U.S. Foreign Policy in the Early
1900s
TR: “Walk softly, and carry
a big stick.”
• "I am interested in the
Panama Canal because I
started it. If I had
followed traditional,
conservative methods, I
should have submitted a
dignified state paper of
probably two hundred
pages to Congress, and
the debate would have
been going on yet. But I
took the Canal Zone, and
let Congress debate, and
while the debate goes on,
the Canal does also!” –
TR, 1911
• Roosevelt Corollary (1904): the U.S. would intervene in
Latin America whenever necessary, rather than European
powers
• The effect: poor relations with the entire region of Latin
America
Roosevelt Corollary
• In 1905, TR helped negotiate the Treaty of Portsmouth,
which ended a war between Japan and Russia and was
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
• Gentlemen’s Agreement:
• Root-Takahira Agreement (1908):
TR: Nobel Peace Prize
Winner!
• “Dollar Diplomacy:”
Taft
•
•
•
•
Jones Act:
Puerto Rico:
Panama Canal:
Intervention in the Caribbean and Latin America
continued
• Troops sent to occupy Nicaragua, Haiti, Dominican
Republic
Wilson’s Moral Diplomacy
• Revolution in Mexico: a
military dictator seizes power
in 1913; then replaced in 1914
by a more democratic leader
• Pancho Villa stages raids
across the border into the US
Pancho Villa