Foreign policy of the Theodore Roosevelt administration

He promulgated the Roosevelt Corollary, which held that the United States would intervene in the finances of unstable Caribbean and Central American countries in order to forestall direct European intervention.

He was the foremost of the five key men whose ideas and energies reshaped American foreign policy: John Hay (1838-1905); Henry Cabot Lodge (1850-1924); Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914); and Elihu Root (1845-1937).

[4] In the analysis by Henry Kissinger Theodore Roosevelt was the first president to develop the guideline that it was America's duty to make its enormous power and potential influence felt globally.

As for world government: I regard the Wilson–Bryan attitude of trusting to fantastic peace treaties, too impossible promises, to all kinds of scraps of paper without any backing in efficient force, as abhorrent.

Historians have repeatedly combed all the possible published and unpublished sources in the United States and Europe and have found no evidence whatever of any actual ultimatum being issued or discussed in Washington or Berlin.

[20] Germany did pull back, in respond to the flareup of anti-German public opinion in American newspapers, and did pay attention to the build-up of the U.S. Navy, so it followed Great Britain in quickly accepting arbitration.

Given this fear, Roosevelt pursued closer relations with Britain, a rival of Germany, and responded skeptically to German Kaiser Wilhelm II's efforts to curry favor with the United States.

Though Roosevelt had not previously been acquainted with Jean Jules Jusserand when he became France's ambassador in 1902, the two would become close friends and worked to greatly enhance the relationship between the two nations.

Roosevelt admired German military prowess and naval ambitions, but like many contemporary statesmen he realized that William was increasingly erratic and ran roughshod over the diplomatic niceties that smoothed out most tensions.

[43] Though most Filipino leaders favored independence, some minority groups, especially the Chinese who controlled much of local business, wanted to stay under American rule indefinitely.

It included, in addition to the rapid building of a public school system based on English teaching: While the Philippines remained under U.S. control until 1946, Cuba gained nominal independence in 1902.

The island provided an ideal naval base for defense of the Panama Canal, and it also served as an economic and political link to the rest of Latin America.

Root also changed the procedures for promotions, organized schools for the special branches of the service, devised the principle of rotating officers from staff to line,[61] and increased the Army's connections to the National Guard.

By deepening the training and selecting highly qualified leaders such as William S. Sims, the Navy could now operate large complex fleets, far from home port.

The United States argued that the treaty had given Alaska sovereignty over disputed territories which included the gold rush boom towns of Dyea and Skagway.

[73] In January 1903, the U.S. and Britain reached the Hay–Herbert Treaty, which would empower a six-member tribunal, composed of American, British, and Canadian delegates, to set the border between Alaska and Canada.

Roosevelt and Hay feared that even an allegedly temporary occupation could lead to a permanent German military presence in the Western Hemisphere and that was a violation of the Monroe Doctrine.

[91] Roosevelt saw the leader of Colombia, José Manuel Marroquín, as a corrupt and irresponsible autocrat, and he believed that the Colombians had acted in bad faith by reaching and then rejecting the treaty.

The Open Door policy was rooted in the desire of the government in Washington to pressure big business to invest in and trade with the supposedly huge Chinese markets.

Throughout 1904, both Japan and Russia expected to win the war, but the Japanese gained a decisive advantage after capturing the Russian naval base at Port Arthur in January 1905.

[108] The Treaty of Portsmouth resulted in the removal of Russian troops from Manchuria, and it gave Japan control of Korea and the southern half of Sakhalin Island.

[111][112] Led by Oscar Straus, Jacob Schiff, Mayer Sulzberger, and Rabbi Stephen Samuel Wise, they organized protest meetings, issued publicity, and met with Roosevelt and Hay.

Stuart E. Knee reports that in April, 1903, Roosevelt received 363 addresses, 107 letters and 24 petitions signed by thousands of Christians leading public and church leaders—they all called on the Tsar to stop the persecution of Jews.

[117] These events were part of the American goal of transitioning into a naval world power, but it needed to find a way to avoid a military confrontation in the Pacific with Japan.

"[120] Pulitzer prize-winning biographer Henry F. Pringle states that sending Great White Fleet so dramatically to Japan in 1908 was, "the direct result of the Japanese trouble.

The October 23, 1907 Puck magazine cover[124] shows a Roosevelt in a Japanese uniform defending Tokyo from attack by two Democratic newspapers, the Sun and the New York World.

The papers had predicted a future war with Japan and had criticized William Howard Taft, who had just been in Tokyo where Roosevelt sent him to promote improved relations.

[126] With the withdrawal of the American legation from Seoul and the refusal of the Secretary of State to receive a Korean protest mission, Washington signaled acceptance of Japan's takeover of Korea.

[133]In 1906, at the request of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Roosevelt convinced France to attend the Algeciras Conference as part of an effort to resolve the First Moroccan Crisis.

Hoping to avoid an expansion of German power in North Africa, Roosevelt secretly supported France, and he cooperated closely with the French ambassador.