T.R.'s Foreign Policy
George F. Kennan and Walter La Feber are two historians who take very different viewpoints on the United States' foreign policy in the late 1890's. Kennan's major thesis is that the United States entered into war with Spain due to impulsive decisions made because of public opinion. This public opinion was brought about because of the press. At this time the press was know as the Yellow Press. This type journalism is similar to the National Inquirer of today. According to Kennan, he yellow press stirred the public into a frenzy and made the government make an impulsive decision for war. However La Feber's thesis states that when the United States entered into war it was deliberate. La Feber believes that the need for commerce was central in the expansion idea, which led to war. Simply, Kennan believes that the United States entered into war as a mistake, while La Feber believes that it was deliberate.
The three main things that Theodore Roosevelt did during his Presidency concerning the United States foreign policy were the corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, acquisition to the Panama Canal zone, and the dispatch of the Great White Fleet. The corollary to the Monroe Doctrine deals with the idea that only the United States could get involved with other countries in the Western Hemisphere. The government didn't want European countries involving themselves in the affairs of the North and South American countries. T.R. was able to get access to a parcel of land in northern Columbia, now know as Panama, which was abandoned by a European Canal company. With this land, the government sponsored for the work to continue. Roosevelt dispatched the Great White Fleet around the world to show other countries that the United States had a good navy. T.R. foreign policy was basically split into three segments.
T.R.' foreign policy would not be able to fit into either Kennan's or La Feber's thesis. However, it is more like La Feber's then Kennan's. Kennan thought that the foreign policy of the United States was done on impulse or by accident. But like La Feber's thesis there was definitely a reason for why Roosevelt did what he did concerning the foreign policy of the United States. Unlike McKinley's reason of commerce, Roosevelt acted in the idea of power.
This nation’s 26th president, he is well known for many things. Some question whether or not what he accomplished during his presidency term is even worthy of having a face carved into Mount Rushmore. He was a renowned historian, author and naturalist/explorer. Once voted into office, not only was he popular with the people, but he was ready to start all of his new ideas. One of his biggest ones was his idea on foreign policies. Roosevelt firmly believed that the US was going to be a very powerful nation of the world. By doing so, the US needed to gain as much territories as possible. We were able to establish protectorates over spaces such as Guam, the Philippines, Guatemala and Puerto Rico. His edition to the Monroe Doctrine, named the Roosevelt Corollary, was to help with South American affairs. The Latin American country Venezuela, was suffering money issues with Germany and Britain. So to settle the dispute, the Roosevelt Corollary was set up to state that any place in the Western Hemisphere were having financial disputes, the US would be there to support them. They would act as a police man to watch over that area. Though it was maybe in his best intentions, Latin America as a whole grew to not like those terms as much. As well as the creation of the Great Whi...
...nvestment there (Hewitt, 635). Though Woodrow Wilson tried to be a diplomatic imperialist, with so many abroad American business interests at stake, many times he couldn't venture from Theodore Roosevelt's imperialism agenda of using military might.
Based on Wilson’s war message to Congress, It was believe that the United States had a moral and humanitarian obligation to intervene in World War I and “make the world safe for democracy” (Wilson). Luce’s point in The American Century was not imperial, but idealistic. It was America’s time to shine, “to be the powerhouse from which the ideals spread throughout the world and do their mysterious work of lifting the life of mankind from the level of the beasts to what the Psalmist called a little lower than the angels” (Luce). Both sources demonstrate that the ideals of Woodrow and Luce inspired many Americans and shaped much of the foreign policy for the remainder of the twentieth century and on. The more significant viewpoints are the differences.
Throughout the years, the United States government had made drastic changes in its foreign policies. The few decades from 1880 to 1910, which saw five different presidents all with very distinct foreign policies, were no exception. As a country, the United States progressed from being a country only concerned with expanding its territory out west, to being a country on the verge of becoming involved in the First World War.
In 1901 Vice President Theodore Roosevelt took over as President after William McKinley was assassinated. The country had many opportunities ahead but was in need of some changes that the American people were all too ready for. Roosevelt was brought up in a well to do family and had was Harvard educated. But he was known to be a down to earth man that understood the needs of the people. His first priority as president was to give the people a “square deal” which encompassed his plan for the era. He wanted to reduce control the big businesses had over the U.S. economy and the workers, create more protection for the consumer, and create a plan to conserve our natural resources.
The Monroe Doctrine reflected the concerns and ambitions of a fledgling nation that was brave enough to declare its sovereignty on the world stage. The Doctrine, in stating that European powers ought not to intervene in America’s affairs, established the US as a world power, although one that had inadequate, hemispheric aspirations. However, these aspirations would extend, and in future years the Doctrine would substantiate its usefulness for interventionists, as well as protectionists. Being conceivably the most distinguishable and the most revered as regards principles of diplomacy, the doctrine’s influence on the popular imagination was so great that it described the limits of standard decisions on policy, in turn influencing the choice of preferences that US Presidents had for most of the last two centuries.
American foreign policy during the 1890s was based on many factors that each acted as an individual justification for our country’s behavior as a whole. Racism, nationalism, commercialism, and humanitarianism each had its own role in the actions America took against other nations.
I have decided to write my research paper on the topic of Ronald Reagan's Domestic and Foreign Affairs. The reason that I choose this topic was because I have always been personally interested in Ronald Reagan's time in office and the national crisis he had to deal with. Reagan was awesome when it came to foreign policy because he knew how to negotiate with foreign leaders and their countries to get what he wanted. There were several instances during his time in office that he had the chance to use his ability to get the country out of danger. Domestic Affairs is another part of Reagan's presidency that was very important. He was able to take the country, which seemed to be in an economic slump and turn their economic status around. The economic growth of the United States is still holding true today. There is only one question that I wanted to answer with this paper. Was Ronald Reagan an effective leader when it came to domestic and foreign affairs?
curb inflation. President Reagan was able to sign into law a tax cut in late
Before considering Professor X’s assertion that the Roosevelt Corollary actually corrupted the Monroe Doctrine’s “benevolent intent,” it is worth considering whether or not the Monroe Docterine was as benevolent as the unnamed professor seems to suggest. Professor X considers Monroe’s 1823 Doctrine an act of benevolence, in which an increasingly dominant world power generously extends protection over its continental neighbors. Yet the Professor ignores the inherently imperialistic subtext that is contained within the Doctrine, and thus his comparison of the Monroe Doctrine to the Roosevelt Corollary omits a fundamental aspect of America’s colonialist history.
3) During the late 1800s, the United States reasserted the Monroe doctrine and promoted Pan-American interests. By supporting Cuban independence from Spain, participating in the Inter-American Conference, making reciprocity provisions in the McKinley Tariff Act, and being involved in the Venezuela-British Guiana border dispute, the U.S. showed a this change in foreign policy. Prior to this period, America had been isolationist, concentrating on domestic issues and nation building. America was now going to be an active player in anything that happened in the Western Hemisphere. Security and economic interests were going to be protected and American influence was going to be spread.
Throughout his tenure as a civil servant, Theodore Roosevelt perpetually involved himself in matters of reform. Well read and well traveled, Roosevelt expressed his wide array of political thought out of experience as well as an underlying desire to see the United States establish itself as a world power under the ideals of a democratic republica wolf amongst sheep on the world scene. The nation's twenty-sixth president laid the framework for foreign policy as we know it. He pressed reform amongst big business, and rallied for the rights of the laborer. Conservationism as well as environmental protection and preservation became issues at the forefront of Teddy's agenda. Another vital contribution to American political thought was Roosevelt's idea of the "New Nationalism," an analysis of American society and the roles which government and individuals ought to play. Theodore Roosevelt's progressive attitude, adherence to a strong moral basis, and genuine concern for his fellow countrymen all define him as a quintessential American political thinker.
Kennan’s 4 points written in his assessment about the Soviets made some interesting observations about the threat to American interests. The first point was that the Soviets were “neither schematic nor adventuristic,” meaning they are illogical in their political threats. The second point was that the Americans were stronger than the Soviets. The third and fourth points deal with the power that the Soviets had via their “negative and destructive” propaganda. These assumptions concluded that Kennan
Roosevelt was able to spread his influence into conflict involving other world powers during this, signifying more respect for American power. Another way this was apparent was in the Open Door Policy in China. Around this time, China was largely controlled by other countries that held spheres of influence in the country. These spheres of influence meant that the countries that controlled them practically had control of all trade and economic activity in the area. When the United States was attempting to grow and expand its influence, President McKinley wanted to be included in Chinese trade, but it was a competitive area.
America’s Policy of Containment was introduced by George Kennan in 1947. This policy had a few good points but many more bad points.Kennan's depiction of communism as a "malignant parasite" that had to be contained by all possible measures became the basis of the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and National Security Act in 1947. In his Inaugural Address of January 20, 1949, Truman made four points about his "program for peace and freedom": to support the UN, the European Recovery Program, the collective defence of the North Atlantic, and a “bold new program” for technical aid to poor nations. Because of his programs, "the future of mankind will be assured in a world of justice, harmony and peace." Containment was not just a policy. It was a way of life.