Big+Stick+Policy

Theodore Roosevelt and the Big Stick Policy 1901, a few months after the assassination of President McKinley, Republican vice-president Theodore Roosevelt is sworn in. With his inauguration comes a new imperialist ‘Big Stick’ policy, and the designation of America as a world power. The president once said his motto was, “speak softly and carry a big stick” (thus, Big Stick policy), and that statement accurately describes his aggressive approach to foreign affairs; if peace talks did not succeed, military force would. Such as in 1903, when President Roosevelt aided rebels in Panama, after the government of Panama refused the building of a canal. With US aid, the rebels won almost immediately and signed the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty allowing the US long term control of the Canal Zone. Perhaps one of the largest shows of Big Stick policy came in 1904 with the Roosevelt Corollary. This said that the US would send troops to intervene with South American countries that could not pay debts. This corollary was added on to the Monroe Doctrine, that told European nations to stay out of South America, and attempted to maintain that Doctrine by keeping Europeans from coming back to South America. The Big Stick policy was also displayed by strategic deterrence using the Great White Fleet. In 1907-1909, Roosevelt sent America’s Great White on a cruise around the world to show off America’s military strength. Yet, even with his aggressive Big Stick policy, President Roosevelt did a lot to promote peace, even in disputes not directly involve America, and in 1906 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.