Roosevelt advocated a strong foreign presence that was closely tied to American overseas business interests. However, this wasn't true dollar diplomacy. That next step came with Roosevelt's successor, William Howard Taft (1909-1913). Taft built upon Roosevelt's foreign policy, but took it a little further. Along with his Secretary of State, Philander Knox, he actively encouraged private American businesses and banks to put their money into foreign markets as a way to increase America's international presence. US foreign policy - US statement of its place in the world--would not come from the government or the military, but from private businesses.
This was a very different approach to American foreign policy. Private businesses are not elected …show more content…
It is the waterway that was built in the beginning of 1900s across the strip of land linking North and South America. There are two main reasons why Roosevelt wanted the United States to build the Panama Canal. First off, a canal was a huge business boon to the US. Most Americans lived on the east coast, but huge opportunities existed on the west. The naval trip around the southern tip of South America added 8,000 miles to a trip. By creating a canal, the United States could control the flow of goods and services between the hemispheres. This was critical to Roosevelt's vision of the United States as a world power. Secondly, he believed in a large United States Navy as a way of extending United States power. In the war against Spain, the postponement for ships to pass around the southern tip negatively impacted the American ability to exert power. A canal allowed us to build and manage freely flowing naval resources. He built the Great White Fleet to exert this power. Realize that President Roosevelt set the United States on the course towards an Empire. Building the canal required him to run roughshod over international law, supporting a revolution in Panama from Columbia. The American presence in Panama established the United States as a hemisphere