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Theodore Roosevelt inherited an empire-in-the-making when he assumed office in 1901. After the Spanish-American War in 1898, Spain ceded the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the United States. In addition, the United States established a protectorate over Cuba and annexed Hawaii. For the first time in its history, the United States had acquired an overseas empire. As President, Roosevelt wanted to increase the influence and prestige of the United States on the world stage and make the country a global power. He also believed that the exportation of American values and ideals would have an ennobling effect on the world. TR's diplomatic maxim was to "speak softly and carry a big stick," and he maintained that a chief executive must be willing to use force when necessary while practicing the art of persuasion. He therefore sought to assemble a powerful and reliable defense for the United States to avoid conflicts with enemies who might prey on weakness. Roosevelt followed McKinley in ending the relative isolationism that had dominated the country since the mid-1800s, acting aggressively in foreign affairs, often without the support or consent of Congress. PhilippinesOne of the situations that Roosevelt inherited upon taking office was governance of the Philippines, an island nation in Asia. During the Spanish-American War, the United States had taken control of the archipelago from Spain. When Roosevelt appointed William Howard Taft as the first civilian governor of the islands in 1901, Taft recommended the creation of a civil government with an elected legislative assembly. The Taft administration was able to negotiate with Congress for a bill that included a governor general, an independent judiciary, and the legislative assembly. Panama CanalThe most spectacular of Roosevelt's foreign policy initiatives was the establishment of the Panama Canal. For years, U.S. naval leaders had dreamed of building a passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through Central America. During the war with Spain, American ships in the Pacific had to steam around the tip of South America in two-month voyages to join the U.S. fleet off the coast of Cuba. In 1901, the United States negotiated with Britain for the support of an American-controlled canal that would be constructed either in Nicaragua or through a strip of land—Panama—owned by Colombia. In a flourish of closed-door maneuvers, the Senate approved a route through Panama, contingent upon Colombian approval. When Colombia balked at the terms of the agreement, the United States supported a Panamanian revolution with money and a naval blockade, the latter of which prevented Colombian troops from landing in Panama. In 1903, the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty with Panama gave the United States perpetual control of the canal for a price of $10 million and an annual payment of $250,000. When he visited Panama in 1906 to observe the building of the canal, Roosevelt became the first U.S. President to leave the country during his term of office. He wanted to see the spectacle, which became known as one of the world's greatest engineering feats. Nearly 30,000 workers labored ten-hour days for ten years to build the $400-million canal, during which time American officials were able to counteract the scourge of Yellow Fever that had ravaged large numbers of canal workers. The Panama Canal was finally completed in 1914; by 1925, more than 5,000 merchant ships had traversed the forty miles of locks each year. Once operational, it shortened the voyage from San Francisco to New York by more than 8,000 miles. The process of building the canal generated advances in U.S. technology and engineering skills. This project also converted the Panama Canal Zone into a major staging area for American military forces, making the United States the dominant military power in Central America. Roosevelt CorollaryLatin America consumed a fair amount of Roosevelt's time and energy during his first term as President. Venezuela became a focus of his attention in 1902 when Germany and Britain sent ships to blockade that country's coastline. The European nations had given loans to Venezuela that the Venezuelan dictator refused to repay. Although both Germany and Britain assured the Americans that they did not have any territorial designs on Venezuela, Roosevelt felt aggrieved by their actions and demanded that they agree to arbitration to resolve the dispute. Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic) also encountered problems with European countries. Again, European investors had appealed to their governments to collect money from a debt-ridden nation Latin American nation. After the Dominican government appealed to the United States, Roosevelt ordered an American collector to assume control of the customs houses and collect duties to avoid possible European military action. During the Santo Domingo crisis, Roosevelt formulated what became known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine, issued in 1823, stated that the United States would not accept European intervention in the Americas. Roosevelt realized that if nations in the Western Hemisphere continued to have chronic problems, such as the inability to repay foreign debt, they would become targets of European invention. To preempt such action and to maintain regional stability, the President drafted his corollary: the United States would intervene in any Latin American country that manifested serious economic problems. The corollary announced that the United States would serve as the "policeman" of the Western Hemisphere, a policy which eventually created much resentment in Latin America. PeacemakerThough often recognized for the aggressiveness of his foreign policy, Roosevelt was also a peacemaker. His most successful effort at bringing belligerent powers to the negotiating table involved a crisis that had broken out in East Asia. Fighting had erupted between Russia and Japan in 1904, following Japan's attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur. As the Russo-Japanese War raged on with many Japanese victories, Roosevelt approached both nations about mediating peace negotiations. The President longed for a world in which countries would turn to arbitration instead of war to settle international disputes, and he offered his services to this end. Although Russia and Japan initially refused his offer, they eventually accepted his "good offices" to help negotiate a peace, meeting with Roosevelt in 1905 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. For his role as mediator, Roosevelt won the Nobel Prize for Peace, the first U.S. President to do so. Roosevelt also arbitrated a dispute between France and Germany over the division of Morocco. Britain had recognized French control over Morocco in return for French recognition of British control in Egypt. Germany felt excluded by this agreement and challenged France's role in Morocco. Although the French had a weak claim to Morocco, the United States could not reject it without rejecting Britain's claim as well. The settlement in 1906 reached at Algeciras, Spain, saved face for Germany but gave France undisputed control over Morocco; it also paved the way for British control over Egypt. Some historians think that Roosevelt's intervention in these two hot spots averted fighting that might have engulfed all of Europe and Asia in a world war. In any case, Roosevelt's actions greatly strengthened Anglo-French ties with the United States. Great White FleetRoosevelt believed that a large and powerful Navy was an essential component of national defense because it served as a strong deterrent to America's enemies. During his tenure as President, he built the U.S. Navy into one of the largest in the world, by convincing Congress to add battleships to the fleet and increasing its number of enlisted men. In 1907, he proposed sending the fleet out on a world tour. His reasons were many: to show off the "Great White Fleet" and impress other countries around the world with U.S. naval power; to allow the Navy to gain the experience of worldwide travel; and to drum up domestic support for his naval program. In December 1907, a fleet of sixteen battleships left Hampton Roads, Virginia, and traveled around the world, returning home fourteen months later in February 1909.
 Postcard celebrating the signing of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty. Pictured: Czar Nicholas II, President Roosevelt, The Mikado. (1905) Theodore Roosevelt is widely regarded as one of the most powerful and effective presidents in United States history. This is clearly demonstrated when surveying his actions in Foreign Policy. He gained infamy and a Nobel Peace Prize for his negotiation of peace in the Russo-Japanese war. Yet, the office of the President garnered more executive power with the precedent of two lesser known actions: the acquisition of the Panama Canal land and the brokering of the San Domingo Treaty. To understand these actions one must first understand the Monroe Doctrine which opposed European intervention in the Western hemisphere and viewed any intervention as a possibly hostile act towards the United States. Roosevelt had a particular fondness for this doctrine and it often drove his foreign policy decisions. He even added his own interpretation, known as the ‘Roosevelt Corollary’. The corollary was a far more broad interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine and justified many forthcoming military actions in the Carribean and Central America.
President Theodore Roosevelt (top right, all white) at the Panama Canal construction site The idea for a canal cutting through Latin America had been on the minds of many for centuries. The issue was that the two most feasible locations for a canal, Panama (a province of Colombia at the time) and Nicaragua, did not have the financial resources to build one on their own. The United States under Roosevelt ratified the Hay-Herrán Treaty which gave the United States a 100 year renewable lease on the land but a problem arose when Jose Marroquin, Colombia’s dictator at the time, rejected the terms of the deal and proposed alternatives that heavily favored Colombia. Roosevelt was outraged and admonished the actions of Colombia in a letter to a friend saying: “the Colombia people proved absolutely impossible to deal with… they are governmentally utterly incompetent.”2 In response, Roosevelt decided to throw all political and military support behind Panama revolutionists. When revolution broke out in Panama, Roosevelt ordered the USS Nashville to Colon, Panama with the purpose of securing the railroad with Marines and to prohibit Colombian troops from landing. The use of military force unsanctioned by Congress is, and has always been, controversial. Roosevelt remarked that, “again there was much accusation about my having acted in an ‘unconstitutional manner,’” and that, “at different stages of the affair… believers in a do-nothing policy denounced me as having ‘usurped authority’–which meant, that when nobody else could or would exercise efficient authority, I exercised it.”3 This change in policy signified a larger and broader role for the United States in foreign affairs and consequently the expansion of presidential powers. Critics have claimed that Roosevelt’s unconventional acquisition of the Panama Canal land set off an unfortunate pattern of interventionist policies in Latin America.4 Roosevelt’s actions in the isthmus were but a precursor to his addition of the ‘Roosevelt Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine.
Political cartoon by Louis Dalrymple depicting Theodore Roosevelt as 'The World's Constable,' standing between Europe and Latin America with a truncheon labeled 'The New Diplomacy.' In 1903 Santo Domingo was in the midst of a revolution after being rid of a dictatorship who threw their finances into chaos. Because of this, Santo Domingo was bankrupt and could not pay back any of their debt. France, Germany, and Italy were amongst the countries who threatened to step in to protect their financial interests. Under the Roosevelt Corollary, Roosevelt believed that the United States was responsible to intervene, as described in his corollary, as “an international police power.”5 Recognizing the importance of Dominican stability in the Caribbean, Roosevelt fervently pushed an agreement with Santo Domingo establishing an American financial protectorate over the Dominican Republic. This treaty was sent to the United States Senate in order to be ratified but the Senate failed to vote on it. Roosevelt then went above the heads of the Senate by establishing the protectorate as an executive agreement. This drew the ire of the Senate and it wasn’t until two years later that the Senate gave in and ratified Roosevelt’s treaty. Roosevelt had applied his Stewardship theory to all facets of the presidency and foreign policy was not an exception. Writing retrospectively in his autobiography, Roosevelt expressed no regrets: “the Constitution did not explicitly give me power to bring about the necessary agreement with Santo Domingo. But the Constitution did not forbid my doing what I did. I put the agreement into effect, and I continued its execution for two years before the Senate acted; and I would have continued it until the end of my term, if necessary, without any action by congress.”6
Roosevelt continuously took unprecedented action throughout his administration that drew the ire of strict constructionist opponents. His stewardship theory of the presidency established precedent that the long line of modern presidents following in his footsteps have enjoyed. Roosevelt believed that he must do everything in his power to fulfill the will of his constituents, the American public. He was but a steward and the Monroe Doctrine and the ensuing Roosevelt Corollary were the means by which he fulfilled the will of the American people and their interests in Latin America. Roosevelt exemplified this belief when he explained that many people insisted that Santo Domingo must be protected and that they also insisted that the Panama canal should be dug. But it was the very same people who “insisted even more strongly that neither feat should be accomplished in the only way in which it was possible to accomplish at all.”7
2 Theodore Roosevelt, Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Cecil Spring Rice. Library of Congress Manuscript Division. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Research/Digital-Library/Record?libID=o267994. 3 Theodore Roosevelt, An Autobiography (Scribners, 1926) 512 4 William Goldsmith, The Growth of Presidential Power (Chelsea House Publishers, 1974) 2:1233 5 Theodore Roosevelt's Annual Message to Congress for 1904, House Records HR 58A-K2. National Archives. https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=56 6 Theodore Roosevelt, An Autobiography (Scribners, 1926) 510 7 Roosevelt 510 |
What is the Roosevelt Corollary and what impact it had on President Roosevelts foreign policy especially as it pertained to Latin America?
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