Essay The Good Neighbor Policy

Following the economic boom of the 1920s, there was a period of economic depression. The United States and its citizens were greatly affected. There were many economic problems that occurred such as unemployment rate rising tremendously and many more. Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt were presidents during that time and dealt with the economic problems. They helped create programs to financially stabilize the country again. The Great Depression ended when the United States entered World War II.

One of the most severe worldwide economic downturns in history is known as the great depression. Numerous amount of issues and problems were taken place between the years of 1929-1939. The great depression brought a rapid rise in unemployment, bank failure, and much more. Despite the wide range of issues, Franklin D Roosevelt was actually concerned about the depression. Roosevelt's response to the great depression was very effective because he had launched the new deal, due to the uprising problems and issues of the great depression.

During Roosevelt’s time in office, he strengthened the United States’ ties to countries around the world. T.R. was a foreign-policy activist. He involved himself in the relations between the Dominican Republic and the European nations that the country owed money to. The president was afraid that European powers would start to collect their money by using force and Roosevelt didn’t want that to happen in Latin America. He asserted the United States’ power in the Western hemisphere by creating what is known as the ‘Roosevelt Corollary’ in 1904. This corollary states that “although the United States had not territorial ambitions in this hemisphere, cases of “chronic wrongdoing” on the part of a Latin American country that might invite occupation by a European

The events of the 1930’s, or the Great Depression, did the most to influence contemporary America. During the twenties, America was at its most prosperous economic times until the stock market crashed in 1929. The stock market crash led to a dramatic decline of the U.S. economy. The decline in the economy changed Americans everyday lives. In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president and he created the New Deal to provide relief, recovery and reform. The Depression impacted America in the 1930’s in every aspect of life and still impacts America today. Although contemporary America was shaped by many events that occurred in the 20th century, America was most influenced by the 1930’s because of legislation that improved daily life

Another issue that created a crack in the outward appearance of harmony during “The Era of Good Feeling” was President Monroe’s foreign policy of isolationism. In the Monroe doctrine, President Monroe states, “we should consider any attempt on their [European powers’] part to extent their system to any portion of the hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety”. This statement makes the United States seem like a protector of Latin nations. However, the United States was not looking to protect Latin nations from European powers; the United States was looking to protect itself from European acts of aggression. This misconstrued view that the United States was the protector of Latin nations helps people buy into the false belief that “The Era of Good Feeling” really was a time of harmony in the United States.

The Spanish-American War of 1898 could be seen as the pivotal point in foreign policy as it marks America’s first engagement with a foreign enemy in the dawning age of modern warfare however, one could also argue that the idea had always existed in American politics.

In the 1880s, the US was still known as a minor county, a nation known to play only a small role in world affairs. Before the start of intervening in other nations, the US had followed a policy of isolationism, or having little to do with the political affairs of other nations. This was advised by George Washington in his Farewell Address and had been followed by later presidents. At the same time, however, the US also followed a policy of expansionism, or extending its national boundaries. An example of this was their constant westward movement across the

Good neighbor policy: a departure from the Roosevelt corollary to the Monroe doctrine, the good neighbor policy stressed nonintervention in Latin America. It was begun by Herbert Hoover but associated with Franklin D Roosevelt.

This incident, along with the progressive method of using Christian ethics and the progressive belief of pragmatism, changed Roosevelt’s idea about the Monroe Doctrine. Roosevelt believed that Christian citizens had “the duty of bearing one another’s burdens.” This belief influenced him to interpret the purpose of the Monroe Doctrine as “to safeguard like independence and secure like permanence for the lesser among the New World nations” as well as to prevent European colonization in the Western Hemisphere. However, after the Venezuela crisis, Roosevelt saw that the original doctrine was not enough to safeguard peace in the Western Hemisphere. He realized that wrongdoing from Latin American nations, for example, that Venezuela did not pay debts to European countries, could lead to European aggression in the Western Hemisphere. Roosevelt was afraid that the aggression stayed permanently and contravened the Monroe Doctrine. Using pragmatism to make the Monroe Doctrine not the “the emptiest of the empty phrases,” he stated that the United States had a duty to supervise ineffective Latin American governments, whose instability and economic problems could

The Banana Wars began with injustices, corruption, lawless societies and labor abuse in Latin America. Banana workers began what was comparable to a civil rights movement in the tropical fruit trade. Warring tropical countries stemmed from maltreatment [clarification needed] and abusive working conditions gave rise to one of the earliest and most militant labor movements in early Latin America. The discourse and corruption facing Latin American people and governments is what prompted the United States influence.[clarification needed]

Some of the times the country went to war because of neutrality. Other countries had decided to test the policy by stopping our trade. Carl Schurz said that the U.S. foreign policy was to promote peace not conquest; by not influencing the people with weapons but not fighting battles; giving respect to them (255). This is important to letting countries deal with their problems but offering little help unlike what happened in the Big Stick Policy. It was created by Theodore Roosevelt who wanted to make United States an international police so that we could preserve peace and order and protect American interests. United States battled Philippines forces because we wanted to control Philippines and ensure free trade in the Pacific. White planters in Hawaii with the help of the government overthrew the queen.United States also intervened in China were they issued the Open Door Policy to keep it open to foreign trade.(21)

American attitudes towards Latin America can be summed up as an extension of larger global directives, and the exclusion of foreign powers in the region. This was highlighted especially during the Cold War as US involvement was essentially in competition with the USSR. Latin America was therefore a mere pawn in the larger context of US-Soviet competition for global dominance. The actions and methods used are also characterized by the lack of an international authority, or an atmosphere of inter-state anarchy, which shaped their calculations in the endeavor to increase their influence over Latin America. When one analyzes the situation, it seems only rational that the United States treated its southern neighbors so, due to the geographical

They use this clout to achieve their goals in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic was in severe debt with European nations at the time. The United States goal was to payback the Europeans using the Dominican’s custom-houses (Loomis 4). These custom-houses were important economically to the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic received one hundred million dollars from the custom-houses since its independence (Loomis 2). The United States used its clout and convinced the President to give the United States the custom-houses receipts and the supervision of public expenditure (Loomis 4). Instead of using the money to benefit the poor people of the Dominican Republic. The United States used the customs to pay back the debt to the already powerful nations in Europe. These interests and goals fueled the United States actions in the Dominican Republic. The United States supported and protected the very unpopular President Morales who was engaged in arm conflicts with rebels. The United States supported Morales because to the United States considered Morales to be an intelligent, well-being and honest man (Loomis 3). Also, Morales fought the rebels who attacked the properties of American Citizens. Morales was the one who agree to give the United States control of the Custom houses so he could try to maintain peace in the interior of the country (Loomis 4).

The “Dollar Diplomacy” had the United States pay the debts that Latin America had to other countries from previous loans. In return the United States had an opportunity to sell American goods in the Latin America market, which would unknowingly expand American

The United States has been a heavily involved in Latin American affairs for a long time, and there is great controversy surrounding how good of a neighbor we have been. As the “Colossus of the North”, this country holds enormous power. The question is; have we used our power for good or for evil? At times, we have been generous to Latin American countries. We returned the Panama Canal to the Panamanians and created free trade with Mexico through NAFTA. However, the negative impact we have had outweighs the good. Time after time, the United States has put dictators into Latin American countries out of the fear of growing communism. We have meddled, taken the situations of our neighbors into our own hands with force, and vilified them for situations like the drug trade dilemma that are partially at the fault of the United States. Due to the selfish overstepping upon Latin American governments, our discrimination and blame upon immigrants and foreigners as well as patronizing actions like the Cuban embargo and the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, the Colossus of the North has historically been a poor neighbor to Latin American countries.