The Spanish-American War, the Panama Canal project, and the Roosevelt Corollary ensured extensive U.S. involvement in Latin America. Many Caribbean and Latin American countries seemed to be in a perpetual state of revolution and political upheaval. Due to its close geographic proximity, the U.S. felt compelled to get involved and exert influence in these conflicts. The significant financial investment that resulted from “dollar diplomacy” also required the U.S. to intervene repeatedly in order to protect its citizens and investments. Taft continued Roosevelt’s imperialist policies and increased America’s economic and political empire throughout the world.

Disorder and rebellion in Cuba, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic were causes for alarm in the United States. Most Caribbean countries at the time were politically unstable and desperately impoverished. The U.S. adopted a policy of “non-colonial imperial expansion” in an attempt to bring stability and order to the region. Essentially, this unilateral policy enabled the U.S. to intervene in the region without actually taking control of any of these countries. The decision to intervene was at the discretion of President, although some countries requested U.S. assistance. People on both sides of the imperialism issue were critical of non-colonial imperial expansion. Imperialists believed that this policy was limiting and contrary to American interests. Anti-imperialists believed the strategy was too vague and would allow America to intervene in any situation it wanted.

A key element of this new imperialistic movement was the promotion of financial security for the U.S. and other countries in the western hemisphere. The U.S. stepped in and advised Caribbean countries on ways to more efficiently manage their economic affairs. However, many of these countries were rife with corruption and their resources were badly mismanaged, so the U.S. took a more active role to ensure that their revenues were properly handled. In many cases, the U.S. took control of a country’s customshouses and made certain that revenues were appropriately controlled and distributed. In the short run, this strategy was successful. For example, U.S. control of the Dominican Republic’s customshouses helped bring short-term financial security to the nation. However, when the U.S. returned control to the Dominicans, the mismanagement resumed and the Dominican Republic was no better off than before. Another unfortunate result of U.S. involvement was that feelings of resentment and distrust toward America continued to grow throughout Latin America.

In 1912, within one week of taking office, Woodrow Wilson removed governmental support for American businesses operating in the Caribbean and China. Wilson was an intense critic of imperialism and his goal was to reverse Roosevelt’s “big stick” policies and Taft’s “dollar diplomacy.” His vision for U.S. foreign policy was based on morality. He strongly believed that his immediate predecessors had pursued a policy that would breed dislike of the U.S. and often sacrifice goodwill for short-term gain. For this reason, Wilson’s foreign policy has sometimes been called “missionary diplomacy” or “moral diplomacy.”

After Wilson’s policies were instated, American bankers withdrew their support for Taft’s six-nation loan to China, which caused the loan to collapse. Wilson also immediately repealed the Panama Canal Tolls Act that exempted U.S. vessels from paying tolls at the Canal. The repeal of this act pleased England who was angry at paying tolls that U.S. ships were exempt from. Another of Wilson’s anti-imperialist actions was the signing of the Jones Act of 1916. The Jones Act promised the Philippines independence as soon as they were able to demonstrate that they had a stable government. However, this act proved to be less than successful, as the Philippines were not granted independence until 30 years later on July 4, 1946.

Haiti had been a key target of Taft’s “dollar diplomacy.” It was an exceptionally poor nation even by Caribbean standards and Taft tried to improve the Haitian economy through the influx of American investment. Wilson began withdrawing some of America’s involvement and influence when he took office, although many Americans continued to live and own property in Haiti. In 1914 and 1915, the Haitian people were outraged by the oppressive nature of their President, so they rebelled, literally tearing him to pieces during a bloody revolution. In response, Wilson reluctantly sent troops to Haiti to protect American citizens and investments. He agreed to a treaty with Haiti in which the U.S. would help police the nation and supervise its finances. Due to continued Haitian instability, U.S. troops remained in Haiti for 19 years. Despite Wilson’s intentions, the U.S. continued to exert influence throughout the Caribbean.

For the United States, another key area of concern in Central America was Nicaragua. Its close proximity to the Panama Canal made Nicaragua’s stability crucial to American interests in the region. Nicaragua asked the U.S. for help, and in 1911 American bankers and investors reorganized the Nicaraguan financial structure and began to manage its customs service. They were successful in bringing some stability to the country, but in 1912 a violent political revolution began. This revolution greatly concerned the U.S., since an armed insurrection in the region threatened the security and the prosperity of the burgeoning Panama Canal. The U.S. responded by sending 2,500 troops to the nation. Although the troops were rarely involved in combat, they remained in Nicaragua for 13 years.

Wilson’s “moral diplomacy” achieved mixed results. One of his primary goals was to stabilize the Caribbean and Latin America during the onset of World War I, with a minimal amount of American involvement. Also, he wanted to completely reverse Roosevelt’s “big stick” policies and remove all elements of Taft’s “dollar diplomacy.” However, Wilson faced a great deal of pressure from imperialists as well as American industrialists. Despite Wilson’s intentions to limit U.S. involvement in the region, he sent troops to Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, which ensured a U.S. military presence in the Caribbean and Central America for decades. Ironically, regardless of his sincere intentions to halt the spread of imperialism, Wilson intervened in Latin American affairs more than any other president.

Copyright 2006 The Regents of the University of California and Monterey Institute for Technology and Education