Chapter 28: America on the World Stage, 1899-1909

“Little Brown Brothers” in the Philippines

• The Senate refused to pass a resolution granting Filipino independence and bitterness toward American troops erupted into open insurrection in 1899 under Emilio Aguinaldo
• As Filipino armies were defeated, they melted into the jungle to wage guerrilla warfare
• Atrocity tales shocked and rocked the United States (reconcentration camps established)
• The backbone of the Filipino insurrection was broken in 1901 with the capture of Aguinaldo
• President McKinley appointed the Philippine Commission to act as a sort of government
• At its head was William H. Taft who called the Filipinos his “little grown brothers”
• Millions poured in to improve roads, sanitation, and public health (sugar trade)
• The Filipinos hated compulsory Americanization and preferred liberty (July 1946)

Hinging the Open Door in China

• Following China’s defeat by Japan in 1895, imperialistic European powers moved in
• A growing group of Americans viewed the vivisection of China with alarm (Manchu dynasty)
• Churches worried about missionaries, Chinese markets, American public nudged Washington
• Secretary of State John Hay dispatched to all great powers the Open Door note (summer 1899)
• He urged them to announce that in their spheres of influence they would respect certain Chinese rights and the ideal of fair competition (Open Door gained wide acceptance with public)
• Italy alone accepted the Open Door unconditionally (only major power without land in China)
• Britain, Germany, France, and Japan all accepted; Russia politely declined
• In 1900 a super patriotic group known as the “Boxers” strove to drive out the “foreign devils”
• A multinational rescue force arrived and quelled the rebellion—contrary to nation’s principles
• The allied invaders had China pay an indemnity of $333 million—vastly excessive
• Secretary Hay announced that the Open Door would embrace the territorial integrity of China

Imperialism or Bryanism in 1900?

• President McKinley had won war, acquired rich estates, established the gold standard, prosperity
• McKinley was renominated on a platform that endorsed prosperity, gold standard, and expansion
• Teddy Roosevelt became a popular vice-presidential candidate (governor of New York)
• William Jennings Bryan forced a silver plank down the throats of Democrats
• Bryan assailed both imperialism and Republican-fostered trusts (Roosevelt toured the country)
• Bryanites trumpeted their “paramount” issue of slavery while Republicans responded by charging that ”Bryanism,” not imperialism was paramount (no more prosperity with free-silver)
• Victory for Republicans was not a mandate for or against imperialism (prosperity & protection)

TR: Brandisher of the Big Stick

• William McKinley had served another six months when in September 1901, a deranged anarchist murdered him—Roosevelt became president at age forty-two, the youngest so far
• Known for impulsiveness, he proclaimed that he would carry out the policies of his predecessor
• The Rough Rider’s high-voltage energy was electrifying (“the tennis cabinet”)
• Roosevelt never cased to preach the virile virtues and denounce civilized softness
• “Speak softly and carry a big stick and you will go far”—if statesmen had big stick, they could work their will among foreign nations without shouting; shouting would do no good without it
• His self-confidence merged with self-righteousness; he loved people and mingled with all ranks
• A moralizer and reformer, Roosevelt preached virtue from the White House pulpit
• TR had an enormous popular appeal because the common people saw the fiery champion in him
• Roosevelt was a direct-actionists; he believed that president should lead and keep things moving

Colombia Blocks the Canal

• Spanish-American War had emphasized need for a canal across the Central American isthmus
• An isthmian canal would augment the strength of the navy by increasing its mobility
• Waterway would make it easier to defense recent acquisitions (American merchant marine)
• By Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, the US could not secure exclusive control over such a route (UK)
• The British consented to the Hay-Pauncefote Treat in 1901 (US free hand to build canal)
• French Canal Company was eager to salvage something from their failure at Panama
• Bunau-Varilla offered holdings at $40 million (from $109) for New Panama Canal Company
• Congress in June 1902 decided on the Panama route; Panama was unwilling part of Columbia
• A treaty between the US and Colombian government granted the US a lease for a six-mile-wide zone in exchange for $10 million and an annual payment of $250,000 (Columbia rejected)
• The “blackmailers of Bogota” were blocking the onward march of civilization

Uncle Sam Creates Puppet Panama

• Bunau-Varilla was disturbed by prospect of losing money; Panamanians ripe for another revolt
• He raised a tiny “patriot” army consisting of fire department and bought Colombian troops
• The Panama revolution occurred on November 3, 1903 and Colombian troops were gathered to crush the uprising, but U.s. naval forces would not let them cross the isthmus
• Roosevelt justified interference by interpretation of treaty of 1846 with Colombia
• This pact obligated Washington to maintain “perfect neutrality” of the isthmus
• Panama became outpost of US and Bunau-Varilla signed the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty (same $)
• Rough Rider became involved in the Panama affair and the European imperialists raised their eyebrows in scorn at America’s superior moral pretensions—Roosevelt’s “cowboy diplomacy”

Completing the Canal and Appeasing Colombia

• The “rape” of Panama marked an ugly downward lurch in U.S. relations with Latin America
• The era of the bullying “Big Brother” policy was brazenly launched
• Roosevelt defended that he had received a “mandate from civilization” to start the canal
• The Nicaragua route was about equally feasible but the presidential election of 1904 was coming
• Active work was begun on “making the dirt fly” in 1904; organization was perfected under West Point engineer Colonel George Washington Goethals (who cared about sanitation)
• In 1914 the colossal canal project was completed at an initial cost of about $400 million

TR’s Perversion of Monroe’s Doctrine

• Nations such as Venezuela and the Dominican Republic owed to European creditors and seeking to force payment, German warships sank two Venezuelan boats in early 1903
• Roosevelt feared that Germans or Britons might remain in Latin America (Monroe Doctrine)
• Roosevelt devised the policy of “preventive intervention”—Roosevelt Corollary to M.D.
• Brandishing of the big stick in the Caribbean became effective in 1905, when the United States took over the management of tariff collections in the Dominican Republic (treaty later)
• TR—“We shall intervene to prevent you from intervening” (preemptive stroke)
• The new corollary was used to justify wholesale interventions and repeated landings of the marines, which helped turn the Caribbean into a “Yankee lake”
• The shadow of the big stick fell on Cuba in 1906; revolutionary disorders brought an appeal from the Cuban president, and “necessity being the mother of invention,” U.S. Marines were landed

Roosevelt on the World Stage

• Outbreak of war between Russia and Japan in 1904 gave him a chance to be a global statesman
• Russia was seeking China’s Manchuria (Port Arthur) and Japan saw this as a threat
• Russian troops had invaded Manchuria during the Boxer rebellion and had not withdrew them
• The Japanese suddenly began war in 1904 (railroad) and proceeded to administer a humiliating series of beatings to the inept Russians—the first serous military setback to a European power
• As war dragged on, Japan began to run short of men and money and officials approached Roosevelt in deep secrecy and asked him to help sponsor peace negotiations
• At Portsmouth, NH in 1905, Japanese presented demands for a huge indemnity and island of Sakhalin, while Russians refused to admit defeat—Japanese ended up with no money and land
• Roosevelt received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 but diplomatic glory had its toll on the US
• American relations with Russia had soured as Russians accused Roosevelt of robbing victory
• Japan and America became rivals in Asia, as fear and jealousy between them grew

Japanese Laborers in California

• Japanese government prohibited emigration of its citizens until 1884, when it began to allow temporary laborers to work on sugar plantations in Hawaii
• Thousands of Japanese were recruited for work in California as farm laborers, workers, servants
• Japanese immigrants did the nation’s arduous work but were barred from becoming citizens
• Like the Chinese, Japanese immigrants confronted racist hostility
• In 1906 San Francisco’s school board ordered the segregation of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean students in a special school to free more space for whites (after a devastating fire and earthquake)
• The people of Japan regarded this discrimination as an insult to them and their children
• On both sides of the Pacific, war talk sizzled in the yellow press (“yellow peril”)
• After inviting the SF Board of Education to the White House, he broke the deadlock
• The Californians came to accept the “Gentlemen’s Agreement”—school order repealed and Japanese agreed to stop the flow of laborers to the American mainland (fear of Japanese?)
• Roosevelt used the big stick and sent his entire battleship fleet on a voyage around the world
• Great White Fleet received welcomes in Latin America, Hawaii, New Zealand, and Australia
• Overwhelming reception in Japan was the high point of the trip; in the warm diplomatic atmosphere created by the visit of the fleet, the Root-Takahira agreement of 1908 was reached
• The US and Japan pledged themselves to respect each other’s territorial possessions in the Pacific and to uphold the Open Door in China (battleship cruise—contribution to peace)