10-23-2015, 01:30 PM
(10-23-2015, 11:40 AM)RICHMONDBENGAL_07 Wrote: Here's what I found.
http://millercenter.org/president/biography/roosevelt-foreign-affairs
The most spectacular of Roosevelt's foreign policy initiatives was the establishment of the Panama Canal. For years, U.S. naval leaders had dreamed of building a passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through Central America. During the war with Spain, American ships in the Pacific had to steam around the tip of South America in two-month voyages to join the U.S. fleet off the coast of Cuba. In 1901, the United States negotiated with Britain for the support of an American-controlled canal that would be constructed either in Nicaragua or through a strip of land—Panama—owned by Colombia. In a flourish of closed-door maneuvers, the Senate approved a route through Panama, contingent upon Colombian approval. When Colombia balked at the terms of the agreement, the United States supported a Panamanian revolution with money and a naval blockade, the latter of which prevented Colombian troops from landing in Panama. In 1903, the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty with Panama gave the United States perpetual control of the canal for a price of $10 million and an annual payment of $250,000.
When he visited Panama in 1906 to observe the building of the canal, Roosevelt became the first U.S. President to leave the country during his term of office. He wanted to see the spectacle, which became known as one of the world's greatest engineering feats. Nearly 30,000 workers labored ten-hour days for ten years to build the $400-million canal, during which time American officials were able to counteract the scourge of Yellow Fever that had ravaged large numbers of canal workers. The Panama Canal was finally completed in 1914; by 1925, more than 5,000 merchant ships had traversed the forty miles of locks each year. Once operational, it shortened the voyage from San Francisco to New York by more than 8,000 miles. The process of building the canal generated advances in U.S. technology and engineering skills. This project also converted the Panama Canal Zone into a major staging area for American military forces, making the United States the dominant military power in Central America.
Roosevelt Corollary
Latin America consumed a fair amount of Roosevelt's time and energy during his first term as President. Venezuela became a focus of his attention in 1902 when Germany and Britain sent ships to blockade that country's coastline. The European nations had given loans to Venezuela that the Venezuelan dictator refused to repay. Although both Germany and Britain assured the Americans that they did not have any territorial designs on Venezuela, Roosevelt felt aggrieved by their actions and demanded that they agree to arbitration to resolve the dispute. Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic) also encountered problems with European countries. Again, European investors had appealed to their governments to collect money from a debt-ridden nation Latin American nation. After the Dominican government appealed to the United States, Roosevelt ordered an American collector to assume control of the customs houses and collect duties to avoid possible European military action.
During the Santo Domingo crisis, Roosevelt formulated what became known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine, issued in 1823, stated that the United States would not accept European intervention in the Americas. Roosevelt realized that if nations in the Western Hemisphere continued to have chronic problems, such as the inability to repay foreign debt, they would become targets of European invention. To preempt such action and to maintain regional stability, the President drafted his corollary: the United States would intervene in any Latin American country that manifested serious economic problems. The corollary announced that the United States would serve as the "policeman" of the Western Hemisphere, a policy which eventually created much resentment in Latin America.
Like I said meddling into others affairs. Which is why we are in the mess we are in today.
Europe had a right to park ships off the coast to collect their debts.
I think it was a serious over reach. Which was a large part of his presidency. As we have discussed this time period in prior threads.
