During and just after World War II, the nations of the Western Hemisphere entered into several mutual pacts. Many political leaders viewed such pacts as necessary steps to contain communism.
Inter-American cooperation went a step further in 1948, when delegates from the nations of the Western Hemisphere met at Bogota, Colombia, and founded the Organization of American States (OAS). The goal of the organization was economic, military, and cultural cooperation among the nations of the Western Hemisphere. The group still exists today and aims to prevent outside states from intervening in the Western Hemisphere and to maintain peace among member nations.
The founding of the OAS represented a continuation of the Good Neighbor Policy, through which the United States sought cooperation with its southern neighbors. This ideal, however, proved difficult to achieve. Although the OAS supported American intervention in the revolution in the Dominican Republic in 1965, the situation soured United States-Latin American relations. Today the OAS has 35 members, including nearly all of the independent countries in the Western Hemisphere.
