In the immediate aftermath of World War I, when war was still raging in Eastern Europe, the United States deployed staggering financial resources to aid needed civilian populations, feed starving children, and rebuild European villages, cities, and towns. Although such initiatives were privately funded by humanitarian and philanthropic organizations, the US Congress played an important part in deciding who was worthy of American aid. Beyond immediate aid to destitute populations, Americans participated in refashioning the European borders and actively supported the emergence of new political entities and nation states. In focusing on how Americans participated in rebuilding Europe in the aftermath of World War I, this panel shows that through diplomacy, education, food programs, humanitarian interventions, and subtle propaganda, US foreign policy did not simply seek to aid those suffering in Europe; it expected to contribute to the reorganization of the European order, specifically on the east where Bolshevism was seen as a threat that could imperil both stability in Europe as well as the United States’ standing worldwide.

At the federal level, in recognizing Finland as an independent sovereign state, the United States indirectly shaped Europe’s eastern borders, interfering with Russian domestic politics. Similarly, at the local level, humanitarian interventions in the Baltics partly sought to spread a positive image of the United States, counter the spread of Bolshevism, and discredit it as an ideology. Such missions informed the underlying goals that the United States nourished in the region; to defeat an ideology they regarded as corrosive and dangerous. Concurrently, Americans weaponized humanitarian missions in an attempt to protect the social and political order in Europe and, they hoped, in Russia one day. Americans rescued refugee children who had escaped following the Russian Revolution. Humanitarians envisioned Russian children as future leaders who could one day play a significant role in Russia’s reconstruction after the Bolsheviks’ expected downfall.

Panelists argue that between 1918 and 1924, Americans combatted an ideology using diplomatic, educational, and humanitarian means. Although they sought to help Russians, they wanted to defeat Bolshevism and began envisioning containing Russia. In doing so, they participated in the reorganization of Eastern European borders. Americans weaponized humanitarian missions to achieve short-term and long-term goals in Eastern Europe and ended up redrawing Eastern European borders while ensuring the stability of the European continent. Panelists hope to open discussion on the evolution of interwar US humanitarianism and its politically charged nature.