William Howard Taft coined the phrase, “dollars for bullets,” to describe an approach to foreign policy that came to be known as dollar diplomacy. Military historian Ellen D. Tillman explores this diplomatic experiment in her latest work, Dollar Diplomacy by Force: Nation-Building and Resistance in the Dominican Republic. Tillman argues that U.S. intervention reinforced political instability in the Dominican Republic rather than improve the political environment of this country. Political interference in the Caribbean reinforced preconceptions of American imperialism that began with the annexation of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam following of the Spanish-American War in 1898. The actual diplomatic negotiations in the Dominican Republic were carried out by U.S. military officers, Tillman explains, who held preconceived ideas of American exceptionalism and viewed their role in the Dominican Republic as a “military mission, especially in the context of broader security interests surrounding the Panama Canal.”1 Tillman argues that economic intervention, which ultimately led to full scale military intervention, altered the social order in Dominican society. To establish a foundation for political stability in the Dominican Republic, the US. Navy created a military force called the “constabulary,” a military experiment viewed by the Dominican people as a group of low class traitors. Naval officers who created this military force were not concerned with Dominican history or culture, often making generalization about the type of political structure necessary to provide stability in the region. The export of American institutions to the Dominican Republic through the constabulary “existed only in theory,” Tillman argues.2 When the U.S. entered the First World War in Europe, it severely constrained its resources available to the constabulary, in effect reducing its ability to be an effective military force. While the U.S. military measured their success by the accomplishments of the constabulary, there was a growing movement in Dominican society to remove American political and economic influence from their country. The Dominican Republic may have been better off as a more regionally structured government, Tillman argues, rather than a strong centralized government modeled after the U.S., which was incompatible with Dominican history and culture. In the end, dollar diplomacy was an unsuccessful attempt by U.S. leaders to stabilize an unstable country. This failure led to further military intervention that proved ineffective in providing stability to the Dominican Republic and intensified the insecurity in the region. Tillman provides a thorough discussion of the military complications in the region, although, further discussion of the meaning and nature of dollar diplomacy would complement Tillman's work. While Tillman's primary focus is no military history, her book provides a unique perspective that combines military and economic history in the Caribbean, a region that has been the central focus of Emily Rosenberg's Financial Missionaries to the World: The Culture and Politics of Dollar Diplomacy, 1900–1930 and Cyrus Veeser's work A World Safe for Capitalism: Dollar Diplomacy and America's Rise to Global Power. The latter authors focus primarily on economic and power relations of dollar diplomacy, while Tillman contributes to the literature by emphasizing the lasting impacts that the U.S. military had in the region. Tillman identifies the complexities of military intervention in the Dominican Republic, which escalated instability in the region and ultimately led to the rise of dictator Rafael Trujillo.
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When William Howard Taft became president in 1909, he chose to adapt Roosevelt’s foreign policy philosophy to one that reflected American economic power at the time. In what became known as “dollar diplomacy,” Taft announced his decision to “substitute dollars for bullets” in an effort to use foreign policy to secure markets and opportunities for American businessmen ([link]). Not unlike Roosevelt’s threat of force, Taft used the threat of American economic clout to coerce countries into agreements to benefit the United States.
Although William Howard Taft was Theodore Roosevelt’s hand-picked successor to the presidency, he was less inclined to use Roosevelt’s “big stick,” choosing instead to use the economic might of the United States to influence foreign affairs.
Of key interest to Taft was the debt that several Central American nations still owed to various countries in Europe. Fearing that the debt holders might use the monies owed as leverage to use military intervention in the Western Hemisphere, Taft moved quickly to pay off these debts with U.S. dollars. Of course, this move made the Central American countries indebted to the United States, a situation that not all nations wanted. When a Central American nation resisted this arrangement, however, Taft responded with military force to achieve the objective. This occurred in Nicaragua when the country refused to accept American loans to pay off its debt to Great Britain. Taft sent a warship with marines to the region to pressure the government to agree. Similarly, when Mexico considered the idea of allowing a Japanese corporation to gain significant land and economic advantages in its country, Taft urged Congress to pass the Lodge Corollary, an addendum to the Roosevelt Corollary, stating that no foreign corporation—other than American ones—could obtain strategic lands in the Western Hemisphere. In Asia, Taft’s policies also followed those of Theodore Roosevelt. He attempted to bolster China’s ability to withstand Japanese interference and thereby maintain a balance of power in the region. Initially, he experienced tremendous success in working with the Chinese government to further develop the railroad industry in that country through arranging international financing. However, efforts to expand the Open Door policy deeper into Manchuria met with resistance from Russia and Japan, exposing the limits of the American government’s influence and knowledge about the intricacies of diplomacy. As a result, he reorganized the U.S. State Department to create geographical divisions (such as the Far East Division, the Latin American Division, etc.) in order to develop greater foreign policy expertise in each area. Taft’s policies, although not as based on military aggression as his predecessors, did create difficulties for the United States, both at the time and in the future. Central America’s indebtedness would create economic concerns for decades to come, as well as foster nationalist movements in countries resentful of American’s interference. In Asia, Taft’s efforts to mediate between China and Japan served only to heighten tensions between Japan and the United States. Furthermore, it did not succeed in creating a balance of power, as Japan’s reaction was to further consolidate its power and reach throughout the region. As Taft’s presidency came to a close in early 1913, the United States was firmly entrenched on its path towards empire. The world perceived the United States as the predominant power of the Western Hemisphere—a perception that few nations would challenge until the Soviet Union during the Cold War era. Likewise, the United States had clearly marked its interests in Asia, although it was still searching for an adequate approach to guard and foster them. The development of an American empire had introduced with it several new approaches to American foreign policy, from military intervention to economic coercion to the mere threat of force. The playing field would change one year later in 1914 when the United States witnessed the unfolding of World War I, or “the Great War.” A new president would attempt to adopt a new approach to diplomacy—one that was well-intentioned but at times impractical. Despite Woodrow Wilson’s best efforts to the contrary, the United States would be drawn into the conflict and subsequently attempt to reshape the world order as a result.
Read this brief biography of President Taft to understand his foreign policy in the context of his presidency.
Why did some Central American nations object to Taft’s paying off their debt to Europe with U.S. dollars?
because American currency wasn’t worth as much as local currencies because they felt it gave the United States too much leverage because they were forced to give land grants to the United States in return because they wanted Asian countries to pay off their debts instead
What two countries were engaged in a negotiation that the Lodge Corollary disallowed?
Mexico and Japan Nicaragua and France Colombia and Japan Mexico and Spain
What problems did Taft’s foreign policy create for the United States?
Taft’s policies created some troubles that were immediate, and others that would not bear fruit until decades later. The tremendous debts in Central America created years of economic instability there and fostered nationalist movements driven by resentment of America’s interference in the region. In Asia, Taft’s efforts at China-Japan mediation heightened tensions between Japan and the United States—tensions that would explode, ultimately, with the outbreak of World War II—and spurred Japan to consolidate its power throughout the region.
Describe the United States’ movement from isolationism to expansion-mindedness in the final decades of the nineteenth century. What ideas and philosophies underpinned this transformation?
What specific forces or interests transformed the relationship between the United States and the rest of the world between 1865 and 1890?
How did Taft’s “dollar diplomacy” differ from Roosevelt’s “big stick” policy? Was one approach more or less successful than the other? How so?
What economic and political conditions had to exist for Taft’s “dollar diplomacy” to be effective?
What factors conspired to propel the United States to emerge as a military and economic powerhouse prior to World War II? dollar diplomacy Taft’s foreign policy, which involved using American economic power to push for favorable foreign policies |
Was Dollar diplomacy successful
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