Cuba's Limited Independence Under the Platt Amendment

‘ (,,hi Limited I1,deJNndcnce I fuder the Platt Anundmt’ut 41 lization. And Taft said about the Chinese: “The more civilized they become the more active their industries, the wealthier they become, and the better market they vmll become for us.” President Wilson. who added missionary paternalism to the luest for order, said simply that he would “teach the South American Republics to lcct good men. “‘ Sonic foreign observers did not appreciate American henefi— ence. The typical “Yankee,” one German wrote in I )4, was “a boorish fellow who pursued the dollar and sensation, a barbarian in science and art, a bigoted, inctimonious hypocrite“ who chewed tobacco and whose chief amusement was )und in lynchings. Whatever Aiiiericans’ intentions or habits, their compulsion to shape the lives of other peoples while denying any desire to dominate brought tixed results. Cuba’s Limited Independence Under the Platt Amendment ii December 1 President William McKinley promised Cuba “free and inde pendent’’ status once the American iiimlitarv occupation had achieved “complete ii inquility iid i stibic iovcrnnwiit on the isl imid T months o 1 Iter the Philip pine insurrection erupted, and Secretary of War Elihu Root, charged with forniu— tong Cuban occupation policy. frarcd that in ( ;uha the United States stood “oii the crge daily of the s.uiie sort of thing that happened to us iii tm the Philippines.’’- To me cc 1c rite ( ub sn de moe r icy mel st ibmhty Root ippomnte d ( e ne ral I conard Wood the military governor of the island. A Harvard graduate with a de— ree in medicine, Wood was a friend of the adventurous Roosevelt. Wood favored utnght annexation of ( uba, but he loyally carried out the administrations policy t i patrk m tute I i..e 1 )urinm, his te nun. is military ..,o’. e rnor 599— (I 1 902) he worked to eradicate yellow fever, Americanize education, construct highways, and trrnulate an electoral law guaranteeiiig order. He even added “before” and “after” photos of public toilets iii his reports. The general defined his objectives conserva tively: “When money can be borrowed at a reasonable rate of interest and when 4pital is willing to invest iii the Island, a condition of stability will have been cched.” ( ivemi the war—ravaged Cuban economy, only the North Americans mid the resources to generate reconstruction, Those Cuban elites who spoke Eng— ImIi and kne Amerie in iys could ser’ c is lo il in in isers truiers agents md id— ers. The occupation thus stressed the teaching of English in the public schools ticcause, according to one official, “the ( ;ribimi people will never understand the pcople of the United States until they appreciate our institutions. “41 Many Cubans cilized that “to he educated by the people who had conquered them was the cx— mision of conquest. only by another name.”42 Root began construction of a ( ubami—Aiiiericaii political relationship designed weather the storms of independence. Working closely with Senator Orville Platt, R oot fhshioned the Platt Amendment to the Army Appropriation Bill of 9() 1 . By me amendment’s terms, Cuba could not make a treaty with any nation that might mm ipair its independence. Should Cuban independence ever be threatened, or -liould Cuba tail to protect adequately “life, property, and individual liberty,” the 42 Chapter 2 / Managing, Policing, and Extending the Empire, 1900—1914 “If General Wood Is Unpop ular wIth Cuba, We Can Guess the Reason.” General Leonard Wood (1860—1927), be fore serving as military governor of Cuba (1899—1902), was a surgeon who entered the army in 1886 and earned a Congressional Medal of Honor for capturing Indian leader Geronimo. He also commanded the Rough Riders at San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American- Cuban-Filipino War. Later he helped govern the Philippines. (Mir7neapolls Tribune in Literary Digest, 1901) United States had the right to intervene For these purposes Cuba would cede to the United States ‘lands necessary for coaling or naval stations 41 Cubans howled. On Good Friday 1901, the front page ofHavana’s La Discusión carried a cartoon of “The Cuban Calvary” depicting the Cuban people as Christ and Senator Platt as a Roman soldier. Anti-imperialist critics charged that the amendment extinguished Cuban independence. Root piously denied any “inter- meddling or interference with the affairs of a Cuban government,” but General Wood privately conceded that “little or no independence [wasi left Cuba under the 44 A reluctant Cuban convention adopted the measure as an Platt Amendment.” amendment to the new constitution on June 12, 1901, and the two governments signed a treaty embodying the Platt Amendment on May 22, 1903. That same year the U.S. Navy constructed a naval base at Guantánamo Bay: “Gitmo,” as the marines christened it, was leased to the United States in perpetuity for a small an nual fee. With North American investments pouring into capital-starved Cuba, ex tending control over sugar, tobacco (the new Tobacco Trust exported 90 percent ofHavana cigars by 1902), mining, transportation, utilities, and cattle ranching, the Reciprocity Treaty of 1902 permitted Cuban products to enter the United States at specially reduced tariff rates, thereby further interlocking the economies of the two countries. The first president of the Republic of Cuba, Tomás Estrada Palma, acted 45 Following his rigged reelection and second in “more plattish than Platt himself.” auguration, discontented Cuban nationalists revolted. In September 1906, the U.S. consul general in Havana reported Estrada Palma’s inability to quell the rebellion or ___________________________ I lie (nistalile of rite Caribitean: The Roosevelt Corollary, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic 43 protect life 46 and property.” President Roosevelt immediately ordered the cruiser I)cnt’er to Havana, whereupon a battalion of sailors landed at Estrada Palma’s re— quest. Roosevelt summarily ordered the men back aboard ship. “I am so angry with that infernal little Cuban republic,” exploded the Rough Rider, “that I would like to wipe its people off the face of the earth.” All he wanted from the Cubans was that “they should behave themselves.”47 Into this turmoil stepped the portly secretary of war, William Howard Taft, whom Roosevelt sent to mediate between the warring factions. Estrada Palma re signed, permitting Taft to establish a new government with himself as governor. rft soon lectured students in Havana that Cubans needed a “mercantile spirit,” a “desire to make money, to found great 4 enterprises.” He returned home in mid October, leaving behind a government headed by an American civilian, adminis tered by U.S. Army officers, and supported by more than 5,000 American soldiers. For twenty-eight months Governor Charles E. Magoon attempted to reinstate Leonard Wood’s electoral and humanitarian reforms, while Roosevelt publicly scolded the Cubans that if their “insurrectionary habit” persisted, it would be “ab solutely out of the question that the Island should continue independent.”49 Under his successor Taft, and under Taft’s successor Woodrow Wilson, U.S. policy toward Cuba reflexively supported existing governments, by force if neces sary. Taft and Wilson made no serious effort to reform Cuba in the North Ameri can image. Through “dollar diplomacy,” the United States sought order in Cuban politics and security for investments and commerce, particularly in sugar. The $50 million invested by Americans in 1896 jumped to $220 million in 1913. By 1920 American-owned mills produced about half of Cuba’s sugar. Cuban exports to the United States in 1900 equaled $31 million, by 1914 $131 million, and by 1920 $722 million. U.S. entrepreneurs helped establish missionary schools (such as the Candler school in Havana, named after the founder of Coca-Cola) that, in effect, trained Cubans for employment in North American companies. When revolution threatened these interests, as in May 1912 and February 1917, marines went ashore. After Havana followed Washington’s lead and declared war against Germany in 15tpril 1917, some 2,500 American troops went to the island, ostensibly to protect the sugar plantations that helped feed the Allied armies. The Constable of the Caribbean: The Roosevelt Corollary, Venezuela, and the Dominican Republic President Theodore Roosevelt pondered that most hallowed of American doc trines, the one enunciated by James Monroe in 1823. In his first annual message, on December 3, 1901, Roosevelt called the doctrine “a guarantee of the commercial independence of the Aniencas.” The United States, however, as protector of that independence, would “not guarantee any state against punishment if it misconducts itself provided that punishment does not take the form of the acquisition of tern tory by any non-American power.”Sn If a Western Hemispheric country misbe hived toward a European nation, Roosevelt would “let the European country pink it.”51 44 Chapter 2 / Managing, Policing, and Extending the Empire, 1900—1914 The president was thinking principally of Germany and Venezuela. Under the nile of Cipriano Castro, an unsavory dictator whom Roosevelt once labeled an “unspeakable villainous monkey,” Venezuela perpetually deferred payment on bonds 52 Berlin worth more than $12.5 million and held by German investors. be came impatient. Britain also rankled at Venezuelan defaults to British creditors. In December 1902, after clearing the way with Washington, Germany and Britain de livered an ultimatum demanding immediate settlement of their claims, seized sev eral Venezuelan vessels, bombarded two forts, and blockaded all ports. To all of this Roosevelt initially acquiesced, despite the doctrine of Argentma’s Foreign Minister Luis M. Drago that “the public debt cannot occasion armed intervention. by a European power.”53 In mid-January 1903. the German navy bombarded two more forts. “Are the people in Berlin crazy?” asked TR.54 This time the president delivered a quiet warn ing to desist.

Load more