"Big Stick" Diplomacy

Pp. 603-610 in Brinkley text

5. TR made distinction between “civilized”
& “uncivilized” nations
•Based on race & economic development
Civilized nations should intervene in
“backwards” nations
Believer in strong navy
•Asst. Sec. of Navy & author of The Naval War of
1812
•U.S. had 2
nd
largest navy in the world by 1906

6. TR negotiated peace between Japan &
Russia in 1905 (Russo-Japanese War)
•Made agreement w/ Japan to keep trade open
•Earned him Nobel Peace Prize in 1906
Japan was quickly becoming the leading
power in the Pacific
•Limited some trade w/ U.S.
TR sent “Great White Fleet” around the
world (1907-1909)
•Show of strength, test for fleet, chance to gain public
support for naval build-up
•Stop in Japan

7. “I hope that we can persuade our people on
the one hand act in a spirit of generous
justice and genuine courtesy toward Japan,
and on the other hand to keep the navy
respectable in numbers and more than
respectable in the efficiency of its units. If we
act thus we need not fear the Japanese. But if
we… show ourselves opulent, aggressive and
unarmed, the Japanese may sometime work
us an injury.”
--President Theodore Roosevelt, June 1905--

10. Intervention in Latin America
•U.S. navy used to scare Germany after it attacked
Venezuela (1902)
•Took control of Dominican customs in 1903
•Platt Amendment allowed U.S. to intervene in
Cuba
U.S. troops used there in 1906 to stop rebellion

11. Announced Roosevelt Corollary to the
Monroe Doctrine in 1904
•1. U.S. had right to oppose European intervention
in Latin America
•2. U.S. had right to intervene in Latin American
countries if they were struggling to maintain
order
U.S. would act as international police power

12. “It must be understood that under no
circumstances will the U.S. use the Monroe
Doctrine as a cloak for territorial
aggression. We desire peace with all the
world, but perhaps most of all with the
other peoples of the American continent.”
--Theodore Roosevelt, 1905--

15. U.S. hoped to take over French canal zone
for $40 million (1902)
Colombia refused to approve of purchase
though
U.S. then helped organize & support a
Panamanian revolt
•Panama gained independence & gave U.S. rights
to canal; Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty
•Canal completed by 1914, under budget
•Canal Zone split Panama in two

16. “If I had followed traditional, conservative
methods I would have submitted a
dignified State paper of probably 200
pages to Congress & the debates on it
would have been going on yet; but I took
the Canal Zone & let Congress debate; &
while the debate goes on the canal does
also.”
--Theodore Roosevelt, 1911--

18. Taft’s foreign policy goals:
Increase U.S. investments to undeveloped
regions
•“Substituting dollars for bullets”
Stability in Latin America
•Intervention in Nicaragua
Maintain open door in Asia
•Failed railroad attempt in Manchuria

19. Wilson had little experience in
international affairs
Carried on Roosevelt & Taft’s approach
•Marines sent to Haiti (1915)
•Military gov’t in Dominican Republic (1916)
•Bought Virgin Islands (1916)

20. Much political turmoil in Mexico in 1910s
Wilson refused to recognize gov’t led by
Victoriano Huerta
U.S. & Mexico nearly went to war in 1914
Then Wilson supported a new gov’t led by
Pancho Villa, but later rescinded support
•Villa killed Americans in northern Mexico & New
Mexico (1916)
•Wilson sent Pershing w/ 10K men to capture Villa, no
success

21. Huerta had U.S. sailors arrested in
Tampico (1914)
Wilson used incident as reason to seize
Veracruz
Fighting led to casualties for both sides
Nearly a war
Venustiano Carranza replaced Huerta

23. The Collapse of Peace
Imperialist ambitions
Nationalism
Militarism
Alliances
•Triple Entente=Britain, France, & Russia
•Triple Alliance=Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy
Intense rivalries between Germany & Britain, also
Germany & France

24. Archduke Franz
Ferdinand assassinated
on June 28, 1914 (heir to
A-H throne)
•Assassin, Gavrilo Princip,
was a Serbian nationalist
•Many Serbians hoped to
annex Bosnia
Bosnia was part of A-H empire

25. Germany & Austria-Hungary attacked
Serbia
Serbia gained Russian support
Germany declared war on Britain &
France
Britain declared war on Germany
WWI was under way

26. Wilson asked Americans to be “impartial
in thought as well as deed”
British propaganda made Germans look
evil/barbaric
Ignored German blockade & continued
to trade with Britain & France

27. German’s used submarine warfare, U-
boats
Enemy ships sunk on site
Sinking of the British liner Lusitania
•1,198 deaths, including 128 American deaths
•Ship was carrying munitions

29. Wilson continued policy of neutrality, but
encouraged preparedness
Much anti-war sentiment from public
Wilson’s 1916 election slogan=“He Kept
Us Out of the War”
•Wilson won close election

30. After re-election discussed plans for a
postwar world
•Self-determination, league of nations
War in Europe locked in stalemate
•Germans resorted to unrestricted submarine
warfare
•Zimmermann Telegram
Mexico urged to ally with Germans & regain “lost
provinces”
Russian Revolution (1917)

31. Wilson asked
Congress for war on
April 2, 1917
•“We shall fight for the
thing which we have
always carried nearest
our hearts—for
democracy…”
Congress declared
war on April 6, 1917