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!

• 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 Hay-Pauncefote Treaty with Britain, which cleared the way fro TR to start digging!

Building the Panama Canal

• 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 Bunau-Varilla.

– 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 Hay-Bunau-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 Doctrine • American involvement in 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 Root-

Takahira 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 SUMMARYVarious 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 full-fledged 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.