Over the course of the history of the United States, specific foreign policies have affected the methods in which the U.S. involves itself around the globe. Specifically, certain policies have affected U.S. involvement in Latin America. It is the intention of this essay to explain the United States foreign policy behind specific doctrines. In order to realize current objectives, this paper will proceed as follows: Part 1 will define the Monroe Doctrine, Sections 2, 3, 4, and 5 will concurrently explicate the Roosevelt Corollary, Good Neighbor Policy, and the Nixon Doctrine, discuss how each policy resulted in U.S. involvement in Latin American countries, describe how it was justified by the U.S. government, respectively, and finally, will bring this paper to a summation and conclusion. Primarily, the United States foreign policy behind the Monroe Doctrine was introduced by President James Monroe in the midst of many Latin American countries gaining their independence from Spain. The doctrine stated that attempts by European countries to colonize or interfere with states in the Western Hemisphere would be viewed as acts of aggression and U.S. intervention would be necessary. The Monroe Doctrine set the precedent for various foreign policies that would result in U.S. involvement in Latin America. Moreover, the Roosevelt Corollary was passed by President Theodore Roosevelt and affirmed that the United States has the right to intervene in Latin America in order to alleviate the economies of Latin American countries that were unable to pay their international debts. The Roosevelt Corollary resulted in U.S. involvement in various countries throughout Latin America, explicitly the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Nicaragua. In the Do... ... middle of paper ... ...icies from past Presidents. Furthermore, it was strongly detrimental to Latin America, for the reason that it eliminated the possibility of increasing Latin American exports to the United States, thereby destroying the hopes of Latin American countries focused upon President Nixon’s policy of “trade rather than aid.” During this time, the government justified itself by proclaiming that the United States needed to focus on avoiding involvement and learning from the mistakes made in Vietnam. All in all, over the course of the presidencies of Monroe, Roosevelt, FDR, and Nixon, the U.S. intervened in Latin America numerous times. Now, was it the right thing to do? At those specific points in time, the government thought so. Various arguments can be forged over the suitability of the actions of the U.S. during these times; however that is a discussion for another time.
Roosevelt's corollary to the Monroe Doctrine set up the U.S. as a policeman in the western hemisphere. Under TR, the U.S. empire extended to include the Philippines, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. He also oversaw the building of the Panama Canal, a tremendous feat that enhanced U.S. commerce immeasurably. On the other side, Wilson was determined to revise the imperialist practices of earlier administrations, promising independence to the Philippines and making Puerto Ricans American citizens. But Wilson's own policies could sometimes be high-handed.
...es when it comes to implementing controversial foreign policy decisions that directly affect Americans and those in different countries. The main aspect of the affair that greatly influences the United States’ government is ensuring that its past imperialistic motives do not become an integral part of American affairs once again.
United States invaded Cuba, Puerto Rico and Philippines not to gain wealth, but for the purpose of getting trades. Americans wanted to project their power to the entire hemisphere and the only way to exercise it is by acquiring republics. Citizens of three countries did not fully acquire the independence they thought they were entitled. Cuba got nominal independence because of Platt Amendment, Puerto Rico became a territory but was not called as citizens of America, and instead they were called Puerto Ricans, while Philippines were denied in statehood. They only had fundamental rights, but United States could govern the country as long as they wanted to. Furthermore, holding the countries from self-government prevent these countries to get the chance to apply what they have learned and adopted from American rule and exercise it for their country’s prosperity.
...he basic concepts that should be the foundations of foreign policy. America's position in the world evolved from being a world power that was unconcerned about international security in 1900 to 1950 when America was still a world power, but Americans had to contend with the fear of annihilation by the Soviet Union. Williams states that the ultimate "tragedy of American diplomacy" was the failure of the Open Door Policy. This failure, according to the author, resulted not from its misapplication or inherent weaknesses, but rather its successes. This culminated into the Cold War, as Truman demanded resumption of the Open Door Policy without providing economic assistance to the Soviet Union. These perspectives have relevance in the contemporary international environment and could be utilized in an examination of American involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The U.S’s intervention with other countries became more popular during the 20th century.United States was believed to be an imperialistic country only wanting a gain a political gateway to devour the world in its ideologies and also government onto other countries and nothing more, but there was an exception to the U.S with the Dominican republic in the early 1960’s where the American government wanted to stop the spread of communism to more latino countries. Lyndon B Johnson address the matter before sending troops towards the south by using the following quote “As evidence he provided American reporters with lists of 6 suspected communist in that nation” - (History.com) This can inform the reader’s audience that America had spies in the D.R that were able to inform them with prior information that would benefit the future independent nation also that the Americans were suspicious of the country ...
The foreign policy objectives of the United States have changed drastically throughout the nation’s history. Old ideologies and policies have been abandoned and forgotten as America’s role in the global arena has developed. However, the Monroe Doctrine is an example of American foreign policy that has remained influential since its initiation shortly after America’s conception, up to the 21st century. The focus of this paper will be to analyze the evolution of the Monroe Doctrine, determining the origins and implementation of this policy and identifying whether its influence is still felt t...
Despite President Woodrow Wilson’s belief that the US had a responsibility to “make the world at last free,” many Americans felt overseas intervention was not justified (Document 3). Wilson thought the US to be the ultimate example of democracy and freedom. He and others supported overseas intervention without thinking of the consequences the intrusion might cause. The many instances of American intrusion overseas from 1870-1920 have evidenced my understanding that US intervention was not justified, in any context.
In recent history before the war, the United States followed a non-interventionist policy called the Good Neighbor policy and although they had tried to gain market controls in Latin America, it was more through economic means than military. During the war, there was less focus on Latin America because it was not involved in either the European or Pacific Theatre. After the war, they became heavily active involved in Latin America affairs and decided that force was more effective for establishing economic monopolies. They attempted to overthrow Fidel Castro in fear of him setting precedent for naturalization which led to the Cuban Missile Crisis and deep seeded resentment in Latin America against the United States. They also overthrew the elected head of government in Guatemala in order to protect the financial interests of the United Fruit Company although the official claim was for “containment”. As such, World War II marked the turning point for the American foreign policy towards Latin America with unprecedented belligerent behavior now dedicated to its longstanding, pre war goal of economic
policy is the Monroe Doctrine. In 1904 Latin American countries threatened armed intervention to collect debt. President Theodore Roosevelt was president at the time. Roosevelt believed in international police power. He sent U.S. marines to Santo Domingo, Nicaragua in 1911, and Haiti in 1915. He essentially wanted to keep the Europeans out. When the Soviet Union began building missile launching sites, the Monroe Doctrine was symbolically invoked in 1962.
The fear of the spread of communism in western world, especially Latin American countries with weak democratic control, lead to a huge shift in the political and day to day life of the world. The United States could not risk communism spreading and went to many extremes to ensure so. They began backing political leaders in Latin America in hopes to keep democracy alive and strong but ended up doing quite the opposite. America supported leaders like Fulgencio Batista in Cuba, the Somoza family in Nicaragua, and...
The United States foreign policy is basically the way we work with other foreign nations and it sets the examples on how to interact with those foreign nations. The main causes for the shift in foreign policy from isolationism to imperialism, in my opinion, were the Panama Canal, and the Monroe Doctrine.
In conclusion, this extensive review of American foreign policy is just very broad. This topic is his shortened summary of a broad topic in a narrative arrangement, if they contributed anything to the historical understanding of this book. Ambrose and Brinkley made the topic very fascinating and easier to comprehend than a plain textbook. By writing Rise to Globalism and narrating stories without including unnecessary truths and statistics. Thanks to this book, I gained a more thorough understanding of the struggles in the Middle East after Vietnam and a new perception on where American presently stands in the world.
Prior to WW1, the US foreign policy remained predominantly isolated. This however saw pragmatic shifts from isolationistic nature upon the end of the war up to the eruption of WWII. By this time the US was gaining ground as a world power, a fact that was not in dispute by the end of the Cold War (Herring, 2008). There has however been a noticed shift from a realistic school of thought in regards to the US to an idealistic one. These shifts have been most notable from the 19th century and have come to be mostly regarded as the Wilsonian school of international relations (Russell, 2000).
Throughout the history of America past presidents and government officials in Congress have dealt with foreign affairs in which they used foreign policy to deal with the many conflicts which include war,trade,peace and many other things dealing with foreign affairs. During many centuries America used foreign policy all the way back to its conception when America became a country.The idea of American Foreign Policy was created in 1978 by Samuel P. Huntington and his friend Warren Manshel. “A central function of the U.S. government is to conduct relations with the almost 200 other nations in the world. A nation is a sovereign country, and as such, possesses the highest authority over its territories. All sovereign states are theoretically equal”
Endicott, John E.; Johnson, Loch K.; Papp, Daniel S. (2005) American foreign policy: history, politics and policy. N.Y.: Pearson.