Dollar diplomacy

Latin Americans tend to use the term "dollar diplomacy" disparagingly to show their disapproval of the role that the U.S. government and U.S. corporations have played in using economic, diplomatic and military power to open up foreign markets.

"Dollar diplomacy" was evident in extensive U.S. interventions in Venezuela, Cuba, and Central America, especially in measures undertaken to safeguard American financial interests and from the United States government in the region.

In China, Knox secured the entry of an American banking conglomerate, headed by J.P. Morgan, into a European-financed consortium financing the construction of a railway from Huguang to Canton.

In spite of successes, "dollar diplomacy" failed to counteract economic instability and the tide of revolution in places like Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and China.

President Taft realized that by instituting dollar diplomacy, he would harm the financial interests of other countries, thereby benefiting the United States greatly.

[6] Thomas A. Bailey, a professor of history at Stanford University has stated that dollar diplomacy was designed to make both people in foreign lands and the American investors prosper.

Finally, the other powers held territorial interests, including naval bases and designated geographical areas which they dominated inside China, while the United States refused anything of the kind.

The loan was finally made by the so-called China Consortium in 1911 and helped spark a widespread "Railway Protection Movement" revolt against foreign investment that overthrew the Chinese government.

Historians agree that Taft's Dollar diplomacy was a failure everywhere, In the Far East alienated Japan and Russia, and created a deep suspicion among the other powers hostile to American motives.