United States-Latin American Foreign Policy

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United States-Latin AmericanForeign Policy

• 1900-1940

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Foreign Policy 101

• Foreign policy is defined as the diplomatic
  policy of a nation in its interactions with other
  nations.
• The diplomatic history of the United States
  oscillated among three positions
• isolation from diplomatic entanglements of other
  (typically European) nations (but with economic
  connections to the world)
• alliances with European and other military
  partners and
• unilateralism, or operating on its own sovereign
  policy decisions

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Foreign Policy 101

• The executive branch of the U.S. government is
  the primary agent of foreign policy.
• However, Article I gives Congress the authority
  to regulate foreign commerce (i.e. tariffs)
• Article II of the Constitution gives the
  president the authority to make treaties (with
  the consent of Senate) and to appoint receive
  (recognize) ambassadors
• The president is advised by
• Secretary of State (State Department)
• National Security Council (NSC) est.1947
• Joint Chiefs of Staff (Pentagon)

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Developing U.S. Foreign Policy
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Monroe Doctrine 1823

• Announced at James Monroes State of the Union
  Address.
• European powers were no longer to colonize or
  interfere with the affairs of the newly
  independent states of the Americas
• The U.S. would not interfere with existing
  colonies or their dependencies in the Western
  Hemisphere.
• However, any attempt by a European nation to
  oppress or control any nation in the western
  hemisphere would be seen as an act of aggression
  and the U.S. would intervene.

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Monroe Doctrine

• The doctrine's authors, chiefly future-President
  and then secretary-of-state John Quincy Adams,
  saw it as a proclamation by the U.S. of moral
  opposition to colonialism.
• The doctrine has been interpreted different ways
  by different presidents, especially Theodore
  Roosevelt (TR)
• The doctrine has been the foundation of U.S.
  foreign policy since its proclamation in1823.

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Gunboat Diplomacy

• Gunboat diplomacy refers to the pursuit of
  foreign policy objectives with the aid of
  conspicuous displays of military powerimplying a
  threat of warfare, should terms not be agreeable
  to the superior force. Ex. Theodore Roosevelt
  Support for Panamanian separatists 1903-1904,
  Great White Fleet 1907

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Dollar Diplomacy

• Dollar diplomacy is term used to describe the
  efforts of the United States, particularly under
  President William Howard Taft, to further its
  foreign policy aims in Latin America through use
  of its economic power by guaranteeing loans made
  to foreign countries.
• The term was originally coined by President Taft,
  who claimed that U.S. operations in Latin America
  went from "warlike and political" to "peaceful
  and economic".
• The term is also used historically by Latin
  Americans to show their disapproval of the role
  that the U.S. government and U.S. corporations
  have played in using economic, diplomatic and
  military power to open up foreign markets. Ex.
  Honduras 1909, Nicaragua 1912

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Moral Diplomacy

• Moral diplomacy refers to the foreign policy of
  Woodrow Wilson "The force of America is the force
  of moral principle.
• Wilson's goals were to condemn imperialism,
  spread democracy, and promote peace.
• Side tracked by the First World War

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Neocolonialism

• Neocolonialism (1880-1930) is an informal
  colonization in which Latin American countries,
  though independent, experienced occasional
  military intervention and overpowering economic
  and cultural influence from Great Britain,
  France, and the U.S. Paternalism

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U.S.-Latin American Policy1900-1940
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Guiding Questions

• Describe the evolution of U.S.-Latin American
  policy from the Theodore Roosevelt to Franklin
  Roosevelt
• Compare and contrast gunboat diplomacy and dollar
  diplomacy
• To what extent are neocolonialism, imperialism,
  and paternalism related

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Pan-American Conference

• The Conferences of American States, commonly
  referred to as the Pan-American Conferences, is
  established as an international organization for
  cooperation on trade and other issues. It was
  first introduced by James G. Blaine of Maine in
  order to establish closer ties between the United
  States and its southern neighbors.

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The Platt Amendment 1901

• Over turned the Teller Amendment. Stipulated the
  conditions for the withdrawal of United States
  troops remaining in Cuba since the
  Spanish-American War, and defined the terms of
  Cuban-U.S. relations until the 1934 Treaty of
  Relations.
• Cuba would not transfer Cuban land to any power
  other than the United States,
• Cuba would contract no foreign debt without
  guarantees that the interest could be served from
  ordinary revenues,
• ensured U.S. intervention in Cuban affairs when
  the United States deemed necessary,
• prohibited Cuba from negotiating treaties with
  any country other than the United States

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Roosevelt Corollary

• The Roosevelt Corollary was a substantial
  amendment to the Monroe Doctrine by U.S.
  President Theodore Roosevelt in 1904. Roosevelt's
  corollary asserted
• the right of the United States to intervene to
  stabilize the economic affairs of small nations
  in the Caribbean and Central America if they were
  unable to pay their international debts.
• Interventions
• Cuba (1906-1910),
• Nicaragua (1909-1911,1912-1925 1926-1933),
• Haiti (1915-1934)
• Dominican Republic (1916-1924)

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Hoovers Good Neighbor Policy

• Policy term coined by President Herbert Hoover on
  a goodwill trip to Latin America soon after his
  election in 1928. In Honduras, he announced
• "We have a desire to maintain not only the
  cordial relations of governments with each other,
  but also the relations of good neighbors."
• The intention was to mend relations with Latin
  American countries after they criticized The
  Coolidge Administration during the Sixth
  Pan-American Conference in Havana in 1928 for
  armed interventions in Haiti and Nicaragua. U.S.
  relations with Latin America were at an all-time
  low.

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The Clark Memorandum

• The Clark Memorandum of the Monroe Doctrine was
  announced 1930 by Hoover (originally drafted in
  1928)
• Rejects the notion that the Roosevelt Corollary
  is part of the Monroe Doctrine
• Asserts that the U.S. has an interest in Latin
  America for the purpose of self-preservation
• Asserted the primary purpose of the Doctrine was
  to protect Latin American nations from
  intervention by European powers, not to victimize
  or oppress Latin American nations
• The Clark Memo was the foundation of Hoovers
  Good Neighbor Policy

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FDRs Good Neighbor Policy

• In President Franklin Roosevelt's inaugural
  address, he also promised to improve relations
  with Latin America by stating
• "In the field of world policy, I dedicate this
  nation to the policy of the good neighbor the
  neighbor who resolutely respects himself and,
  because he does so, respects the rights of
  others."
• FDRs Sec. of State, Cordell Hull
• Sought to ensure non-hostile neighbors south of
  the border and
• secure Latin American cooperation in the war
  effort by maintaining the flow of petroleum raw
  materials.

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FDRs Good Neighbor Policy

• Under Hulls stewardship
• Low tariffs improved the economies of the Latin
  American countries that had been hurt by the
  Hawley-Smoot Tariff of 1930, especially for Cuban
  sugar.
• Hull convened the Seventh Montevideo-Pan-American
  Conference in 1933 in Uruguay, where he committed
  to a policy of non-intervention into the affairs
  of Latin American countries. As evidence of his
  commitment, U.S. Marines were removed from Haiti
  in 1934 and Congress signed a treaty with Cuba
  nullifying the Platt Amendment

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FDRs Good Neighbor Policy

• Under Hulls stewardship
• Conference for the Maintenance of Peace in Buenos
  Aires in 1936, the American nations agreed to
  mutual consultation on security threats to any of
  the nations within the hemisphere.
• Eighth Pan-American Conference, held in Lima,
  Hull managed to obtain a resolution reasserting a
  united front against possible Axis aggression.
• Panama Canal Treaty re-negotiated in 1936.
• The U.S. restrained from intervening when Mexico
  expropriated foreign oil companies in 1938, an
  amicable settlement was arranged.

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FDRs Good Neighbor Policy

• Post War
• Great strides had been made to improve relations
  with Latin America during WW II so that after the
  war's end, the U.S. was able to persuade Latin
  American countries to join the Organization of
  American States (OAS), a regional organization
  under the United Nations (largely controlled by
  the U.S.)
• The Good Neighbor Policy and the Pan-American
  "war propaganda" were further abandoned when the
  United States ignored free trade overtures and
  viewed Latin America merely as a supplier of raw
  materials and tropical foodstuffs.