Imperial
Inheritance
|
Roosevelt purposely shaped the legacy of expansionism that he inherited
from McKinley into a "new imperialism." Roosevelt's
reinterpretation
was dedicated to (1) order in world affairs rather than occupation or
colonization; (2) eventual independence for undeveloped or developing
nations once they had conformed to the American model of government and
democracy; and (3) a world in which international disputes would be
settled by arbitration instead of war. The new world order that
Roosevelt envisioned was all-encompassing in that it would open foreign
markets to the penetration of American values, products, and
capital.
New imperialism viewed the world as divided between the civilized
(developed) nations and the uncivilized (colonial or undeveloped)
regions of the world. Roosevelt used this concept to justify U.S.
involvement in world affairs. He reasoned that America's superior
morals, history, and mission was in sharp contrast to that of corrupt
European dynasties or the "so-called" barbaric regions of the
non-western world—including Central and South America. To implement new imperialism, Roosevelt needed to equip the country with the proper ideals and programs. Forwarding his agenda required a strong navy (known as the Great White Fleet)—which Roosevelt built and sent on world tour in 1907. The president also realized that his foreign policy needed a strong commitment to the supervision of international disputes in the Caribbean; Roosevelt justified American's intervention in these matters by stating his "corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine. (See Caribbean Resentment section below.) Furthermore, Roosevelt advocated that a powerful chief executive must be willing to use force when necessary while practicing the art of persuasion. When possible, he said, "speak softly and carry a big stick." In practice, Roosevelt's was one of the few presidencies in which U.S. forces did not engage in hostilities. In Roosevelt's view, his new imperialism also offered the promise of making the whole world safe, sane, and spiritual—meaning Christian, and solvent. These are the goals that linked American missionaries to investment bankers, manufacturers, military expansionists (Alfred Mahan), and farmers eager for new markets. |
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| Panama Canal |
The most spectacular of Roosevelt's foreign policy initiatives involved
the Panama Canal.
It had been the dream for years of U.S. naval leaders
and internationalists to build a passage between the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans through Central America. During the war with
Spain,
American ships in the Pacific had to steam around the tip of South
America in two-month voyages to join the U.S. fleet off the coast of
Cuba. In negotiations with Britain, the U.S. secured support for an
American controlled canal (Hay-Pauncefote
Treaties, 1901) that would be
constructed either in Nicaragua or through a strip of land (Panama)
owned by Colombia. In a flourish of closed-door maneuvers that
favored
special interests, the Senate approved a route through Panama if
Colombia agreed. When Colombia balked at the terms, Roosevelt
supported
a Panamanian revolution with money, naval support, and
mercenaries. The Hay-Bunau-Varilla
Treaty
with Panama gave the U.S. perpetual control of
the canal for a price of $10 million and an annual rent of $250,000. Completed in 1914, the $400 million project was greeted in America as one of the world's greatest engineering feats—equivalent in resources and technology to placing a man on the moon in the 1960s. By 1925, over 5,000 merchant ships traversed the forty miles of locks each year. It shortened the voyage from San Francisco to New York by more than 8,000 miles. Nearly 30,000 workers, imported mainly from the West Indies, labored ten hour days at 10 cents an hour for ten years in its construction. In building the canal, the U.S. eliminated yellow fever and greatly advanced U.S. technological knowledge and engineering skills. This project also converted the Panama Canal Zone into a major staging area for American military forces, making the U.S. the dominant military power in Central America. |
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| Caribbean
Resentments |
As in the Philippines, Cuban nationalists resented U.S. dominion.
They
revolted in 1906, prompting Roosevelt to enforce order at the hands of
U.S. Marines. The
Platt Amendment to the Cuban constitution had
prohibited the island nation from making independent treaties with
other nations, granted the U.S. the right to intervene to preserve
Cuban independence or to maintain public order, and leased a naval base
to the U.S. (at Guantanamo Bay) for a lease term without end. The
Marines stayed in Cuba until 1909. Similar protectorate status governed Puerto Rico, the other island nation acquired from Spain in 1898. In the Dominican Republic, Roosevelt ordered the U.S. Navy to supervise port revenues and customs for the island nation to avoid possible military actions by Germany and England in collection of unpaid debts. By the end of his second term, five island nations were protectorates of the U.S. as justified by the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine: Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Cuba, Panama, and Haiti. His corollary, which Roosevelt proclaimed in 1904, defined U.S. responsibilities as policeman of South and Central America—entrusted with the imperial duty of "spanking" those nations that stepped out of line. |
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| Prestige in
Europe |
In Europe, Roosevelt gained great prestige on two occasions. In
1905 he
offered his "good offices" to help Russia and Japan directly negotiate
a peace to end the Russo-Japanese
War. Gathering parties from both sides at Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, Roosevelt helped negotiate the Portsmouth
Peace Treaty that ended the war. Roosevelt
believed that U.S. interests in China
were
best served by a weakened Russian influence on Manchuria and
Korea.
According to a separate agreement suggested by Roosevelt, Japan gained
dominance over Korea and increased influence in Manchuria.
The terms of the agreement, in effect, elevated Japan's
status as an imperial power in the Pacific region. For his assistance
in ending the war, Roosevelt was awarded the
Nobel Prize for Peace. Roosevelt also arbitrated the Franco-German dispute over the division of Morocco. The settlement reached at Algeciras, Spain (1906) saved face for Germany but gave France undisputed control over Morocco. This maneuver opened the way for England to have its way in Egypt. Some historians think that Roosevelt's intervention in these two hot spots averted fighting that might have engulfed all of Europe and Asia in a world war. In any case, Roosevelt's actions greatly strengthened Franco-Anglo ties with the United States. |
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| Foreign Policy Legacy |
In foreign policy, Roosevelt's internationalism positioned America as
the leader of a western alliance that eventually would engage
totalitarian, colonialism (Kaiser's Germany, fascism (Hitler's
Germany), and communism (the cold war) in a struggle for world
order.
Behind his warlike, "big stick" jingoism and pompous diplomacy stood a
foreign policy that emphasized arbitration and world courts over war,
the free movement of American goods and capital anywhere in the world,
and the link between a powerful and reliable defense (rather than weak
agreements and bloodless leagues) and domestic prosperity. His
"new
imperialism" became the hallmark of American foreign policy in the new
century. It was the anvil upon which the United States attempted
to
forge all of Western Europe in its own image and likeness (a United
States of Europe) after World War II. |
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| Proceed to Next Lecture |
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| Other Sources |
Theodore Roosevelt: The Indomitable President (http://216.132.160.230/KoTrain/Courses/TR/TR_Foreign_Policy.htm). | |
© Kahne Parsons, 2007-08