Download 1890 to 1915: The Progressives

Clio’s Notes: American Foreign Policy in the Progressive
Era, 1890-1919
The Period’s Noteworthy Trends
Three big trends helped shape American foreign policy
choices around the turn of the 20th century. These trends
contributed to an expansionist or imperialist foreign policy
mindset among many Americans.
1. Growing industry produced a need for foreign markets,
friendly ports, and expanded sources of raw materials for
factories.
2. The Progressive reform movement at home contributed to
a popular view that the U.S. could not only reform itself but
also reform the world—to make the world more democratic
and civilized.
3. And the end of the frontier—declared by the Director of
the U.S. Census in 1890--concerned Americans who were
accustomed to the idea of free land and a place to be
independent and free. Historian Frederick Jackson Turner
wondered, like many Americans, what would happen to
American ideals like democracy, equal opportunity, or
individualism with no frontier outlet. These three trends
contributed to a growing belief among many Americans that
the U.S. needed to expand beyond North America, that it
needed to copy the European model for success and acquire
colonies, that it needed to build an American empire.
The Spanish American War: 1898
Events in Cuba in the 1890s intersected with these trends and
precipitated a war—the Spanish American War, in 1898. Cuba
had long been a Spanish colony, but Spain’s hold on Cuba was
weak by this time because of an active Cuban independence
movement led by the father of Cuban independence, Jose
Marti, an accomplished writer. Just 90 miles from Florida,
Cuba appeared a natural place for American expansion, and
helping Cubans achieve independence seemed a neighborly
and American thing to do.
When the American battleship Maine exploded in Havana,
Cuba and 265 Americans died, calls for American military
intervention grew shrill. President William McKinley wanted
to avoid war, but members of Congress would not allow it.
Passions for war were fed by the yellow press—
sensationalized news reports—about Spanish atrocities against
the people of Cuba. Newspaper publishers like William
Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer fueled the war fever
even as they increased their own newspaper’s sales. War was
declared and American troops were sent to Cuba.
A key player in the Spanish American War was Teddy
Roosevelt. As Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Roosevelt had
ordered Admiral George Dewey to prepare for an attack on
the Philippines, another Spanish colony, in the event of
hostilities. Indeed, the first shots of the war were fired in the
Philippines. Later, Roosevelt organized a regiment of men to
lead into war. Known as the Rough Riders, they became
famous for their victory in the Battle for San Juan Hill that
earned Americans the high ground near Havana and helped
secure an American victory in the war. After just 113 days and
about 5,000 American dead, the war was over, and Americans
had gained control of four Spanish colonies: Cuba, Guam,
Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. Secretary of State John
Hay called it a “splendid little war.”
Each of the former Spanish colonies received different
treatment from the Americans after the war. Cubans had
reason to expect their independence. As a part of the
declaration of war against Spain, Congress had passed the
Teller Amendment, which called for complete Cuban
independence. However, after the war, Congress passed the
Platt Amendment, which gave the U.S. the right to intervene
in Cuban affairs and to lease land for naval bases (one is still
there today at Guantanamo Bay). Guam and Puerto Rico
became American territories, with their peoples eventually
gaining American citizenship. Filipinos who helped the U.S.
defeat the Spanish in the Philippines were deemed “unfit for
self-rule” by President McKinley. The American military
turned the guns it had pointed at the Spanish toward the
Filipino independence fighters led by Emilio Aginaldo. After
three years of fighting, the U.S. won. Filpinos did not gain
complete independence until 1946.
Foreign Policy Under the Progressives: Roosevelt, Taft,
and Wilson
Three Progressive presidents dictated foreign policy between
McKinley’s assassination in 1901 and 1920. Each promoted a
different approach. Theodore Roosevelt argued for a “big
stick” foreign policy, one based on building up the power of
the American military so that the U.S. could project its power
around the globe. William Howard Taft argued for “Dollar
Diplomacy,” a policy in which American economic interests
were most important. Woodrow Wilson argued in favor of
“moral diplomacy,” a policy where American ideals and
morality were the highest priority. These presidents each
contributed to an expansion of U.S. global influence. This
power became evident in a number places around the globe.
In China, Americans promoted the “Open Door” policy, a
policy that called for the end of exclusive trading agreements
that many European countries had set up in different regions of
China. Many Chinese wanted to rid China of foreign influence.
Some Chinese, called the Boxers, rose up in violent
insurrection against foreigners, but their uprising was put down
by American, Japanese, and European troops. In the end,
foreign powers abided by the Open Door policy.
In Hawaii American planters overthrew the Constitutional
monarchy led by Queen Lilikualani with the help of
American troops in 1893.
In Mexico, Woodrow Wilson attempted to install a democratic
government after the Mexican Revolution ended the
dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz. Wilson sent troops to keep arms
out of the hands of another dictator Victoriano Huerta in an
attempt to help another Mexican he hoped would promote
democracy. Wilson sent troops a second time, after Pancho
Villa led Mexican rebels into New Mexico and 17 Americans
were killed.
The U.S. hoped to build a canal through the Isthmus of
Panama to significantly decrease travel time from the Eastern
states to Pacific locations like Hawaii or Asia. Theodore
Roosevelt attempted to lease the isthmus from Colombia, but
his offer was refused. Roosevelt encouraged Panamanians to
revolt and declare independence from Colombia. The
American navy supported the rebellion, Panama became a
nation, and Panamanian leaders granted the U.S. the right to
build a canal that Panamanians would not control for nearly
100 years.
The government of the Dominican Republic was unable to
pays its debtors. Theodore Roosevelt argued that where Latin
America is concerned, the United States has the right to
strengthen or support nations too weak to care for themselves.
This policy, called the Roosevelt Corollary, was related to the
Monroe Doctrine (1823) which warned European powers to
stay out of Latin America. In short, the Roosevelt Corollary
asserted U.S. police powers in the region. In the Dominican,
the U.S. assumed the debts and worked out payments to
debtors.
World War I
War broke out in Europe in 1914. Wilson immediately
declared neutrality, hoping to stay out of the European
conflict. Most Americans agreed in principle to neutrality but
American businesses and many Americans rooted for and
supported the British and the French in their war against
Germany. Germany threatened American shipping to Britain
and France with submarines, sinking a number of ships,
including the British passenger liner, the Lusitania, which held
American passengers and possibly American ammunition in
1915. Calls for war did not move Congress to action until the
interception of the Zimmerman Telegram which revealed an
offer of an alliance between Germany and Mexico that would
regain the American Southwest for Mexico and keep the U.S.
out of the war in Europe. Wilson asked for and received a
Declaration of War in 1917.
American armed forces helped turn the tide in WWI. They
fought in bloody battles such as the Meuse-Argonne and
Chatteau-Thierry, resulting in 116,000 American dead. Led
by John J. Blackjack Pershing, the “Dough Boys,” as
American soldiers were called, helped the French and British
defeat German forces by 11/11/17 at 11:00.
WWII produced a number of social, political, economic effects
on the American homefront. The actions of the government
produced many of these effects. For example, to sell the war,
the government created the Committee on Public
Information (CPI), led by George Creel. The CPI produced
movies, newsreels, posters, and press releases to sell the war.
75,000 Americans became 4 Minute Men and gave pro-war
speeches. To fund the war, the government sold Liberty Bonds
and millions of Americans purchased them. To reorganize
industry, the government created the War Industries Board
(WIB), under the direction of Bernard Baruch. The WIB
could tell factories what goods to produce. The government
also set labor conditions such as wages and hours. Labor unrest
largely vanished during the war. The government also
promoted conservation of food. Americans had Meatless
Mondays and Wheatless Wednesdays and planted Victory
Gardens to save food for soldiers “over there.”
The war created a booming economy. Wages and prices of
products (especially farm products) went up. Most industrial
growth occurred in the North, and many Americans flocked to
Northern cities to take new jobs. African Americans moved in
large numbers. Over a million blacks moved to cities like New
York, Chicago, and Cleveland. This mass movement was
called the Great Migration. Racial tensions sometimes grew
with the surging black population. The summer of 1919 was
named the Red Summer because of racial violence.
Racial tensions weren’t the only problems on the homefront.
The government’s attempts to secure wartime loyalty resulted
in unrest, as well. Congress passed the Espionage Act in 1917.
The law made it a crime to interfere with the draft or obstruct
the war effort. In 1918 the Sedition Act made it illegal to
voice “disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive” statements
about the government. 1,500 people were arrested, including
Eugene Debs a leading Socialist, and many members of the
International Workers of the World (Wobblies). One man,
Charles Schenk was jailed for handing out anti-war leaflets to
recent draftees. His case Schenck v. United States was decided
in the Supreme Court where his conviction was upheld
because, as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes stated, his actions
had created a “clear and present danger.”
Woodrow Wilson helped negotiate the Treaty of Versailles
after WWI that laid out the terms of peace. The treaty
established a League of Nations to meet and solve
international conflicts. The Treaty was defeated by a group of
Republicans in the U.S. Senate called the “irreconcilables.”
Led by Henry Cabot Lodge, they defeated the treaty and
helped break Wilson, who suffered a stroke while campaigning
to gain its passage.