T. Roosevelt’s Foreign Policy
Chapter 27
Objective #1
• Explain the growing U.S. involvement in
East Asia, and summarize America’s
“Open Door” policy toward China.
Objective #2
• Discuss the significance of the “proimperialist” Republican victory in 1900
and the rise of Theodore Roosevelt as a
strong advocate of American power in
international affairs.
Objectives #3 and #4
• Describe Roosevelt’s policies in Latin
America and Japan
• Explain the Roosevelt Corollary to the
Monroe Doctrine.
Theodore Roosevelt
• Vice President for
McKinley’s second
term
• Becomes President
after McKinley
assassinated by
anarchist Leon
Czolgosz in 1901.
TR Divided the World
• Civilized: Anglo-Saxon and/or EnglishSpeaking
• Uncivilized: The Rest
• Civilized had the responsibility to police
the uncivilized
• Civilized must spread superior values
and institutions
• “White Man’s Burden”
TR and War
• Civilized had to fight wars against
uncivilized
– Justified to bestow blessings of culture
and racial superiority on the vanquished
• War between two civilized countries
was wasteful and foolish
1900 USA
• 75 million people
• More populous than many European
countries with colonies
• TR: this justifies expansion and
colonization
TR and Politics
• First President to use face-to-face
negotiations with other leaders
• Often took action before Congress
could decide things
• TR believed Congress was too slow to
play a significant role in foreign affairs
• Was a very strong President--and
returned strength to the presidency
Panama: The King’s Crown
1850  Clayton-Bulwer
Treaty (w/GB).
1901  Hay-Paunceforte
Treaty (US would build
canal w/out GB).
1903  Hay-Bunau-Varilla
Treaty (Panama Canal)
This treaty occurred
after US helped Panama
gain independence from
Colombia.
Panama Canal
TR in Panama
(Construction begins in
1904)
U.S. in Caribbean
• As U.S. economic interests increased, U.S.
policy towards “outsiders” strengthens
• U.S. wants economic dominance
• 1902: Germany and Britain blockade
Venezuela over debt
– TR demands they accept U.S. arbitration and
threatens war
– Showed we would use force
Speak Softly,
But Carry a Big Stick!
The Roosevelt Corollary to the
Monroe Doctrine: 1905
Chronic wrongdoing… may in
America, as elsewhere,
ultimately require
intervention by some civilized
nation, and in the Western
Hemisphere the adherence
of the United States to the
Monroe Doctrine may force
the United States, however
reluctantly, in flagrant cases
of such wrongdoing or
impotence, to the exercise
of an international police
power .
U.S. Intervention in Cuba
• Cuba: Platt Amendment attached to new
Cuban constitution
– Gave U.S. economic rights
– Gave U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay
– Gave U.S. right to intervene if Cuban sovereignty
was threatened
• U.S. sent in military when civil war broke out
in 1906
• Unpopularity forced U.S. to abolish in 1934
(except giving up Guantanamo)
The Great White Fleet: 1907
Constable of the World
Russo-Japanese War (1904)
• TR hopes countries would negate each
other’s power
• Japan winning battles
• TR fears Japan would try to shut U.S.
out of Asian markets
• Japan approaches TR to facilitate
peace agreement
Treaty of Portsmouth: 1905
Nobel Peace Prize for Teddy
Root-Takahira Agreement
(1908)
• Japan honors U.S. control of Philippines
and Hawaii.
• U.S. honors Japanese control of Korea
and Manchuria
• Japan promised not to further encroach
on China.
• But, tension grows between U.S. and
Japan due to rivalry in Pacific.
Gentleman’s Agreement: 1908
A Japanese note agreeing
to deny passports to
laborers entering the U.S.
Japan recognized the U.S.
right to exclude Japanese
immigrants holding passports
issued by other countries.
The U.S. government got the
school board of San Francisco
to rescind their order to
segregate Asians in separate
schools.