Monroe Doctrine (1823)
Of events in that quarter of the globe [Latin America], with which we have so much intercourse and from which we derive our origin, we have always been anxious and interested spectators. The Monroe Doctrine advocated two separate spheres of influence: the Americas and Europe. It declared Latin America to be within the United States's influence.
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Roosevelt Corollary
President Theodore Roosevelt in his 1904 State of the Union address stated that the US might interfere in the affairs of other countries if threatened by another European country in what was known as the Roosevelt Corollary, an extension to the Monroe Doctrine.
Chronic wrongdoing, or an impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civilized society, may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation, and in the Western Hemisphere the adherence of the United States to the Monroe Doctrine may force the United States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence, to the exercise of an international police power. |
Platt Amendment
"The Government of Cuba consents that the United States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty, and for discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the Treaty of Paris on the United States, now to be assumed and undertaken by the Government of Cuba."
-Platt Amendment, Article III
-Platt Amendment, Article III
The Platt Amendment was passed by the US Congress in 1901 and allowed the US to intervene in Cuban affairs.
American Intervention in Latin America
“The full measure and extent of our policy is to assist in the maintenance of republican institutions upon this hemisphere, and we are anxious that the experiment of a government of the people, for the people, and by the people shall not fail in any republic on this continent.”
-US Secretary of State Philander C. Knox to the President of Nicaragua, 1906
The series of US interventions in Latin America from the end of the 19th century until the Good Neighbor Policy are know as the Banana Wars because of the US's commercial motivations.
Coolidge and Hoover Administrations (1923-1929, 1929-1933)
“A Divine Providence has made us a neighborhood of republics. It is impossible to suppose that it was for the purpose of making us hostile to each other, but from time to time to reveal to us the methods by which we might secure the advantages and blessings of enduring friendships.” The term "good neighbor" was coined by President Calvin Coolidge in 1928 in a speech at the 6th Pan-American conference in Havana. It described his non-interventionist approach to foreign relations.
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"We have a desire to maintain not only the cordial relations of governments with each other, but also the relations of good neighbors." "That intervention is not now, never was, and never will be a set policy of the United States is one of the most important facts President-elect Hoover has made clear." His successor, Herbert Hoover, continued this approach during his administration.
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The Good Neighbor Policy was a policy of Pan-Americanism and non-intervention in Latin America. Growing tensions in Europe and the Pacific convinced the United States to strengthen relations in the Americas. The US hoped to distance itself from past interventionist policies and strengthen trade and diplomacy with Latin America.