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Ch. 27
AP U.S. History
Part-4
TR: Brandisher of the Big Stick
•
In the 1900 presidential election,
once again William Jennings Bryan
took on William McKinley, but this
time, he insisted that the “paramount
issue” of the campaign was the evils
of imperialism.
•
But again, Bryan’s bid for the White
House failed as the nation proved to
be in an “imperialist mood” after the
subsequent conquering of Spain and
the territorial acquisitions it brought
about. McKinley won easily.
•
However, he had scarcely served
another six months of his 2nd term
when, in September 1901, McKinley
was murdered by a deranged
anarchist in Buffalo, New York,
making Theodore Roosevelt the
youngest president ever at age 42.
•
TR promised to carry out McKinley's
policies.
•
Theodore Roosevelt was born into a rich
New York family and graduated from
Harvard. Intellectually brilliant, he was
highly energetic and spirited, and his
motto was “speak softly and carry a big
stick,” or basically, “let your actions do
the talking.”
•
Roosevelt rapidly developed into a
master politician, and a maverick who
was uncontrollable by party machines.
He believed that a president should lead,
which would explain the precedents that
he would set during his term, becoming
what many call the “first modern
president.”
•
In fact, as a vice-presidential candidate
in 1900, T.R. matched William Jennings
Bryan’s travels in a flamboyant
campaign, while McKinley never left his
front porch!
Building the Panama Canal
TR had traveled to Europe and knew more
about foreign affairs than most of his
predecessors. One foreign issue he knew
needed to be dealt with was the creation of a
canal through the Central American isthmus.
During the Spanish-American War, the
battleship U.S.S. Oregon had been forced to
steam all the way around the tip of South
America to join the fleet in Cuba.
After being frustrated by such deliberate travel,
TR was determined to improve the defenses of
the U.S. by constructing an isthmian canal
through Panama for more expedient naval
transport.
Such a waterway would also make defense of
the recent island acquisitions easier (i.e.
Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, Hawaii).
However, the 1850 Clayton-Bulwer Treaty with
Britain had forbade the construction by either
country of a canal in the Americas without the
other’s consent and help. But soon that
statement was nullified in 1901 by the HayPauncefote Treaty with Britain, which cleared
the way fro TR to start digging!
• A Nicaraguan route was one
possible place for a canal, but it
was opposed by the French Canal
Company that was eager to build
in Panama and salvage
something from their costly
failure there.
– Their leader was Philippe BunauVarilla.
– The U.S. finally chose Panama after
Mount Pelée in Nicaragua erupted and
killed 30,000 people.
• The U.S. negotiated a deal that
would buy a 6-mile-wide strip of
land in Panama for $10 million
and a $250,000 annual payment,
but this treaty was retracted by
the Colombian government,
which owned Panama.
– TR was furious, since he wanted
construction of the canal to begin
before the 1904 campaign.
At this point, TR and the U.S. decided
enough was enough and it was time for
action.
– On November 3, 1903, another
revolution in Panama began, and
when Colombia tried to stop it, the
U.S., citing an 1846 treaty with
Colombia, deployed the marines
and wouldn’t let the Colombian fleet
engage.
– Panama was thus recognized by the
U.S. as an independent nation, and
fifteen days later, Bunau-Varilla, the
Panamanian minister, despite his
French nationality, signed the HayBunau-Varilla Treaty that gave a
widened (6x10 mi.) Panamanian
zone to the U.S. for $15 million.
– TR didn’t actively plot to tear
Panama away from Colombia, but it
seemed like it to the public, and to
Latin America, and his blatantly
macho actions in this incident saw
him suffer a political black eye.
•
•
Regardless, in 1904,
construction began on the
Panama Canal.
At first, however, problems
with labor troubles, landslides,
yellow fever, and poor
sanitation threatened to doom
the endeavour.
– Colonel George
Washington Goethals
finally organized the
workers while Colonel
William C. Gorgas
exterminated yellow fever.
– When TR visited Panama
in 1906, he was the first
U.S. president to leave
America for foreign soil.
– The canal was finally
finished and opened in
1914, at a cost of $400
million, the largest
engineering project since
the Great Pyramids.
“I’ll make the dirt fly!” - TR
TR’s Perversion of the Monroe
American involvement in Doctrine
the affairs of Latin
American nations at the
turn of the century
usually stemmed from
the fact that they were
chronically in debt,
usually to the industrial
powers of Europe – the
U.S.’s #1 rivals.
– Latin American nations like
Venezuela and the
Dominican Republic were
having a hard time paying
their debts to their
European debtors, so
Britain and Germany
decided to send a bit of
force to South America to
make the Latinos pay.
– TR feared that if European
powers interfered in the
Americas to collect debts, they
might then STAY in Latin
America, a blatant violation of
the Monroe Doctrine, so he
issued his Roosevelt
Corollary.
• The Roosevelt Corollary
stated that in future cases of
debt problems, the U.S. would
take over and handle any
intervention in Latin America
on behalf of Europe, thus
justifying keeping Europe
away….and the Monroe
Doctrine intact.
• In a nutshell, the Roosevelt
Corollary implied that no
one could bully Latin
America….well, except
maybe the U.S.
• However, this corollary and
subsequent frequent
intervention didn’t sit too
well with most Latin
American countries who felt
that Uncle Sam was being
overbearing, in effect,
leading to a legacy of ill will
and distrust that lasts to
this day.
• When U.S. Marines landed
in Cuba to bring back order
to the island in 1906, this
simply seemed like an
extension of the tradition of
the interfering big brother,
or “Bad Neighbor” policy,
as it was often called.
Roosevelt on the World Stage
In 1904, Japan attacked Russia over who
should control the Chinese province of
Manchuria.
Japan proceeded to administer a series of
humiliating defeats against Russia until the
Japanese began to run short on men.
– Therefore, they approached Theodore
Roosevelt to facilitate a peace treaty.
– At Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1905,
both sides met, and though both were
stubborn (Japan wanted all of the strategic
island of Sakhalin while the Russians
strongly resisted), in the end, TR
negotiated a deal in which Japan got half
of Sakhalin but no indemnity for its losses.
– For this, and his mediation of North
African disputes in 1906 through an
international conference at Algeciras,
Spain, TR received the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1906.
However, due to the Russo-Japanese incident,
America lost two potential allies in Russia and
Japan, neither of which felt that it had received
its fair share of winnings.
Japanese Laborers in California
After the war, many Japanese immigrants
poured into California, and fears of a “yellow
peril” arose again.
The showdown came in 1906 after the San
Francisco earthquake when the city decreed
that, due to lack of space, Chinese, Japanese,
and Korean children should attend a special
school.
Instantly, this became an international issue
over racism, but TR settled it eventually, once
again showing his gifts for political diplomacy.
Interestingly, despite his rough reputation, as
president, TR proved progressive and willing to
compromise, arguably his greatest political
skill.
These skills were evident in his dealings with
Japan and many subsequent domestic
decisions: San Francisco would not displace
Japanese students and Japan would now keep
its laborers in Japan – other wise known as the
Gentleman’s Agreement with Japan.
To impress the Japanese,
Roosevelt sent his entire
battleship fleet, “The
Great White Fleet,”
around the world for a
tour, and it received
tremendous salutes in
Latin America, New
Zealand, Hawaii, Australia,
and Japan, helping relieve
tensions.
The subsequent RootTakahira Agreement
pledged the U.S. and
Japan to respect each
other’s territorial
possessions in the Pacific
and to uphold the Open
Door Policy in China –
which lasted only a
generation……..
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Various developments provoked the previously isolated United
States to turn its attention overseas in the 1890s. Among the stimuli
for the new imperialism were the desire for new economic markets,
the sensationalistic appeals of the “yellow press,” missionary fervor,
Darwinist ideology, great-power rivalry, and naval competition.
Strong American intervention in the Venezuelan boundary dispute of
1895–1896 demonstrated an aggressive new assertion of the Monroe
Doctrine and led to a new British willingness to accept American
domination in the Western Hemisphere. Longtime American
involvement in Hawaii climaxed in 1893 in a revolution against
native rule by white American planters. President Cleveland
temporarily refused to annex the islands, but the question of
incorporating Hawaii into the United States triggered the first fullfledged imperialistic debate in American history.
The “splendid little” Spanish-American War began in 1898 over
American outrage about Spanish oppression of Cuba. American
support for the Cuban rebellion had been whipped up into intense
popular fervor by the “yellow press.” After the mysterious Maine
explosion in February 1898, this public passion pushed a reluctant
President McKinley into war, even though Spain was ready to
concede on the major issues.
An astounding first development of the war was Admiral Dewey’s
naval victory in May 1898 in the rich Spanish islands of the
Philippines in East Asia. Then in August, American troops, assisted
by Filipino rebels, captured the Philippine city of Manila in another
dramatic victory. Despite mass confusion, American forces also
easily and quickly overwhelmed the Spanish in Cuba and Puerto
Rico.
After a long and bitter national debate over the wisdom and justice
of American imperialism, which ended in a narrow proimperialist
victory in the Senate, the United States took over the Philippines and
Puerto Rico as colonial possessions. Regardless of serious doubts
about imperialism, the United States had strongly asserted itself as a
proud new international power.
America’s decision to take the Philippines aroused violent resistance
from the Filipinos, who had expected independence. The brutal war
that ensued was longer and costlier than the Spanish-American
conflict.
Imperialistic competition in China deepened American involvement
in Asia. Hay’s Open Door policy helped prevent the great powers
from dismembering China. The United States joined the
international expedition to suppress the Boxer Rebellion.
Theodore Roosevelt brought a new energy and assertiveness to
American foreign policy. When his plans to build a canal in Panama
were frustrated by the Colombian Senate, he helped promote a
Panamanian independence movement that enabled the canal to be
built. He also altered the Monroe Doctrine by adding a “Roosevelt
Corollary” that declared an American right to intervene in South
America.
Roosevelt negotiated an end to the Russo-Japanese War but angered
both parties in the process. Several incidents showed that the United
States and Japan were now competitors in East Asia.