7 - The 1920s – The Cultural Aspect

Summary

Peace as a dominant idea was a distinctive feature of the postwar decade. Peace was such an ideology in the 1920s. It is relevant to note in this context that women in various countries played an active part in promoting ideas about peace. One of the earliest transnational women's organizations, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, had been established on the eve of the Great War. The proposition that peace was an intellectual engagement led to a major contribution of the postwar period: the idea that cultural and intellectual cooperation among nations was an effective way of promoting peace. Americans were very much part of the cultural internationalism. Cultural and intellectual cooperation represented an earnest activity by the world's leaders to contribute to internationalism and peace, and Americans were very much part of the movement. American missionaries continued to engage in humanitarian work in China and India.