Theodore Roosevelt’s Foreign Policy
Theodore Roosevelt came to the presidency intent on expanding U.S. power abroad and with a belief that
America should be strong and ready to defend its interests around the world. The U.S. population, wealth,
industrial production, and military might contributed to a national sense of power. Many sought to expand the
United States outside of its borders, or imperialism. A main reason for this was to increase economic power.
The former Rough Rider entertained boyishly romantic notions of glory on the battlefield. This notion was
bolstered by works of Alfred Thayer Mahan (The Influence of Sea Power) and Rudyard Kipling’s famous poem,
“The White Man’s Burden.” It was only near the end of his life, when he experienced great personal tragedy
during World War I, that Roosevelt truly realized the brutal nature of war.
Roosevelt influenced U.S. foreign policy even before he became president. As Assistant Secretary of the Navy
under President William
McKinley, he lobbied for a
stronger Navy. Fearing the
danger of Spanish control of
Cuba, TR advocated war
against Spain -- he even
presented a written war plan to
McKinley, which McKinley
promptly ignored. When the
U.S. battleship Maine
exploded in Havana Harbor in
1898, Roosevelt was eager to
place the blame on Spain.
Left in charge of the Navy for
a day while his boss was away, the hawkish Assistant Secretary telegrammed squadron commanders in the
Pacific and put them on high alert against Spain's Pacific fleet -- a brazen usurpation of power. Two months
later, the U.S. declared war on Spain, and Roosevelt resigned his Navy position to organize the First Volunteer
Cavalry, known popularly as the Rough Riders, a motley mix of men from all walks of life. The gentleman
soldier led his troops to a bloody victory on Cuba's San Juan Hill and returned home a bonafide hero, brimming
with imperialistic fervor. He forever remembered his "crowded hour" in battle as the defining episode of his life
and one that helped launch his national political career.
Following President McKinley's assassination in September, 1901, Roosevelt, then vice president, ascended to
the presidency, bringing his imperialistic philosophy with him. Roosevelt had long advocated the building of
a Central American canal, linking the Pacific to the Atlantic. In 1903, when negotiations with Colombia for a
canal zone lease broke down, Roosevelt quietly supported a revolution in that country. Fighting began on
November 3rd. Days later, with tacit support from TR, the independent country of Panama emerged from
Colombian control, sporting an American-made declaration of
independence, constitution, and flag. Panama rapidly agreed to American
terms on a canal zone lease, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began
digging the following year. After years of intense battles against the
elements, disease, and engineering enigmas, the Panama Canal opened
officially on August 15, 1914. The world scarcely noticed. German troops
were driving across Belgium toward Paris; the newspapers relegated
Panama to their back pages. The greatest engineering project in the history
of the world had been dwarfed by the totality of World War I.
In 1904, when the Dominican Republic defaulted on its European debt,
Roosevelt drafted the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine (“Big
"Teddy for Ruler of the World"
Library of Congress
Stick Diplomacy”) -- the U.S. would freely intervene in any nation in the Western Hemisphere guilty of "brutal
wrongdoing." When the Italian Navy steamed into the Caribbean to collect its due, Roosevelt enforced the
corollary. Under pressure from Roosevelt, the Dominicans requested U.S. assistance. The U.S. took over
collection of Dominican customs revenue, and set up a debt repayment plan, forestalling European intervention.
Fond of quoting the African proverb "Speak softly and carry a big stick," the militaristic Roosevelt was also
capable of shrewd diplomacy and peace making. When Japan went to war with Russia over control of
Manchuria and Korea in 1905, Roosevelt arbitrated the dispute. TR secretly agreed to Japanese annexation of
Korea. In return, the Japanese promised to keep their hands off of China, Hawaii, and the Philippines. The
combatants laid down their arms, Roosevelt won the Nobel Peace Prize -- the first American to win the award -and the U.S. strengthened its position in Asia and the Pacific. In an effort to discourage further trouble in Asia,
Roosevelt sent sixteen new, gleaming white battleships, dubbed “the Great White Fleet,” to Asian ports and
elsewhere around the world.
In 1906, Roosevelt again brokered peace, this time when France and Germany squabbled over control of
Morocco. Many believe that a peaceful resolution to this conflict delayed the start of World War I by a decade.
A proponent of U.S. intervention in World War I, Roosevelt sneered at President Woodrow Wilson's neutrality,
and was overjoyed when the U.S. declared war. His joy was short lived. All five of Roosevelt's sons served the
Allied cause, and all returned safely, save one. Quentin Roosevelt, TR's youngest son, was shot down in a
dogfight on July 14, 1918. Roosevelt publicly maintained that it was better for Quentin to have served and died
than not to have served at all, but the boy's death had a profoundly diminishing effect on the old Rough Rider.
He followed his son to the grave less than six months later, on January 6, 1919.
Questions:
1. Which ideology said it was the right of the U.S. government to intervene in the affairs of Latin American
countries while maintaining that European powers should stay out of Latin America?
a. Monroe Doctrine
b. Dollar Diplomacy
c. Roosevelt Corollary
d. Panamanian Exposition
2. By the 1890s, the U.S. was bursting with a new sense of power generated by an increase in:
a. Population
b. Wealth
c. Industrial production
d. All of the above
3. A major factor in the shift in American foreign policy toward imperialism in the late 19th century was:
a. Roosevelt’s need to spread American religions and values
b. The need to expand industrial and agricultural production
c. Control of sea and land power by the U.S. military
d. The increase in tariff barriers between nations
4. Write an introductory paragraph of 4-5 sentences (including a thesis statement) on the following question:
Assess the validity of the statement, “Theodore Roosevelt transformed American foreign relations with “Big
Stick Diplomacy.”