William Howard Taft and Dollar Diplomacy (jan 1, 1909 – jan 1, 1913)

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Compared to his predecessor (Theodore Roosevelt), President William Howard Taft was much less focused on growing the country’s military. Taft phased out Roosevelt’s “Big Stick Policy” in favor of his own policy of dollar diplomacy which concentrated on supporting American businesses abroad – particularly in Central America and China – in order to increase U.S. trade. However, his policy was largely foiled by anti-imperialist developments across the globe, like a civil war that broke out in Nicaragua as well as the formation of a sphere of influence in Manchuria (Northern China) that was controlled by Japan and Russia which prohibited the U.S. from developing railroads in the region. As such, Taft’s theory that the United States’ economic involvement in these foreign countries would become greatly profitable and lead to stability in those regions proved to be largely unsuccessful.

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