How and why did the US become a superpower as a result of World War II? What were (and still are) the positive and negative implications of superpower...

None of
the epic battles ofhappened on American soil. (Hawaii, which is where the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor took place, was not yet an American state). This meant that the United States did
not suffer the appalling devastation meted out to European cities on both sides of the conflict
during the War. As such, the country didn't need to embark on any painstaking economic
reconstruction after the War ended. With its cities intact, and with its economic strength
considerably enhanced, not least by full employment, the United States was able to establish
itself as one of the world's two superpowers.

In addition, the position of
the United States was further enhanced by its possession of the atomic bomb. The devastating
attacks on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had alerted the world to the fact that
the United States not only possessed weapons of mass destruction, but was prepared to use
them.

Being a superpower entails certain responsibilities. In positive terms,
this means that the United States can use its superior economic and military power to good
effect. Whether it's through humanitarian intervention or diplomatic peace initiatives, American
power has the unique ability to make the world safer, more peaceful, and more
prosperous.

The downside of such huge responsibility, however, is that it can
so easily be abused. And there's no doubt that, at various times since the end of World War II,
American power has been used for nefarious ends. All too often, successive American governments
have used the country's immense economic, military, and diplomatic power to prop up unsavory
regimes in places like Latin and Central America. Critics of the United States have also
highlighted sharp trade practices that enrich American businesses, many of them billion-dollar
multinationals, at the expense of domestic producers in the developing
world.