Great Britain, poor and humbled, could no longer afford to maintain a full military force in the region. > **[Anthropology | Brown University](https://anthropology.brown.edu)** > > The Department of Anthropology is home to a vibrant community of faculty, students, and staff broadly interested in the study of humanity, past and present. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Skinley\_Von\_Clipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@Baron\_Skinley\_Von\_Clipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Skinley_Von_Clipper)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/4 "2013-01-22T21:32:44Z")
Was it 1972, when Britain withdrew their military assets in the region due to being poor and humbled? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/5 "2013-01-22T21:37:54Z")
> [@TheCrow](#): > > **When and why did the United States become the sole representative of the West?** When its collective ego grew large enough to believe its own fantasies. In other words, it isn’t. [“The West”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_world) doesn’t have a representative. It’s not an organization. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/6 "2013-01-22T21:40:38Z")
The question is very ambiguous. The sole representative of the West with respect to what? Military power? Culture? Language? Diplomacy? The Economy? A special “Representative of the West” position appointed by the UN? Last I checked, Germany was still an industrial powerhouse cranking out cars by the thousands that are sold all over the West, including the US, and France is still speaking French. True, France is speaking French today thanks to the help it has received from the US, but the US didn’t stick around and try to impose English. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/7 "2013-01-22T21:43:30Z")
This is more IMHO territory, but after WWII, the US was left with its industry in tact. American manufacturing was ideally set up to produce many of the goods needed to rebuild much of Asia and Europe after the war. From that position, the US was able to leverage the cold war conflict with the USSR to pull much of the West into the US political sphere. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US has seen a diminished role in world at large and no longer is able to exert the same level of political, military and economic influence over the West. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/8 "2013-01-22T21:45:01Z")
I’d agree with the suggestion of after World War II. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/9 "2013-01-22T21:48:02Z")
> [@TheCrow](#): > > [Anthropology | Brown University](http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Anthropology/publications/Oppose.htm) Why did you open this thread if you already knew “the answer”? ---
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/10 "2013-01-22T21:50:22Z")
Depends on what you mean by “the west”. If you mean ‘industrialized nations outside Asia, Africa, and the Middle East’ that’s simply a result of being the largest, most powerful country in that category. I suspect the Reagan doctrine (US is defender of democracy around the globe) also played a large part in that. If you mean North and South America, that happened with the Monroe Doctrine in the late 1820’s. Here’s wikipedia’s cite: [Monroe Doctrine - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe_Doctrine) . (Wikipedia may not be authoritative or trustworthy, but even Cecil acknowledges it as “a good starting point”). ---
**Author:** ![TheCrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a6a055/32.png) [@TheCrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCrow)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/11 "2013-01-22T22:02:00Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Why did you open this thread if you already knew “the answer”? `after 1972`: When exactly? `when Great Britain, poor and humbled, could no longer afford to maintain a full military force in the region. `: I’d like to have an in-depth explanation of this. Step by step ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/12 "2013-01-22T22:04:52Z")
Would you like it in 1200 words single spaced and submitted by Friday or something else? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/13 "2013-01-22T22:13:42Z")
Americans like to call their president Leader of the Free World, which even when I was a kid, I thought was a really pompous thing to say. A lot of this is just something Americans tell themselves to feel better about our crappy mass transit systems. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/14 "2013-01-22T22:26:09Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Americans like to call their president Leader of the Free World, which even when I was a kid, I thought was a really pompous thing to say. A lot of this is just something Americans tell themselves to feel better about our crappy mass transit systems. Would you rather we just called him the man with robotic spy planes roaming the skies ready to cap your ass as soon as you stick your head above ground? Or the guy with his finger on the button that can send your puny and insignificant country back to the stone age? Pompous? Leader of the free world just seems so much more civil and nicer; less threatening. Who needs mass transportation when you can have mass destruction? It’s much better to be friends and let us lead. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/15 "2013-01-22T22:30:14Z")
> [@TheCrow](#): > > `after 1972`: When exactly? > `when Great Britain, poor and humbled, could no longer afford to maintain a full military force in the region. `: I’d like to have an in-depth explanation of this. Step by step Sorry, not in depth, but check the wikipedia entry for “East of Suez .” Briefly , after devaluation of the pound in 1968, the British Government decided to withdraw much of its military presence in the Middle East and Asia with effect from 1971. ---
**Author:** ![TheCrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a6a055/32.png) [@TheCrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCrow)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/16 "2013-01-22T22:43:32Z")
> [@Grey](#): > > Would you like it in 1200 words single spaced and submitted by Friday or something else? I apologize for the annoying tone in my post. I merely would like to learn which sources, articles, books etc. I should look for. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/17 "2013-01-22T23:43:10Z")
Too vague to be a Genral Question. Moved to IMHO. **samclem** , moderator ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2013, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/18 "2013-01-22T23:45:27Z")
The west of what? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/19 "2013-01-23T02:30:07Z")
The West of Middle-earth, of course: > **[The West of Middle-earth at the End of the Third Age](https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_West_of_Middle-earth_at_the_End_of_the_Third_Age)** > > The West of Middle-earth at the End of the Third Age is the title of a map drawn by Christopher Tolkien in 1980, it is the new version of an older map made back... ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042/20 "2013-01-23T02:43:51Z")
> [@TheCrow](#): > > `after 1972`: When exactly? > `when Great Britain, poor and humbled, could no longer afford to maintain a full military force in the region. `: I’d like to have an in-depth explanation of this. Step by step But your question comes from a very odd place. You read that article and you seem to take it as generally-accepted fact, while it seems to me like a very slanted piece of pure opinion. Either way, I think the best way to answer your question would be for you to ask the author of that piece. The article says he is: “William O. Beeman is an anthropologist teaching at Brown University.” When I googled that quoted sentence, the first hit was Mr Beeman’s own webpage at Brown university, and it seems to include his personal phone number. The second hit was his Wikipedia page, which offers more info about him. He does not seem to be dead, retired, or even difficult-to-find. ``` Go right to the source and ask the horse. He'll give you the answer that you'll endorse. He's always on a steady course. Talk to Mister Beeman! ``` [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-and-why-did-the-united-states-become-the-sole-representative-of-the-west/648042.md?page=2)