Transcript US Foreign policyx

U.S. Foreign Policy
1880s to 1920
OPEN DOOR POLICY
President William McKinley
Importance
 The
Open Door policy of 1899 was
originally adopted so that the United States
could
– 1. restrict Chinese immigration.
– 2. stop Japan from attacking China.
– 3. gain equal trading rights in China.
– 4. encourage the development of democracy
in China.
Chinese Importance

In the early 1900s, China was important to the
United States because
– 1. the United States needed an ally in the fight
against Japan
– 2. China had become a strong military power and
could pose a threat
– 3. businesses wanted to export goods to China, a
huge market
– 4. China was an important source of raw materials
for U.S. factories
CHINA & THE OPEN DOOR POLICY

CHINESE EMPIRE IS IN DECLINE
– Early 19th century
– Foreign powers go to China for trade and for
missionary work

EUROPEAN “SPHERES OF INFLUENCE”
– By late 19th c., Japan and western European powers
had carved much of China into separate spheres of
influence
– Within each sphere, a nation held economic
dominance
SEC OF STATE JOHN HAY
 CIRCULATES
AN OPEN DOOR NOTE
– Summer of 1899
– US had a geographical disadvantage compared to
Russia and Japan, and feared it might not have
opportunities in China
 DECLARES
CHINESE TERRITORIAL
INTEGRITY SHOULD BE RESPECTED.
– Urged all the Great Powers to respect certain Chinese
rights and ideal of fair competition
– In effect, when any power dealt with a foreign trader,
it would observe Open Door
SEC OF STATE JOHN HAY
 CHINA
SHOULD BE OPEN TO ALL
– Open Door gained wide acceptance in US
– Policy did not gain international acceptance as
it was weak and relatively short-lived
America’s goal
China’s reaction
Why Open Door?

What caused the United States to adopt the
Open Door Policy?
– 1. European powers were about to monopolize trade
in China
– 2. the United States was producing more goods than
its own people could buy
– 3. Americans wanted to take over foreign factories
and learn their secrets
THE “BOXER REBELLION”
Chinese patriots (called Boxers) started a rebellion
to rid China of foreign influence
 Demanded China for the Chinese
 Want to expel the “foreign devils”

– Super Patriotic Boxers killed over 200 missionaries
and other whites; a number of foreign diplomats
besieged in Beijing

Multinational force of 18,000 arrived to put down
rebellion
– Included Japan, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and
US troops (2.5K)
THE “BOXER REBELLION”

Boxers were defeated and the winners fined China
$333 million (US got $24.5 mil)
– American leaders in Washington found sum excessive
and returned $18 million
– Appreciative of US, Chinese government set aside
money to educate a select group of Chinese students in
the US as a gesture of good will

Hay announced in 1900 that the Open Door would
embrace territorial integrity of China in addition to
its commercial treaty
HAY ISSUES 2ND OPEN DOOR NOTE
U.S. is too weak to unilaterally enforce the
demand
 But clever diplomacy works

– Sought to eliminate carving up China with Boxer
outrages as a pretext
– Hay did not ask for formal acceptances
– China thus spared partition during these years

Outcomes
– US maintained a lasting influence in Asia
– Created a market for American goods to be sold
Lasting Effects

One lasting effect of the U.S. Open Door policy
in China was that
– 1. it set the stage for continuing U.S. influence in
Asia
– 2. China and the United States enjoyed a history of
good relations
– 3. Asian countries were forced to allow U.S. military
bases there
– 4. the United States became reluctant to trade with
other Asian countries
The U.S. Becomes a World Power
“Big Stick Diplomacy”
“Moral Diplomacy”
 After the Open
Door Diplomacy”
Policy, the U.S.
“Dollar
developed a new, aggressive foreign policy
under T. Roosevelt, Taft, & Wilson:
 Their policies differed, but all revealed a
desire to increase American wealth, military
power, & stature in the world, especially
Latin America
BIG STICK DIPLOMACY
President Theodore Roosevelt
TR’s “Big Stick Diplomacy”
 “Speak
softly & carry a big stick, you will go
far”
TR’s favorite proverb
TR & Sec of State Elihu Root applied “big
stick” diplomacy most effectively in Latin
America
TR’s “Big Stick Diplomacy”
 Roosevelt
hoped to expand upon America’s
new, world stature after the SpanishAmerican War:
– TR believed in the superiority of American
Protestant culture & hoped to spread these
values
– To increase American economic & political
stature in the world, the U.S. needed to be
militarily strong & ready to fight if needed
TR’s “Big Stick Diplomacy”
 TR’s
top foreign policy objective was to
build the Panama Canal
– A Panama Canal would facilitate world trade
– Allow the U.S. to quickly merge its Atlantic
& Pacific naval fleets in an emergency
– The US wanted to purchase the right to build
and operate a canal from Columbia
– When the Columbians asked for more money
(the US & Columbia had agreed on $40
million) Roosevelt refused and broke off
negotiations
ADVANTAGE OF AN ISTHMIAN CANAL
8,000 miles
15,000
MILES
TR’s “Big Stick Diplomacy”
– President Roosevelt encouraged Panama,
a state in Columbia to declare
independence, and promised American
aid in exchange for the right to build the
canal
– In 1903, Panama (with the U.S. navy)
became a nation & signed a lease
agreement for a canal
– The U.S. paid $10 million for the canal &
leased it for $250,000 per year
Construction of the canal
PRESIDENT
ROOSEVELT VISITS
THE CANAL
CONSTRUCTION
SITE IN 1906
Mira Flores, Panama
1914 Opening of the Panama
Canal
Panama canal today
Panama Canal
When opened in 1914, the canal gave the USA a
huge economic advantage in the Western
Hemisphere
 The Panama Canal was an engineering marvel,
but one of the most important reasons for its
completion was the scientific elimination of
malaria-causing mosquitoes
 “The inevitable effect of our building the Canal
must be to require us to police the surrounding
premises”
 —Sec of State, Elihu Root

Big Stick Diplomacy in Asia
 TR
negotiated an end to the Russo-Japanese
War in 1905 from Portsmouth, NH
– Japan and Russia fought over Korea and
Manchuria, China
– Neither nation could finish the war (stalemate)
– Roosevelt negotiated a peace treaty for two
reasons:
• 1 – he wanted Russia and Japan to uphold the Open
Door Policy
• 2 – he feared that Japan would grow too strong and
threaten America in the Pacific
Great White Fleet
•
Roosevelt sent the U.S.
Navy on a global cruise in
1907 to show that the USA
could protect its interests by
force
•
The sixteen battleships were
painted white and called the
Great White Fleet
•
The Great White Fleet was
the embodiment of
Roosevelt’s “Big Stick
Diplomacy
ROOSEVELT COROLLARY
President Theodore Roosevelt
The Roosevelt Corollary

One of the greatest concerns was the intervention
of European nations in Latin America
– TR issued Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe
Doctrine in 1904 claiming special “police powers” in
the Western Hemisphere

TR warned European nations to stay out AND
warned Latin American nations to be more
responsible or the U.S. would intervene
The Roosevelt Corollary
The Roosevelt Corollary
Additionally, the Lodge Corollary in 1912
refused to allow foreign companies to buy ports
or establish military sites in Latin America
 To enforce order, forestall foreign intervention,
and protect U.S. economic interests, the United
States intervened in the Caribbean and Central
America some 20 times over the next quarter
century--namely, in Cuba, the Dominican
Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, and
Panama.

The Roosevelt
Corollary
used to
justify
Attempts
to maintain
orderwas
in Latin
America
American
armed intervention
the relied
Dominican
led to pro-American
regimesinthat
on
dictatorial
rule over
its citizens
Republic,
Cuba, Haiti,
Nicaragua,
& Mexico
“Constable of the World”
DOLLAR DIPLOMACY
President William Howard Taft
Dollar diplomacy
President William
Howard Taft
“The diplomacy of the present
administration has sought to
respond to modern ideas of
commercial intercourse. This
policy has been
characterized as substituting
dollars for bullets. It is one
that appeals alike to
idealistic humanitarian
sentiments, to the dictates of
sound policy and strategy,
and to legitimate commercial
aims. It is an effort frankly
directed to the increase of
American trade upon the
axiomatic principle that the
government of the United
States shall extend all
Taft and Dollar Diplomacy

President Taft took over after TR & continued an
aggressive foreign policy, called “Dollar
Diplomacy”
– Use U.S. wealth rather than military strength in
foreign policy
– In Latin America, U.S. banks assumed debts to
Europe
– Taft’s attempts to build railroads in China alienated
Japan & ended the Open Door Policy
Taft and Latin America
Taft wanted to replace bullets with dollars and
urged American investment in Latin America
 This lead to a series of so-called “Banana
Republics”

– nations that owed so much to American business that
those businesses controlled the country

Rebellion in Nicaragua threatened American
investment and Taft resorted to Big Stick Policy,
sending in the Marines in 1912 who remained
there until 1933
MORAL DIPLOMACY
President Woodrow Wilson
Moral diplomacy
President Woodrow
Wilson
There has been something crude
and heartless and unfeeling in
our haste to succeed and be
great. Our thought has been "Let
every man look out for himself,
let every generation look out for
itself," while we reared giant
machinery which made it
impossible that any but those who
stood at the levers of control
should have a chance to look out
for themselves. We had not
forgotten our morals. We
remembered well enough that we
had set up a policy which was
meant to serve the humblest as
well as the most powerful, with
an eye single to the standards of
justice and fair play, and
Moral Diplomacy
 Wilson
was well-versed in domestic policy
before becoming president, but not foreign
policy
 He believed that Moral Diplomacy could
bring peace & democracy to the world
without militarism & war
 “It would be the irony of fate if my
administration had to deal chiefly with
foreign affairs”
 —Wilson in 1912
Wilson And Mexico
In 1913, Mexican President Madero was
overthrown by dictator General Victoriano
Huerta
 Wilson refused to recognize Huerta & demanded
that he step down for legitimate elections
 When Huerta refused, Wilson issued an arms
embargo against Mexico and blockaded the port
of Vera Cruz
 American seamen were arrested in Tampico and
the U.S. occupied Vera Cruz
 In 1914 Huerta lost power and civil war broke
out between the followers of Carranza and
Pancho Villa

Wilson and Mexico
Pancho Villa raided American towns on the
border, potentially to provoke war with the U.S.
 In 1916 General John J. Pershing led an
American force into Mexico in search of Villa,
but never caught Villa
 War seemed imminent but was averted when the
ABC powers of Latin America (Argentina,
Brazil, and Chile) mediated the dispute
 Moral diplomacy seemed to fail in Mexico as
war seemed eminent but WWI forced Americans
to change their focus to Europe

Moral Diplomacy in Action
 Wilson
talked of “human rights” in Latin
America, but defended the Monroe
Doctrine & intervened more than
Roosevelt or Taft
 US Marines were kept in Nicaragua, some
were also sent to Haiti and the Dominican
Republic during Wilson’s Presidency
Moral Diplomacy in Action
1914 American ships were required to pay tolls
to use the Panama Canal just like all other
nations
 Jones Act of 1916 granted full territorial status
to the Philippines, guaranteed a Bill of Rights,
and universal male suffrage to Filipino citizens
and promised independence ASAP
 Puerto Rico citizens were granted U.S.
citizenship and allowed limited self-government
(1917)
