Theodore Roosevelt

Article Outline

Introduction; Early Life; Early Career; The Rough Riders; President of the United States; Second Term as President; Later Life

Square Deal

Through these and other actions, Roosevelt sought to create what he called the Square Deal. Americans were not to be given special privileges because they were rich or because they were poor. He adopted a moral approach to many social problems. For example, he distinguished between what he considered good and bad trusts and he would not respect labor organizations simply because they represented groups of workers. As he said in a speech in Syracuse, New York, on September 7, 1903, “We must treat each man on his worth and merits as a man. We must see that each is given a square deal, because he is entitled to no more and should receive no less.”

The new president formulated his policies in the midst of a reform movement rising out of city and farm unrest and growing to national proportions. Central to this development was the creation of a popular press, which revolutionized periodical literature as well. Newspapers headed by such powerful publishers as Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, and Edward W. Scripps competed for circulation. They discovered that Americans were interested in exposures of corruption and in the ways in which they were being exploited by politicians.

Foreign Policy

The Big Stick

During Roosevelt’s administration many politicians and intellectuals accused Roosevelt of imperialism, the practice by which powerful nations seek to control or influence weaker ones. European imperialism had been characterized by territorial acquisition. Roosevelt had no intention of acquiring colonies. He wanted treaties that would facilitate the success of U.S. businesses.

In diplomatic affairs, Roosevelt believed that it was important to “Speak softly and carry a big stick,” which implied that effective control could be exercised without the formality of colonial rule. The “big stick” often meant the threat of war, and while it was seldom used against powerful nations in Europe or Asia, Roosevelt’s administration did pressure Latin American countries. “The big stick” became one of Roosevelt’s most quoted phrases. Roosevelt was moderate in some of his decisions in diplomacy, although he acted boldly where he thought the situation required firmness or where he thought conditions could carry the weight of forceful action. He advocated a larger and more efficient army and navy, but Congress and public opinion would not permit a rapid increase of military forces. However, his secretary of the army, New York lawyer and future Nobel Prize-winner Elihu Root, made significant reforms to improve the Department of War. They involved the creation of an effective general staff under a chief of staff and the reorganization and enlargement of the army school system.

Alaskan Boundary Dispute

A major point of possible contention between the United States and the United Kingdom was the question of a proper boundary between lower Alaska and Canada. The question had been aggravated by the discovery of gold in the Canadian Klondike, as well as in Alaska. Roosevelt was first tempted to make a show of arms, but he decided to take part in a tribunal to arbitrate the dispute and appointed as United States representative his own trusted friend Henry Cabot Lodge. In 1903 the tribunal backed the U.S. claims.

Roosevelt Corollary

Unlike other U.S. nationalists, Roosevelt opposed annexing Cuba and Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic), despite the weakness of their regimes. With Venezuela in debt to the United Kingdom and Germany, Roosevelt kept an eye on Venezuela’s affairs and threatened to send ships to the vicinity if any country sent in armed forces to collect the debts. He did not, however, use the fighting language he had used in 1895. A crisis was avoided when Germany agreed to submit its claims to the Hague Tribunal, which would decide how to settle the question. The tribunal scaled down the German claims from $40 million to $8 million and ruled that it was improper to use force for the collection of debts. In 1904 Roosevelt spelled out his policy in what became known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.

President James Monroe had announced what became the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, saying that Europeans were not to interfere in the affairs of the western hemisphere. Although the doctrine had no force in international law, it had been adopted by each succeeding president. Roosevelt added a new meaning to the Monroe Doctrine when he declared in a message to Congress that if any nation in the western hemisphere acted “wrongly” and in a fashion that might incite foreign intervention in its affairs, the United States would act to prevent such an occurrence. He added that the United States did not intend to take over the governing of these countries.

Roosevelt applied his corollary first to Santo Domingo, which was having trouble paying its debts to foreign countries. Roosevelt, fearing that the country might be occupied by a European power to force the repayment of debts, used negotiations and veiled threats to take control of the Santo Domingo customs house. The United States used the money collected there to pay Santo Domingo’s debts and support its government.

Panama Canal

The most notable event in foreign affairs during Roosevelt’s first administration involved the settling of the question of a canal across the Isthmus of Panama. Roosevelt had long feared that another power would successfully build a canal in Central America and would thus control that vital artery. A U.S.-held canal would boost U.S. and world trade, as well as allow U.S. ships to move swiftly between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in case of military emergency. The Spooner Act of 1902 settled the question of a route, giving preference to Panama (then part of Colombia). The Colombian senate refused to ratify the treaty, wanting more than the $10 million offered as an initial payment.

Roosevelt was furious. He had no respect for the Colombian politicians and little faith that Panamanians felt a strong loyalty to them. He therefore did not discourage native groups and foreign businessmen when they began a revolt against Colombia on November 3, 1903. Three days later the United States recognized the new Panamanian government. United States ships prevented Colombian troops from suppressing the uprising, and the new Panamanian government received the money by signing a treaty granting the United States building and supplementary rights to a 16-km (10-mi) strip of land. Plans to build the canal started immediately.