Overthrow

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Recommended: Usa foreign policy over time

The United States overthrew 14 countries in approximately one century. They started with Hawaii (1893) and ended with Iraq (2003). They used force (troops) and the CIA to do most of the overthrowing. The first era (Imperial Era) was caused by the United States economic interest and they used military power to invade territory. The second and third eras (Cold War Era and Invasion Era) had mostly communism factors and also some economic. The Cold War Era used the CIA to depose of the foreign governments. The Invasion Era used American troops to overthrow governments. The United States always took care of American companies in foreign ground and acted against communist governments or pro-communist. It even went as far as killing the people they put in power in foreign governments if they started showing pro-communism views. Hawaii was the only country from the imperial era that wanted annexation to the United States while they were still under the rule of their queen Liliuokalani. One day Queen Liliuokalani made the United States focus its attention in Hawaiian territory. Queen Liliuokalani announced a “new constitution” under which only Hawaiian citizens had the right to vote. Queen Liliuokalani was trying to gain back the native Hawaiian political power. This decision made the American minister to Hawaii, John L. Stevens, worried due to all the investments Americans had made on Hawaii. John Colburn, the interior minister of Hawaii, rushed down to alert his friend Lorrin Thurston, a firebrand lawyer and antiroyalist plotter. John Stevens and Lorrin Thurston were linked with one thing in mind, overthrow the Queen Liliuokalani. The Committee of Safety (Lorrin Thurston was leader and included other government officials) signed the appe... ... middle of paper ... ...n Honduras. The United States government knew about Sam Zemurray intentions and they were not supposed to act unless the coup would have started in American soil (which it did not). Sam Zemurray assembled a team made out of Lee Christmas (leader), George “Machine Gun” Molony (shooter), Manuel Bonilla (future president assigned by Zemurray), and Florian Davadi (Bonilla’s chief aid). Lee Christmas took over one Honduran city. The United States was negotiating a deal with the Honduran president so it could stopped Lee Christmas and his partners from further actions. After the negotiations failed, the United States ordered no more fighting (Honduran government was not able to fight Lee Christmas). This made the president resign. Bonilla eventually took over presidency a year later after negotiating with the United States and he rewarded Zemurray with land and benefits.

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