American Foreign Policy Milestones Washington's Farewell Address, 1796

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

American Foreign Policy Milestones Washington's Farewell Address, 1796 American Foreign Policy Milestones This activity has students analyzing 11 significant milestones and policies from America’s history. There are several ways you can use this in your classes: Expert Groups: break students up into 11 groups/pairs and give each group a different article and give them 7- 10 minutes to become experts on that topic. They then have to teach the class either through a butcher paper board or PowerPoint. As each group presents, the students fill in the chart. Station Activity: Paste the readings up around the room and have students in groups of 2-3 move through the stations. They should read about the policy, briefly discuss it together so that they all understand it, then take notes and complete the chart. Groups: Go over the 1st (Washington’s Farewell) together. Then, place students in groups of 5 and give each student 2 readings. They get 10 minutes to read and take notes on theirs. then they have to teach the other 4 people in their group about what they read. Whole Class: A final option for a class that needs more structure is to give everyone the chart and one reading at a time. Read each one together and fill in the chart before moving on to the next one. Google Doc: You can access a Google version here. This can be used to make this a homework assignment or digital version of any of the above activities. I didn’t include a key since all the info is right here from the readings and most students will have similar but slightly different takeaways from the policies. Best of luck!! Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796 To announce his decision not to seek a third term as President, George Washington presented his Farewell Address in a newspaper article September 17, 1796. Frustrated by French meddling in U.S. politics, Washington warned the nation to avoid permanent alliances with foreign nations and to rely instead on temporary alliances for emergencies. Washington’s efforts to protect the fragile young republic by steering a neutral course between England and France during the French Revolutionary Wars was made extremely difficult by the intense rhetoric flowing from the pro-English Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, and the pro-French, personified by Thomas Jefferson. In his farewell address, Washington exhorted Americans to set aside their violent likes and dislikes of foreign nations, lest they be controlled by their passions: “The nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave.” Washington’s remarks have served as an inspiration for American isolationism, and his advice against joining a permanent alliance was heeded for more than a century and a half. The Monroe Doctrine, 1823 In his December 2, 1823, address to Congress, President James Monroe articulated America’s policy on the new political order developing in the rest of the Americas and the role of Europe in the Western Hemisphere. The statement, known as the Monroe Doctrine, was little noted by the Great Powers of Europe, but eventually became a longstanding tenet of U.S. foreign policy. Monroe and his Secretary of State John Quincy Adams drew upon a foundation of American diplomatic ideals such as disentanglement from European affairs and defense of neutral rights as expressed in Washington’s Farewell Address. The three main concepts of the doctrine—separate spheres of influence for the Americas and Europe, non-colonization, and non- intervention—were designed to signify a clear break between the New World and Europe. Monroe’s administration forewarned the imperial European powers against interfering in the affairs of the newly independent Latin American states or potential United States territories. As Monroe stated: “The American continents … are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.” Monroe outlined two separate spheres of influence: the Americas and Europe. The independent lands of the Western Hemisphere would be solely the United States’ domain. In exchange, the United States pledged to avoid involvement in the political affairs of Europe, such as the ongoing Greek struggle for independence from the Ottoman Empire, and not to interfere in the existing European colonies already in the Americas. By the mid-1800s, Monroe’s declaration, combined with ideas of Manifest Destiny, provided precedent and support for U.S. expansion on the American continent. In the late 1800s, U.S. economic and military power enabled it to enforce the Monroe Doctrine. John Hay and the Open Door Policy, 1899–1900 Secretary of State John Hay first articulated the concept of the “Open Door” in China in a series of notes in 1899–1900. These Open Door Notes aimed to secure international agreement to the U.S. policy of promoting equal opportunity for international trade and commerce in China, and respect for China’s territorial integrity. British and American policies toward China had long operated under similar principles, but once Hay put them into writing, the “Open Door” became the official U.S. policy towards the Far East in the first half of the 20th century. The idea behind the Open Door Notes originated with British and American China experts who felt their interests in China would be best protected and promoted by a formal agreement among the European powers on the principle of maintaining an Open Door for trade and commercial activity. Under their influence, Secretary Hay sent the first of the Open Door Notes on September 6, 1899, to the other great powers that had an interest in China, including Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany, and Japan. These nations maintained significant physical and commercial presences in China, and were protective of their various spheres of influence and trading privileges there. Hay proposed a free, open market and equal trading opportunity for merchants of all nationalities operating in China. Hay argued that establishing equal access to commerce would benefit American traders and the U.S. economy, and hoped that the Open Door would also prevent disputes between the powers operating in China. The Open Door Notes served the important purpose of outlining U.S. policy toward China and expressing U.S. hopes for cooperation with the other foreign powers with a stake in the region. Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, 1904 President Theodore Roosevelt’s assertive approach to Latin America and the Caribbean has often been characterized as the “Big Stick,” and his policy came to be known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. Although the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 was essentially passive (it asked that Europeans not increase their influence or recolonize any part of the Western Hemisphere), by the 20th century a more confident United States was willing to take on the role of regional policeman. In the early 1900s Roosevelt grew concerned that a crisis between Venezuela and its creditors could spark an invasion of that nation by European powers. The Roosevelt Corollary of December 1904 stated that the United States would intervene as a last resort to ensure that other nations in the Western Hemisphere fulfilled their obligations to international creditors, and did not violate the rights of the United States or invite “foreign aggression to the detriment of the entire body of American nations.” As the corollary worked out in practice, the United States increasingly used military force to restore internal stability to nations in the region. Roosevelt declared that the United States might “exercise international police power in ‘flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence.’” Over the long term the corollary had little to do with relations between the Western Hemisphere and Europe, but it did serve as justification for U.S. intervention in Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Dollar Diplomacy, 1909–1913 From 1909 to 1913, President William Howard Taft and Secretary of State Philander C. Knox followed a foreign policy characterized as “dollar diplomacy.” Taft shared the view held by Knox, a corporate lawyer who had founded the giant conglomerate U.S. Steel, that the goal of diplomacy was to create stability and order abroad that would best promote American commercial interests. Knox felt that not only was the goal of diplomacy to improve financial opportunities, but also to use private capital to further U.S. interests overseas. “Dollar diplomacy” was evident in extensive U.S. interventions in the Caribbean and Central America, especially in measures undertaken to safeguard American financial interests in the region. In China, Knox secured the entry of an American banking conglomerate, headed by J.P. Morgan, into a European-financed consortium financing the construction of a railway from Huguang to Canton. In spite of successes, “dollar diplomacy” failed to counteract economic instability and the tide of revolution in places like Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and China. World War 1 & Wilsonian Diplomacy, 1914–1920: During his tenure as President, Woodrow Wilson encouraged the country to look beyond its economic interests and to define and set foreign policy in terms of ideals, morality, and the spread of democracy abroad. The United States continued its efforts to become an active player on the international scene. It engaged in action both in its traditional “sphere of influence” in the Western Hemisphere and in Europe during the First World War. The Wilsonian vision for collective security through U.S. leadership in international organizations, like the newly established League of Nations, appealed to the public. However, the United States ultimately declined membership in the League due to Article X of its charter that committed the United States to defend any League member in the event of an attack. In voting down U.S. participation, Congress challenged the informal tradition of the executive branch determining U.S.
Recommended publications
  • Presidents Worksheet 43 Secretaries of State (#1-24)
    PRESIDENTS WORKSHEET 43 NAME SOLUTION KEY SECRETARIES OF STATE (#1-24) Write the number of each president who matches each Secretary of State on the left. Some entries in each column will match more than one in the other column. Each president will be matched at least once. 9,10,13 Daniel Webster 1 George Washington 2 John Adams 14 William Marcy 3 Thomas Jefferson 18 Hamilton Fish 4 James Madison 5 James Monroe 5 John Quincy Adams 6 John Quincy Adams 12,13 John Clayton 7 Andrew Jackson 8 Martin Van Buren 7 Martin Van Buren 9 William Henry Harrison 21 Frederick Frelinghuysen 10 John Tyler 11 James Polk 6 Henry Clay (pictured) 12 Zachary Taylor 15 Lewis Cass 13 Millard Fillmore 14 Franklin Pierce 1 John Jay 15 James Buchanan 19 William Evarts 16 Abraham Lincoln 17 Andrew Johnson 7, 8 John Forsyth 18 Ulysses S. Grant 11 James Buchanan 19 Rutherford B. Hayes 20 James Garfield 3 James Madison 21 Chester Arthur 22/24 Grover Cleveland 20,21,23James Blaine 23 Benjamin Harrison 10 John Calhoun 18 Elihu Washburne 1 Thomas Jefferson 22/24 Thomas Bayard 4 James Monroe 23 John Foster 2 John Marshall 16,17 William Seward PRESIDENTS WORKSHEET 44 NAME SOLUTION KEY SECRETARIES OF STATE (#25-43) Write the number of each president who matches each Secretary of State on the left. Some entries in each column will match more than one in the other column. Each president will be matched at least once. 32 Cordell Hull 25 William McKinley 28 William Jennings Bryan 26 Theodore Roosevelt 40 Alexander Haig 27 William Howard Taft 30 Frank Kellogg 28 Woodrow Wilson 29 Warren Harding 34 John Foster Dulles 30 Calvin Coolidge 42 Madeleine Albright 31 Herbert Hoover 25 John Sherman 32 Franklin D.
    [Show full text]
  • The Historical Cuba-Us Discordancy from the Theoretical Outlook of The
    European Scientific Journal December 2014 edition vol.10, No.34 ISSN: 1857 – 7881 (Print) e - ISSN 1857- 7431 THE HISTORICAL CUBA-U.S. DISCORDANCY FROM THE THEORETICAL OUTLOOK OF THE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Dr. Onesimo Julian Moreira Seijos University of Quintana Roo Abstract This paper focuses on the main features of the relationship between Cuba and the United States (U.S.) since the nineteenth century to the present. The essay analyses the confrontation between these two countries from the theoretical view of International Relations (IR). The aim of the paper is to demonstrate that the nature of the Cuba-U.S. discrepancies during the Cold War is not confined to the ideological controversy of the East/West relations. Despite the changes that have taken place in world politics during the 1990s and the hopes which opened with the Obama administration, the design of U.S. policy towards Cuba has scarcely changed after the end of the Cold War. On the other hand, the revival of the Wilsonian ideas alleged in the mainstream IR literature does not take into account the special case of the Cuba-U.S relations. Regardless of the current trend to stress international institutions and to sort out conflict within the framework of international agreements, the Cuban problem remains as a national interest matter for the U.S. The historic sequence of the Cuban issue in American politics lend support to the argument that while within the academic discipline of International Relations there is a trend to consider the current period as a proof of the end of realism, the wires which lead the American political behaviour towards Cuba are still under the influence of old-fashioned national interest, the rational choice program and the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Presidential Foreign Policy Doctrines
    20 July 2015 Presidential Doctrines, the Use of Force and International Order Did the US’ military and legal reactions to the 9/11 attacks fundamentally transform its foreign and security policies? Joseph Siracusa doesn’t think so. He argues that the so-called Bush and Obama Doctrines have had more in common with previous presidential approaches than most people realize. By Joseph Siracusa for ISN In the ever-changing landscape of international relations, the extent to which the actions of the United States contribute to justice and order remains a source of contentious debate. Indeed, it is difficult to find a point in recent history when the United States and its foreign policy have been subject to such polarised and acrimonious reflection, both domestically and internationally. Notwithstanding recent ‘decline’ debates and the rise of emerging powers, the United States continues to hold a formidable advantage over its chief rivals in terms of formal power assets more than twenty-five years after the end of the Cold War. Few anticipated this situation; on the contrary, many assumed that, after a brief moment of unipolarity following the collapse of the Soviet Union, international affairs would soon regain a certain symmetry. Instead, US hegemony is still par for the course. In this context, because the foreign policy ‘doctrines’ of American presidents remain an important driver of the outlook of the United States, these doctrines continue to play a significant role in shaping international order. Though they have veered from isolationist to interventionist to expansionist over the years, these doctrines in fact exhibit a remarkable continuity – even in the post 9/11 era.
    [Show full text]
  • Nicolay Collection Finding
    LINCOLN LIBRARY Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection at Allen County Public Library For additional material on Helen and John G. Nicolay, NICOLAY COLLECTION see the manuscript collection Lincoln’s Secretaries— 6 boxes; 3.8 cubic feet Hay, Nicolay, Stoddard; 1 box, 0.5 cubic feet. For extensive correspondence between Helen Nicolay Biographical Notes and others regarding a copy of the Gettysburg Address, see Gettysburg Address Correspondence; 1 box, 0.25 cubic feet. Helen Nicolay (1866-1954) Helen Nicolay was born in 1866 to John G. Nicolay and Therena Bates Nicolay in Paris, where her father served as American Consul. In 1869, the Nicolay family returned to the United States. Helen’s academic training was overseen by her father as well as private tutors. Little is known about Helen Nicolay as a young woman, other than that she helped her father and John Hay write their 10-volume Lincoln biography by taking dictation. She began writing her own books after her father’s death in 1901 and had a summer retreat studio in New Hampshire she used for painting and writing. Her best known work is Lincoln’s Secretary: A Biography of John G. Nicolay. In all, she wrote more than 20 books, mostly history and biography, many of which were intended for children. She described her reason for writing in a letter to a young fan—she wrote books to make “history seem alive and interesting to young people.” Helen Nicolay was also a recognized artist. The Lincoln Museum Collection includes two oil paintings of John G. Nicolay painted by Helen Nicolay.
    [Show full text]
  • President Buchanan's Minister to China 1857-1858
    WILLIAM B. REED: PRESIDENT BUCHANAN'S MINISTER TO CHINA 1857-1858 BY FOSTER M. FARLEY* A PRESIDENT'S administration is usually evaluated by some A great occurrence, good or bad, and other aspects of his term of office are forgotten. Martin van Buren and Herbert Hoover are generally charged with beginning the depressions of 1837 and 1929; Ulysses S. Grant and Warren G. Harding are usually thought of in connection with the various scandals and corruption during their administrations; and James Madison and James Buchanan with beginning the War of 1812 and the American Civil War. james Buchanan, the fifteenth President of the United States 'remains one of the least known statesmen of the American Nation."' According to Buchanan's latest biographer, Philip S. Klein, "many people remember Buchanan as the bachelor in the Ahite House who either caused the Civil War or who ought, some- how to have prevented it."2 Few people realize that the fifteenth President was singularly well qualified to occupy the White House. Born in 1791, a native of Pennsylvania, Buchanan graduated from Dickinson College in 1809. and was admitted to the bar three years later. With a good knowledge of the law, he served first in the Pennsylvania house arid then for the next ten years as Congressman. After serving as United States Minister to Russia from 1831-1833, he was elevated to the United States Senate.3 By 1844 he had be- come a leading contender for the Democratic nomination for President, and when James K. Polk was elected, the new Presi- dent appointed Buchanan Secretary of State mainly due to the *The author is Associate Professor of History at Newberry College.
    [Show full text]
  • The Organization of American States and the Monroe Doctrine - Legal Implications Ann Van Wynen Thomas
    Louisiana Law Review Volume 30 | Number 4 June 1970 The Organization of American States and the Monroe Doctrine - Legal Implications Ann Van Wynen Thomas A. J. Thomas Jr. Repository Citation Ann Van Wynen Thomas and A. J. Thomas Jr., The Organization of American States and the Monroe Doctrine - Legal Implications, 30 La. L. Rev. (1970) Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev/vol30/iss4/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at LSU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Louisiana Law Review by an authorized editor of LSU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES AND THE MONROE DOCTRINE-LEGAL IMPLICATIONS Ann Van Wynen Thomas* A. J. Thomas, Jr.** BACKGROUND A discussion of the Monroe Doctrine today is approached with some trepidation by the wary, for the revered dogma ("I believe in the Monroe Doctrine, in our Constitution and in the laws of God") 1 often described as "the first and most fundamental" of the foreign policies of the United States and a protector of the Western Hemisphere from extracontinental aggression has,2 in recent years, been subjected to bitter attack. It has been called moribund, obsolete, verbiage,3 a name so hateful to Latin Ameri- the United States fears to mention it much less in- can ears that 4 voke it because of its abrasive effect on continental relations. Possibly the most devastating assault emanated from Mr. Khru- shchev of the Soviet Union when he proclaimed: "We consider that the Monroe Doctrine has outlived its time .
    [Show full text]
  • The Gettysburg Address - a History Lesson
    THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS - A HISTORY LESSON The year was 1863. America was two years into the bloodiest war in its history. The previous September, at Antietam Creek, Maryland, America lost more sons in battle than any day before or since in our history. At the beginning of 1863 the war had no end in sight, with bloody battle after bloody battle being fought. But by the end of 1863, not only had the fate of the war been decided but the character of a nation was forever changed. That was also the year President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in January, the first powerful blow to the institution of slavery. There could be no turning back for America. Those first three days of July 1863 where three days that changed the course of the civil war, and in turn changed future of the Nation. The decisive battle of the Civil War was fought in a small south central town in Pennsylvania. Gettysburg, a sleepy little town of 3500 was the county of seat of Adams County, Pennsylvania and was a light manufacturing center in addition to its agriculture commerce. At one time it was home to a shoe factory. The Confederates knew this and where in desperate needs of food and supplies. They headed for Gettysburg to see if they could find some shoes. Embolden by their past victories the Confederates had daringly come North to force peace on the North. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia and Meade’s Army of the Potomac converged on Gettysburg almost by chance.
    [Show full text]
  • Of-Biography - of $ -.*«*; Tubffo
    ! Of-Biography - Of $ -.*«*; Tubffo tive from South Carolina, born in JOHN C. CALHOUN Charleston January 2, 1797; at John CaJdvvell Calhoun was Portraits of Two South Carolinians tended Charleston College and the born at "the Long Canes set i •• ©© school of the Rev. Moses Wad- tlement" In what became Abbe- dell at Abbevule; was graduated ville County, March 18, 1782; V from the College of South Caro was graduated from Yale in lina (USC) in 1814; studied law 1804 and from Litch field law In State Department Collection 1814-1817; further pursued stu School, 1806, admitted to the bar dies in Paris and Edinburg in in 1807 and commenced prac 1818 and 1819; admitted to the By Kathleen Leicit tice In Abbeville; married Flo- bar in 1822 and commenced ride Bonneau Calhoun in 1811; practice in Charleston; member TN THE Department of State the works of those less promi Washington on February 28,1844. gave up the practice of law and of the State House of Repre 1 in Washington, there is a nent. Some are by unknown or James Gillespie Blaine con established himself as a plant sentatives 1820-22 and 1924-30; little-known collection of por obscure artists. j vened and presided over the er; member of the House of one of the founders and editor traits in oils of the men who All appear to be painted on first Pan American Conference Representative 1808-09; Repre of the Southern Review 1828-32; canvas. in 1889. Robert Bacon, mem sentative from South Carolina have served our country as attorney general for South Caro The title "Secretary ol State" ber of Genend Pershing©s stalf, 1811-17; was Secretary of War in Secretaries of State.
    [Show full text]
  • John Hay, Author and Statesman
    JOHN HAY Author and Statesman BY % LORENZO SEARS * NEW YORK DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 1914 TO PROFESSOR HARRY LYMAN KOOPMAN, A.M., LiTT.D. WHO AS LIBRARIAN OF BROWN UNIVERSITY PRESIDES OVER THE JOHN HAY LIBRARY » > , . 'Jt' PREFACE It is singular but not entirely exceptional that John Hay and his career should have re- ceived no extended treatment within a decade after his death. Doubtless the subject is dif- ficult by reason of rare qualities and of far- reaching diplomacy, but these need not have prevented a plain narrative of his personal, lit- erary, and political life. In the lack of such an account thousands pass the John Hay Memorial Library or read in its rooms without understand- ing its full significance, and thousands more all over the land are equally uninformed as to the position this scholar and statesman occupied. Many know that his name is the most distin- guished on the graduate roll of Brown Univer- sity; a goodly number will recall the authorship of the "Pike County Ballads" and other "Poems"; also the partnership with John Nic- olay in "Abraham Lincoln, a History." Fewer will remember the "Castilian Days," the anony- Preface mous "Breadwinners," or the occasional ad- dresses which complete and crown the output of John Hay as a man of letters. With regard to the statesman, some will rec- ollect that he was Secretary of Legation in three European cities, an Ambassador at the Court of St. James, and Secretary of State of the United States; but not many will recall the capitals and kingdoms to which he was sent, the administrations during which he served, and above all what he accomplished for his country and the world by his masterly diplomacy.
    [Show full text]
  • The Unitary Executive During the Second Half-Century
    THE UNITARY EXECUTIVE DURING THE SECOND HALF-CENTURY * STEVEN G. CALABRESI ** CHRISTOPHER S. YOO I. INTRODUCTION .....................................................668 II. THE UNITARY EXECUTIVE DURING THE JACKSONIAN PERIOD, 1837-1861 .........................669 A. Martin Van Buren .................................................670 B. William H. Harrison ..............................................678 C. John Tyler...............................................................682 D. James K. Polk..........................................................688 E. Zachary Taylor.......................................................694 F. Millard Fillmore.....................................................698 G. Franklin Pierce.......................................................704 H. James Buchanan .....................................................709 III. THE UNITARY EXECUTIVE DURING THE CIVIL WAR, 1861-1869 ..................................717 A. Abraham Lincoln....................................................718 B. Andrew Johnson.....................................................737 C. The Tenure of Office Act and the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson .................................................746 IV. THE UNITARY EXECUTIVE DURING THE GILDED AGE, 1869-1889................................759 A. Ulysses S. Grant ....................................................759 B. Rutherford B. Hayes...............................................769 C. James A. Garfield....................................................780 D. Chester
    [Show full text]
  • The Monroe Doctrine: Debating America’S Defense of Independence Abroad
    THE MONROE DOCTRINE: DEBATING AMERICA’S DEFENSE OF INDEPENDENCE ABROAD AUTHOR: Katherine Corrado / Woodgrove High School, Purcellville, Virginia GUIDING QUESTION: How has U.S. involvement in foreign affairs shaped a “more perfect union?” OVERVIEW CONNECTIONS TO C3 FRAMEWORK After analyzing secondary and primary sources, students › D2.His.1.6-8. Analyze connections among events and will determine how the Monroe Doctrine reflects projected developments in broader historical contexts. American identity abroad. By participating in a debate, › D2.His.8.9-12. Analyze how current interpretations of the students will examine a variety of perspectives and support past are limited by the extent to which available historical an argument. sources represent perspectives of people at the time. OBJECTIVES DOCUMENTS USED At the conclusion of this activity, students will be able to PRIMARY SOURCES › Describe the arguments for and against U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts; Caesar Augustus Rodney, Letter from Caesar Augustus Rodney to President James Monroe, 1824 (excerpt) › Analyze the debates surrounding the Monroe Doctrine; Stanislaus Murray Hamilton, Editor, The writings of James Monroe.... and HathiTrust Digital Library › Evaluate the short- and long-term effects of the Monroe https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ Doctrine on American identity and its contribution toward pt?id=uiug.30112005125403&view=1up&seq=456 building a more perfect union. Francisco José de Paula Santander y Omaña, Mensaje del Vicepresidente de Columbia Encargado del Gobierno,
    [Show full text]
  • Martin-Mastersreport-2015
    Copyright by James Ralph Martin 2015 The Report Committee for James Ralph Martin Certifies that this is the approved version of the following report: Reincarnation of the Good Neighbor: Nixon and the Creation of Latin American Policy APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE: Supervisor: Jeremi Suri Mark Lawrence Reincarnation of the Good Neighbor: Nixon and the Creation of Latin American Policy by James Ralph Martin, B.S. Report Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts The University of Texas at Austin May 2015 Dedication To Laura for her patience, and Stephen for the type laughter only a toddler can bring Acknowledgements I would like to thank the Omar Bradley Foundation, the Graduate History Department at UT Austin, and the Clements Center for History, Strategy, and Statecraft for funding portions of the research that led to this report. v Abstract Reincarnation of the Good Neighbor: Nixon and the Creation of Latin American Policy James Ralph Martin, M.A. The University of Texas at Austin, 2015 Supervisor: Jeremi Suri Much of the research on President Richard Nixon and his Latin American policy offers an overly simplistic portrayal of his attitudes and polices toward Latin America. This report explores the creation of President Richard Nixon’s Latin American policy in the first year of his administration. After a brief overview of key events early in the administration, such as the U.S. government’s response to the brief war between El Salvador and Honduras known colloquially as the “Soccer War”, the body of the report will explore two discrete events.
    [Show full text]