Imperialism and War: American Foreign Affairs 1865-1920

Following the Spanish-American war President McKinley sought to gain access to Chinese markets for all nations. In 1900 Secretary of State John Hay announced what became known as the “Open Door” policy with regard to China. His intention was that no European nation was to create a sphere of influence in China to the exclusion of other nations, and he sought agreement in that regard by circulating a diplomatic note among the major powers. His proposal would have put all nations on an equal footing in China. Although none of the powers formally agreed to the “Open Door,” none refused, and Hay declared his policy a success, believing that it would prevent other nations from partitioning China, thus excluding the United States.

In 1900 a group of Chinese nationalists attempted to end foreign occupation of their country by force, surrounding the legations of the major powers in Peking. A relief expedition mounted by an eight-nation coalition eventually relieved the embassies, and the “Boxer Rebellion, was subdued.  United States Marines, soldiers, and warships supported the international group in putting down the revolt. Thus America was once again willing to look outward and intervene overseas to further her own economic and political interests.

Puerto Rico

The U.S. occupied Puerto Rico with a military force under the command of General Nelson Miles in 1898. The Foraker Act of 1900 attached Puerto Rico as unincorporated territory with an elective legislature, governor and council appointed by the President. In 1909 a split developed in Puerto Rico between an independence movement and supporters of U.S. statehood. The 1917 Jones Act created of Puerto Rico an “organized but unincorporated territory.” The Act gave Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship. Modifications to the law gave Puerto Ricans the right to elect their own governor in 1947. Puerto Rico was now “free” to write her own Constitution, the only restriction being that it not conflict with the U.S. Constitution. In 1952 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico was established: statehood and independence options in lieu of the current territorial status are still available and under debate at the present time.

The Spanish-American War also renewed interest in the building of an isthmian canal, a project which the United States and other nations had been contemplating for half a century. In 1850 United States and Great Britain had signed the Clayton Bulwer Treaty, under which both nations agreed not to build a canal unilaterally. The first step in America's desire to pursue a canal was therefore to get the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty set aside. In 1901 Secretary of State John Hay reached an agreement with British Ambassador Lord Julian Pauncefote to replace the Clayton-Bulwer agreement. Under the terms of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty the U.S. was to permitted to construct and manage a Central American canal, was to guarantee the neutrality of the canal, open the canal to all nations and charge fair and equal rates.

Negotiations quickly followed, and on February 23, 1904, the Hay-Buneau-Varilla Treaty was ratified. The agreement provided for a 10-mile-wide strip across Panama in return for a payment of $10 million and an annual fee of $250,000. Colombia lost $40 million but later received $25 million as partial compensation, which some called “guilt money.” There was much resentment among Latin American nations over TR’s “big stick” diplomacy. At home people call it “disgraceful” or “piracy.” In cabinet meeting Elihu Root said to TR, “You were accused of seduction but proved you were guilty of rape.” Roosevelt later said, “I took the Canal Zone, started the canal and let Congress debate me.” In his mind, the ends justified the means. TR wanted “to make the dirt fly” before the 1904 election.

The Panama Canal was completed in 1914 at cost of $400 million—one of the world's engineering wonders. The work was a major triumph directed by Colonel George W. Goethals, and the conquest of malaria and yellow fever by American doctors in the tropical jungle was an outstanding achievement of preventive medicine. The canal still operates with the original equipment.

Over the next several decades, until Presidents Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt pursued a “good neighbor” policy, the United States continued to intervene in Latin America, sending in United States Marines or warships whenever trouble appeared on the horizon. The resentment among Latin American peoples about the behavior of the “Colossus of the North” never fully abated, though relations have improved since the time of unilateral American intervention in the business of its southern neighbors.

President Roosevelt traveled to Panama to observe the work on the canal, but he also kept his eye on the rest of the world.  When war broke out between Russia and Japan in 1904, Roosevelt was concerned about the implications for American interests and offered to negotiate a settlement.  He invited delegates from the two warring powers to meet in Portsmouth New Hampshire where he sponsored talks which eventually ended the Russo-Japanese War.

Shortly thereafter President Roosevelt intervened in a crisis in Morocco, sponsoring a conference at Algeciras to settle differences between Germany and France.  He persuaded Great Britain to attend a conference at Algeciras in Spain, which resulted in a peaceful settlement. United States ratified the resulting treaty but only to protect its own interests, not to interfere in Europe's affairs.  For his performance in ending the Russo Japanese war and in resolving the first Morocco crisis, President Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906, an honor he no doubt deserved.

As a sign that American independence was a reality, in addition to being words on a paper treaty, in 1784 a merchant ship set out from Massachusetts bound for the Far East, appropriately named the Empress of China. During the following decades trade between the United States and China continue to grow. As the United States expanded westward to the Pacific Ocean, it was inevitable that American interests in Asia would move closer to the center of America's economic and diplomatic thinking. In the decades before the Civil War the United States reached a series of commercial agreements and treaties with China, and in 1852 Commodore Matthew C. Perry took four American steamships into Tokyo Harbor, the opening movement in developing relations between United States and Japan. A Japanese-American treaty was signed in 1854, formally advancing relations between the two countries. About that time Japan set out on a journey of modernization and, as some historians have put it, the Japanese advanced several hundred years in modernization within a few decades.

By 1900, as the European nations continued to develop and expand their empires, tensions arose in the Far East, generated to some extent by Russian imperialism. War eventually broke out between Russia and Japan, and Japan startled the Western world by soundly defeating a supposedly superior Russian fleet in the battle of Tsushima Strait. The Russo-Japanese war was of concern to both Europe and America, and in an unprecedented move, President Theodore Roosevelt offered his mediation powers to bring an end to the conflict. Roosevelt's efforts led to the Treaty of Portsmouth, ending the war, which in turn led to his being awarded the Nobel peace prize for 1906.

By that time United States and the Far East were on much closer terms. American Marines had been involved in the Boxer rebellion of 1900 in which Chinese Nationalists attempted to drive all foreigners out of the country. John Hay's Open Door policy was a diplomatic venture designed to guarantee that all nations would have equal opportunities to trade with China, a nation recognized everywhere as a valuable source of economic development.

As one of his last acts before leaving office, President Theodore Roosevelt sent the “great white fleet” on a world cruise, which included Asia, demonstrating that the United States was now a major naval power and had no fear of Japan. Critics worried about the possible repercussions, but when the fleet steamed into Tokyo Bay, the Americans were met by hundreds of Japanese children waving American flags and singing the “Star Spangled Banner” in English. 

Complicated economic arrangements involving banking and other financial issues continued to strengthen ties between United States and China and Japan, but those complicated arrangements also created tensions that continued to build in the early 20th century. As a result of Japan's participation on the side of the Allies in World War I, she was awarded control of the formerly German-held islands in the Pacific, which Japan later fortified. Those same islands had to be taken with much American blood during the Second World War.

Woodrow Wilson: Doctor in the White House

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born in Staunton, Virginia, December 29, 1856, his father a Presbyterian minister. The family moved to Augusta, Georgia when he was two—his family lived in the path of Sherman's march to the sea in 1864, an event no doubt burned into his memory. Wilson was educated largely at home until he was nine. He spent one year at Davidson College, then went on to Princeton, graduating in the class of 1879, 38th out of 106 in the class.

Wilson’s career was mostly in academia as a professor and football coach at various schools, including Wesleyan, Bryn Mawr, and the University of Connecticut. In 1889 another of his works, “The State,” was published. In 1890 he went to Princeton and became a popular teacher. In 1902 he was the first non-clergyman to become president of Princeton. He instituted many reforms, wrestled with a conservative faculty and put many progressive ideas of education to work.

Wilson often came across as grim, dry, ascetic, and professorial. He got his academic bent from his father, and had a stubborn attitude of moral superiority, which complicated his political life and handicapped him once he was in office. He had few close friends, but in close circles he could be witty and charming. He was voted most popular member of Princeton faculty four times. According to biographer Ray Stannard Baker, Wilson possessed “The finest mind in public life.”

In 1910 Wilson was invited to run for governor of New Jersey as a progressive candidate on the Democratic ticket. He resigned from Princeton and was elected. As governor he fought machine politics and built a solid reputation as reformer, although he was sometimes called “conservative if not reactionary.” In any case New Jersey was a leader in the Progressive movement, and in 1912, after an endorsement by three-time presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, Wilson was nominated by Progressive Democrats on the 46th ballot. Governor T. R. Marshall of Indiana was elected vice president but had virtually no role in Wilson’s administration.

Wilson was a “transitional figure in the emergence of the new consciousness.” He was stubborn, self-righteous and no shy violet in politics; he had learned how to be tough as a college president, and he certainly knew a lot about politics. He was called “ambitious, capable . . . and of a disconcerting ruthlessness.” His biographers suspect he had his eye on White House all along. Physically he was something of a wreck, suffering from frequent headaches and indigestion, but he was still a vigorous politician with a strong mind.

Wilson's first wife died in 1914 while he was in the White House, and he married Edith Galt in 1915 after a whirlwind courtship. When Wilson later became incapacitated from his stroke, Edith Wilson became in the minds of some the first woman acting president of the United States.

As mentioned above Wilson pursued his progressive goals with vigor, and his domestic accomplishments are notable.  But his legacy, like his presidency, became dominated by his performance in the international arena.  He continued America's intervention in Latin America, with the highest of motives, and also reluctantly led the United States into the first world war in 1917. As the first incumbent American president to travel to Europe, he helped negotiate the Treaty of Versailles and was largely responsible for the creation of the League of Nations.

President Wilson and Latin America

Ever since President Theodore Roosevelt had proclaimed what became known as the “Roosevelt Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine, the United States had been more than prepared to intervene in Latin America at signs of trouble. When war broke out in Central America involving Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador, U.S. Marines were dispatched to the region. Secretary of State Elihu Root subsequently arranged a peace conference in Washington to settle differences among the Central American nations. Marines again landed in Nicaragua in 1912 to protect American interests, where they remained until 1933.

America's nearest southern neighbor, Mexico, had existed under a dictatorship since 1877 led by President Porfirio Diaz, who had encouraged foreign development in his nation.  In 1913 United States had over $1 billion in investments in Mexico.  When a revolution led by Francisco Madero broke out in 1910, many Americans were forced to leave the country and some were killed.  Madero was soon assassinated by agents of General Victoriano Huerta, who quickly seized power, but President Taft would not recognize his government.

When President Wilson came to office he also demonstrated disapproval of the Huerta regime even as another revolution headed by Venustiano Carranza broke out.  Wilson announced that he would refuse to recognize any government not established by the will of the people. (He once said, “I am going to teach these people to elect good men.”) As Huerta struggled to defend his regime, US naval units were stationed off Veracruz to prevent European shipments of arms to the Huerta government. When a party from one of the vessels went ashore to secure supplies, they were arrested by Mexican troops.  Although they were released with apologies, Admiral Henry Mayo, in command of the squadron, demanded at the American flag be raised to the accompaniment of a 21 gun salute.

President Wilson received permission from Congress to use force to protect American rights,  and American troops landed at Veracruz.  President Huerta broke off diplomatic relations with the United States and the two countries drifted close to war. Not wishing to see war break out, the ABC powers, Argentina, Brazil and Chile, offered mediation, and a conference was called at Niagara Falls, Ontario, attended by representatives of the three nations, the United States and Mexico.  Huerta was forced to resign and Carranza was recognized as President.

Following a brief intervention by U.S. Marines in Haiti, more trouble broke out on the Mexican-American border when revolutionary leader Pancho Villa became responsible for the deaths of Americans on both sides of the border in 1916. A raid by Villa into Texas and New Mexico left 17 Americans dead in Columbus, N.M. Under pressure from business interests (American mine operators had been murdered in Mexico about the same time) Wilson sent General John J. Pershing with 15,000 men to pursue Pancho Villa into Mexico, but they were unsuccessful in capturing the rebel.  The American foray into Mexico angered the Carranza regime and intensified anti-American feeling, but President Wilson, concerned about the possibility of war with Germany, withdrew General Pershing.