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The United States had not intended to become involved in the conflict in 1939. The 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor led to massive American involvement in both the Atlantic and Pacific Wars. Propping up the Western Allies, U.S.-led troops occupied most of Western Europe, Greece, and much of Asia. President Roosevelt and his successor Harry Truman were led by a combination of democratic idealism with the harsh reality of the failures of the Treaty of Versailles. Seeking to learn from the mistakes from the end of World War I and the interwar era, the U.S. served as a stabilizing force against post-war chaos and Soviet expansionism.

The United States propped up a number of democratic capitalist states in Europe. The Americans also pressed for free and fair elections across the Soviet occupied zones but with the understanding that this may not be realistic. American intelligence services heavily leaned on elections held in Europe, especially in Italy and France to avoid a Communist Party victory. The United States also introduced the Marshall Plan, a massive rebuilding project across Europe starting in 1948. This plan offered funding, equipment, and technical assistance across Europe, including for former Axis states, Allied states, neutral countries, and the U.S.S.R. and its satellites. Stalin rejected this aid, and forced the Eastern European states to do the same. By the time the program wound down in 1951, the U.S. gave $13 billion in many forms of assistance. The Marshall Plan effectively restarted the European economy, allowing industrial and agricultural production to surpass prewar levels and beyond. This laid the foundation for a massive boom, including the future German “economic miracle.” <ref>Kindleberger, Charles, ''Marshall Plan Days.'' New York: Routledge, 1987. Page 66.</ref>