{"id":4318,"date":"2022-01-23T20:05:29","date_gmt":"2022-01-23T20:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/?page_id=4318"},"modified":"2026-03-03T15:17:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T15:17:53","slug":"progressive-diplomacy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/course-syllabus\/progressive-diplomacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Progressive Diplomacy"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\n<h3>Were Progressive era American diplomats more harmful than helpful in promoting global peace and prosperity?<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3><strong>CHAPTER 9:\u00a0 &#8220;Bursting with Good Intentions&#8221;:\u00a0 The United States in World Affairs, 1901-1913<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;The United States between 1901 and 1913 did take a much more active role in the world.\u00a0 Brimming over with optimism and exuberance, their traditional certainty of their virtue now combined with a newfound power and status, Americans firmly believed that their ideals and institutions were the way of the future.\u00a0 Private individuals and organizations, often working with government, took a major role in meeting natural disasters across the world.\u00a0 Americans assumed leadership in promoting world peace.\u00a0 They began to press their own government and others to protect human rights in countries where they were threatened.\u00a0 The perfect example of the nation&#8217;s mood in the new century, Roosevelt promoted what he called &#8216;civilization&#8217; through such diverse ventures as building the Panama Canal, managing the nation&#8217;s imperial holdings in the Philippines and the Caribbean, and even mediating great-power disputes and wars. &#8216;We are today bursting with good intentions,&#8217; journalist E.L. Godkin proclaimed in 1899.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u2013George C. Herring,\u00a0<em>From Colony to Superpower:\u00a0 U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776<\/em> (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 337-38.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><strong>Timeline<\/strong><\/h2>\n<blockquote><p>The internationalization of America and the Americanization of the world was under way by 1900. &#8211;Herring, p. 341<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>1901 \/\/ McKinley assassinated \/\/ TR becomes president AND Supreme Court Insular Cases<\/li>\n<li>1903 \/\/ Root reforms begin to modernize US national security &amp; Panama Canal treaty<\/li>\n<li>1904-5 \/\/ Russo-Japanese War and US mediation and Roosevelt Corollary<\/li>\n<li>1905 \/\/ Chinese American led boycott of US goods<\/li>\n<li>1906 \/\/ American Jewish Committee forms to protest Russian pogroms<\/li>\n<li>1907 \/\/ Gentleman&#8217;s Agreement with Japan \/\/ Second Hague conference<\/li>\n<li>1914 \/\/ Panama Canal completed<\/li>\n<li>1916 \/\/ Jones Act promises independence for Philippines<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>KEY PLAYERS<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h3><strong>Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/files\/2019\/04\/theodore-roosevelt-9463424-1-402.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3526\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/files\/2019\/04\/theodore-roosevelt-9463424-1-402.jpg\" alt=\"TR\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/files\/2019\/04\/theodore-roosevelt-9463424-1-402.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/files\/2019\/04\/theodore-roosevelt-9463424-1-402-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>&#8220;Although thrust into office by an assassin&#8217;s bullet, Theodore Roosevelt perfectly fitted early twentieth-century America.\u00a0 He had traveled through Europe and the Middle East as a young man, broadening his horizons and expanding his views of other peoples and nations.\u00a0 An avid reader and prolific writer, he was abreast of the major intellectual currents of his day and had close ties to the international literary and political elite.\u00a0 From his early years, he had taken a keen interest in world affairs.\u00a0 He was a driving force behind, as well as an active participant in, the &#8216;large policy&#8217; of the 1890s.\u00a0 In his first address to Congress, in December 1901, he preached the gospel of international noblesse oblige:\u00a0 &#8216;Whether we desire it or not, we must henceforth recognize that we have international duties no less than international rights.'&#8221; (Herring, chap. 9, pp. 344-45)<\/p>\n<h3><strong>VS<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: right;\">Elihu Root (1845-1937)<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2221\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/files\/2014\/12\/Root-Elihu-263x300.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 263px) 100vw, 263px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/files\/2014\/12\/Root-Elihu-263x300.jpg 263w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/files\/2014\/12\/Root-Elihu.jpg 440w\" alt=\"\" width=\"263\" height=\"300\" \/>\u201cAlmost as important [as President Theodore Roosevelt], if much less visible, was Elihu Root, who served Roosevelt ably as secretary of war and of state. \u00a0A classic workaholic, Root rose to the top echelons of New York corporate law and the Republican Party by virtue of a prodigious memory, mastery of detail, and the clarity and force of his argument. \u00a0A staunch conservative, he profoundly distrusted democracy. \u00a0He sought to promote order through the extension of law, the application of knowledge, and the use of government. \u00a0He shared Roosevelt\u2019s internationalism and was especially committed to promoting an open and prosperous world economy. \u00a0He was more cautious in the exercise of power than his sometimes impulsive boss. \u00a0For entirely practical reasons, he was also more sensitive to the feelings of other nations, especially potential trading partners. \u00a0A man of great charm and wit \u2013when the 325-pound Taft sent him a long report of a grueling horseback ride in the Philippines\u2019 heat, he responded tersely, \u2018How\u2019s the horse?\u2019 \u2013he sometimes smooth over his boss\u2019s rough edges. \u00a0He was a consummate state-builder who used his understanding of power and his formidable persuasiveness to build a strong national government. \u00a0He was the organization man in the organizational society, \u2018the spring in the machine,\u2019 as Henry Adams put it. \u00a0He founded the eastern foreign policy establishment, that informal network connecting Wall Street, Washington, the large foundations, and the prestigious social clubs, which directed U.S. foreign policy through much of the twentieth century. (<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/course-syllabus\/progressive-diplomacy\/\">Herring, chap. 9, p. 348<\/a>)<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>KEY TERMS:\u00a0 Panama Canal (1903-14) \/\/ Dollar Diplomacy (1909-13)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h3><strong>Panama Canal (1903-14)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>\u201cDetermined to complete the transaction before real Panamanians could get to Washington, [Philippe Bunau-Varilla] negotiated a treaty drafted by Hay with his assistance and far more favorable to the United States than the one Colombia had rejected.\u00a0 The United States got complete sovereignty in perpetuity over a zone ten miles wide.\u00a0 Panama gained the same payment promised Colombia.\u00a0 More important for the short run, it got a U.S. promise of protection for its newly won independence.\u00a0 Bunau-Varilla signed the treaty a mere four hours before the Panamanians stepped from the train in Washington.\u00a0 Nervous about its future and dependent on the United States, Panama approved the treaty without seeing it.\u00a0 Colombia, obviously, was the big loser.\u00a0 Panama got nominal independence and a modest stipend, but at the cost of a sizeable chunk of its territory, it\u2019s most precious natural asset, and the mixed blessing of a U.S. protectorate.\u00a0 Panamanian gratitude soon turned to resentment against a deal Hay conceded was \u2018vastly advantageous\u2019 for the United States, \u2018not so advantageous\u2019 for Panama.\u00a0 TR vigorously defended his actions, and some scholars have exonerated him. Even by the low standards of his day, his insensitive and impulsive behavior toward Colombia is hard to defend.\u00a0 Root summed it up best.\u00a0 Following an impassioned Rooseveltian defense before the cabinet, the secretary of war retorted in the sexual allusions he seemed to favor:\u00a0 \u2018You have shown that you have been accused of seduction and you have conclusively proven that you were guilty of rape.\u2019\u00a0 Although journalists criticized the president and Congress investigated, Americans generally agreed the noble ends justified the dubious means.\u00a0 Even before the completion of the project in 1914, the canal became a symbol of national pride.\u00a0 The United States succeeded where Europe had failed.\u201d\u00a0 \u2013George Herring,\u00a0<em>From Colony to Superpower (2008),\u00a0<\/em>pp. 368-9<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Dollar Diplomacy (1909-13)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>\u201c[President] Taft and [Secretary of State] Knox adopted the Dominican model to develop a policy called \u2018dollar diplomacy,\u2019 which they applied mainly in Central America.\u00a0 They sought to eliminate European political and economic influence and through U.S. advisers promote political stability, fiscal responsibility, and economic development in a strategically important area, the \u2018substitution of dollars for bullets,\u2019 in Wilson\u2019s words.\u00a0 United States bankers would float loans to be used to pay off European creditors.\u00a0 The loans in turn would provide the leverage for U.S. experts to modernize the backward economies left over from Spanish rule by imposing the gold standard based on the dollar, updating the tax structure and improving tax collection, efficiently and fairly managing the customs houses, and reforming budgets and tariffs.\u00a0 Taft and Knox first sought to implement dollar diplomacy by treaty.\u00a0 When the Senate balked and some Central American countries said no, they turned to what has been called \u2018colonialism by contract,\u2019 agreements worked out between private U.S. interests and foreign governments under the watchful eye of the State Department.\u00a0 Knox called the policy \u2018benevolent supervision.\u2019\u00a0 One U.S. official insisted that the region must be made safe for investment and trade so that economic development could be \u2018carried out without annoyance or molestation from the natives.\u2019 These ambitious efforts to implement dollar diplomacy in Central America produced few agreements, little stability, and numerous military interventions.\u201d\u00a0 \u2013George Herring,\u00a0<em>From Colony to Superpower\u00a0<\/em>(2008), p. 373<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Were Progressive era American diplomats more harmful than helpful in promoting global peace and prosperity? CHAPTER 9:\u00a0 &#8220;Bursting with Good Intentions&#8221;:\u00a0 The United States in World Affairs, 1901-1913 &#8220;The United States between 1901 and 1913 did take a much more active role in the world.\u00a0 Brimming over with optimism and exuberance, their traditional certainty of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":373,"featured_media":0,"parent":10,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4318","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/373"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4318"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4740,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4318\/revisions\/4740"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-282pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}