Edit filter log

'''Not to be confused with [[Checkbook diplomacy]].'' '''Dollar diplomacy''' of the United States—particularly during President [[William Howard Taft]]'s presidential term— was a form of American foreign policy to minimize the use or threat of military force and instead further its aims in [[Latin America]] and [[East Asia]] through the use of its [[economic power]] by guaranteeing loans made to foreign countries.<ref>Paolo E. Coletta, ''The Presidency of William Howard Taft'' (U Press of Kansas 1973) pp 183-200. </ref> In his message to Congress on 3 December 1912, Taft summarized the policy of Dollar Diplomacy: :The diplomacy of the present administration has sought to respond to modern ideas of commercial intercourse. This policy has been characterized as substituting dollars for bullets. It is one that appeals alike to idealistic humanitarian sentiments, to the dictates of sound policy and strategy, and to legitimate commercial aims.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Carl Cavanagh Hodge|author2=Cathal J. Nolan|title=U.S. Presidents and Foreign Policy: From 1789 to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qXeRALIwozgC&pg=PA203|year=2007|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page=203|isbn=9781851097906}}</ref> Dollar diplomacy was not new, as the use of diplomacy to promote commercial interest dates from the early years of the Republic. However, under Taft, the State Department was more active than ever in encouraging and supporting American bankers and industrialists in securing new opportunities abroad. Bailey finds that dollar diplomacy was designed to make both people in foreign lands and the American investors prosper.<ref>Thomas A. Bailey, ''A Diplomatic History of the American People'' (1955) p. 530 </ref> The concept is relevant to both [[Liberia]], where American loans were given in 1913, and Latin America. Latin Americans tend to use the term "dollar diplomacy" disparagingly 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. When Woodrow Wilson became president in March 1913, he immediately canceled all support for Dollar diplomacy. Historians agree that Taft's Dollar diplomacy was a failure everywhere. In the Far East it alienated Japan and Russia, and created a deep suspicion among the other powers hostile to American motives.<ref> Walter Vinton Scholes and Marie V.Scholes, ''The Foreign Policies of the Taft Administration'' (1970) pp 247-248.</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=John Martin Carroll|author2=George C. Herring|title=Modern American Diplomacy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6HiJQUMbNfMC&pg=PA18|year=1996|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|pages=18–19|isbn=9780842025553}}</ref> ==In the Americas== {{seealso|South American dreadnought race}} The outgoing President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] laid the foundation for this approach in 1904 with his [[Roosevelt Corollary]] to the [[Monroe Doctrine]] (under which [[United States Marine Corps|United States Marines]] were frequently sent to [[Central America]]) maintaining that if any nation in the Western Hemisphere appeared politically and financially unstable so as to be vulnerable to European control, the United States had the right and obligation to intervene. Taft continued and expanded the policy, starting in Central America, where he justified it as a means of protecting the [[Panama Canal]]. In March 1909, he attempted unsuccessfully to establish control over [[Honduras]] by buying up its debt to British bankers. Another dangerous new trouble spot was the revolution-riddled Caribbean—now largely dominated by U.S. interests. Hoping to head off trouble, Washington urged U.S. bankers to pump dollars into the financial vacuum in Honduras and [[Haiti]] to keep out foreign funds. The United States would not permit foreign nations to intervene, and consequently felt obligated to prevent economic and political instability. The State Department persuaded four U.S. banks to refinance Haiti's national debt, setting the stage for further intervention in the future. ==Overview== "Taft maintained an activist approach to foreign policy. On one hand, he was the initiator of what became known as dollar diplomacy, in which the United States used its military might to promote American business interests abroad. Taft, defended his dollar diplomacy as an extension of the Monroe Doctrine. Taft was a major supporter of arbitration as the most viable method of settling international disputes" Quickly becoming a world power, America sought to further her influence abroad. President Taft realized that by instituting dollar diplomacy, it would be pernicious to the financial gain of other countries. Thus the United States would benefit greatly. ==Failure in East Asia= The loan was finally made by an international consortium in 1911, and helped spark a widespread "[[Railway Protection Movement]]" revolt against foreign investment]] that overthrew the Chinese government. The bonds caused no end of disappointment and trouble. As late as 1983, over 300 American investors tried, unsuccessfully, to force the government of China to redeem the worthless Hukuang bonds.<ref>Mary Thornton, "U.S. Backs China's Move to Reopen 1911 Railroad Bond Case" [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1983/08/19/us-backs-chinas-move-to-reopen-1911-railroad-bond-case/a6347d1a-8647-401c-89b9-95d1a7bbd0a5/ ''Washington Post'' August 19, 1983.]</ref> When Woodrow Wilson became president in March 1913, he immediately canceled all support for Dollar diplomacy. Historians agree that Taft's Dollar diplomacy was a failure everywhere, In the Far East alienated Japan and Russia, and created a deep suspicion among the other powers hostile to American motives.<ref> Walter Vinton Scholes and Marie V.Scholes, ''The Foreign Policies of the Taft Administration'' (1970) pp 247-248.</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=John Martin Carroll|author2=George C. Herring|title=Modern American Diplomacy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6HiJQUMbNfMC&pg=PA18|year=1996|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|pages=18–19|isbn=9780842025553}}</ref> ==See also== * [[History of U.S. foreign policy, 1897–1913]] * [[Presidency of William Howard Taft]] ==Citations== {{reflist}} == Sources == * [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9030830 "Dollar Diplomacy."] Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 17 September 2007. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110601021523/http://history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913/DollarDiplo "Dollar Diplomacy, 1909-1913"] U.S. Department of State. 11 March 2008. ==Further reading== * Challener, Richard D. ''Admirals, Generals, and American Foreign Policy, 1898-1914'' (1973) pp 265-363. [https://press.princeton.edu/titles/270.html online at many schools] * Cohen, Naomi W. "Ambassador Straus in Turkey, 1909-1910: A Note on Dollar Diplomacy." ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review'' 45.4 (1959): 632-642. * Coletta, Paolo E. ''The Presidency of William Howard Taft'' (1973) pp 183-200. * Finch, George A. "American Diplomacy and the Financing of China." ''American Journal of International Law'' 16.1 (1922): 25-42. [https://books.google.com/books?id=t4ELAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA25 online] * Gould, Lewis L. ''The William Howard Taft Presidency'' (U Press of Kansas, 2009), pp 79-92. * Rosenberg, Emily S. ''Financial missionaries to the world: The politics and culture of dollar diplomacy, 1900–1930'' (Duke UP, 2003). * Rosenberg, Emily S. "Revisiting Dollar Diplomacy: Narratives of Money and Manliness." ''Diplomatic History'' 22.2 (1998): 155-176. * Scholes, Walter Vinton, and Marie V.Scholes, ''The Foreign Policies of the Taft Administration'' (1970) * Veeser, Cyrus. ''A World Safe For Capitalism. Dollar Diplomacy and America's Rise to Global Power.'' (Columbia University Press, 2002). [https://academic.oup.com/dh/article/22/2/155/407212 online] {{Diplomacy}} {{William Howard Taft}} [[Category:Types of diplomacy]] [[Category:United States–South American relations]]'