Theodore+Roosevelt+and+Foreign+Policy

Theodore Roosevelt and Foreign Policy

THEODORE ROOSEVELT ACCOMPLISHMENTS SUMMARY 1901-1909: In 1901, a few months after being inaugurated president for a second time, William McKinley was shot by an anarchist. The Republican vice president, a young expansionist and hero of the Spanish-American War, Theodore Roosevelt took his place in office at the age of 42, the youngest preside​nt in history to take office. Roosevelt attempted to move the Republican Party in the direction of Progressivism, including trust busting and increased regulation of business. Roosevelt coined the phrase "Square Deal" to describe his domestic agenda, emphasizing that the average citizen would be treated fairly under his policies. As an outdoorsman and naturalist, he promoted the conservation movement and the creation of national parks around the United States. Roosevelt was the force behind the completion of the Panama Canal and he sent out the Great White Fleet to display American power. He negotiated an end to the Russo-Japanese War.

​BIG-STICK FOREIGN POLICY APPROACH: When describing his foreign policy, Theodore Roosevelt stated that it was his motto to "speak softy and carry a big stick." He believed that the idea of negotiating peacefully while simultaneously threatening with the “big stick” or, the military, was the best way to approach foreign affairs. Soon after, the press applied the label "big stick" to Roosevelt's agressive foreign policy. He acted boldly and decisively in numerous situations and attempted to build the reputation of the U.S. as a world power. Roosevelt described his style of foreign policy as “the exercise of intelligent forethought and of decisive action sufficiently far in advance of any likely crisis.” He was applauded by Imperialists, but critics of the big-stick policy disliked his choice to break away from the tradition of noninvolvement in global politics. The purpose of Roosevelt's applications of his big-stick policy was to maintain the peace between rival nations. He consistently promoted peaceful solutions to international disputes.

IN-DEPTH ACCOMPLISHMENT SUMMARY: ☆ [|The Gentleman's Agreement] ** Laws in California, discriminating against Japanese Americans, caused a major amount of friction between Japan and the United States. In 1908, Roosevelt arranged a compromise by means of an informal understanding, or gentlemen's agreement. The Japanese secretly agreed to restrict the emigration of Japanese workers to the U.S. in return for Roosevelt persuading California to repeal its discriminatory laws. ** ☆ [|The Great White Fleet] ** To demontrate U.S. naval power to Japan as well as other nations, Roosevelt sent a fleet of battleships on an around-the-world cruise lasting from 1907-1090. The great white ships provided an intimidating and impressive sight, and the Japanese government welcomed them into Tokyo Bay. Fun Facts About Theodore Roosevelt FUN FACTS ABOUT THE NATIONS 26TH PRESIDENT: **☆** Sagamore Hill was the home of the 26th Roosevelt and his family from 1885 until his death in 1919. It is located at the end of Cove Neck Road in the Incorporated Village of Cove Neck, New York, located on Long Island. It is now open as a museum. **☆** During the 7th Inning Stretch of the Washington D.C. baseball team, The Nationals, games, a race between presidential mascotts with massive heads is held. Roosevelt has never won a race, though there have been hundreds and ocassionally attempts to cheat his contenders out of victory by doing hillarious dances, or tripping them mid-run.
 * ☆** [|The Panama Canal] : Roosevelt was eager to begin the construction of a canal through the narrow and rugged terrain of the isthmus of Panama. Colombia had controlled this isthmus and refused to agree to U.S. terms for digging the canal through its territory. Roosevelt supported a revolt in Panama in 1903. The rebellion succeeded with U.S. backing almost immediately, and without bloodshed. The first act of the new government of independent Panama was to sign a treaty, the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903, granting the United States long-term control of a canal zone. As a result of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, the United States could begin to dig the canal without British involvement, terminating the previous agreement that any canal in Central America was to be under joint British-U.S. control. Most Americans approved of Roosevelt's determination to build the canal. However, many were unhappy with the high-handed tactics emplyed to secure the Canal Zone.
 * ☆** The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine : Another application of Roosevelt's big-stick diplomacy involved Latin American nations that were in deep financial trouble and could not pay their debts to European creditors. Rather than let Europeans intervene in Latin America, a violation of the Monroe Doctrine, Roosevelt declared that the United States would intervene instead, whenever necessary. This policy became known as the Roosevelt Corollary. It meant that the United States would send gunboats to a Latin American country that had been deliquent in paying debts. It was used throughout the following twenty years.
 * ☆** [|The Russo-Japanese War] : In order to end the Russo-Japanese War, Theodore Roosevelt arranged for a diplomatic conference between representatives of the two foes at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1905. Both Russia and Japan agreed to the Treaty of Portsmouth. For his work in settling the Russo-Japanese War, Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906**
 * ☆** Theodore Roosevelt had six children: Alice, Ted, Kermit, Ethel, Archie, and Quentin. The children road bicycles and roller skates and walked on stilts through the White House.
 * ☆** The Roosevelt family had a pet badger, bear, snakes, dogs, horses, cats, birds, guinea pigs, and kangaroo rats.
 * ☆** Roosevelt was 5 feet 8 inches tall, wore a shoe size 9 1/2.
 * ☆** Roosevelt drank coffee in huge quantities. He said the coffee was "good to the last drop." That phrase was adopted as a marketing statement by the Maxwell House Company.
 * ☆** He was so frail and sickly as a boy that his doctors did not know whether he would live to be an adult. He had severe asthma at a time when there were no good medical remedies for asthma.
 * ☆** On November 14, 1902, Roosevelt was helping settle a border dispute between Mississippi and Louisiana. During his spare time he attended a bear hunt in Mississippi. During the hunt, Roosevelt came upon a wounded young bear and ordered the mercy killing of the animal. The Washington Post ran a editorial cartoon created by the political cartoonist Clifford K. Berryman that illustrated the event. The cartoon was called "Drawing the Line in Mississippi" and depicted both state line dispute and the bear hunt. At first Berryman drew the bear as a fierce animal, the bear had just killed a hunting dog. Later, Berryman redrew the bear to make it a cuddly cub. The cartoon and the story it told became popular and within a year, the cartoon bear became a toy for children called the teddy bear.