Premium Essay

Woodrow Wilson and American Diplomacy

In:

Submitted By eestigurl18
Words 1656
Pages 7
American diplomacy has had many influences over the years. One of the most significant in history was that of Woodrow Wilson, the twenty-eighth President of the United States, who began spreading the principles of American diplomacy in the twentieth century. Until the early part of the twentieth century American foreign policy consisted mainly of isolationist tendencies. However, two factors quickly pushed America into foreign affairs. America was rapidly expanding its power and the international system centered on Europe began to crash. Until Wilson became president American foreign policy was aimed at fulfilling manifest destiny and to staying free of problems abroad. American diplomacy reflected Wilson’s Basic view of world power by helping spread democratic structure to other nations. It wasn’t perfect though and thus rejected his views of some post WWI thoughts such as the League of Nations. Woodrow Wilson, born Dec 28, 1856, served as President of Princeton University and then became Governor of New Jersey in 1910. He was elected president in 1912 as a democrat when Taft and Roosevelt divided up the republican vote. In the first few years as president Wilson concentrated on anti-trust measures and reorganizing the federal banking system. After being narrowly re-elected Wilson concentrated on World War I. He tried to sustain US neutrality but failed and later asked Congress to declare war. Wilson also played a major role in the post-war period attempting to create the League of Nations and such. President Wilson’s views on foreign policy have been seen as great by some and horrible by others. Wilson fought hard to help spread democracy and in some cases succeeded. Wilson introduced the term “moral diplomacy” to the West which attempted to spread influence and control foreign nations by using economic power. This didn’t always work as planned

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Comparing George Washington's Farewell Address And The Monroe Doctrine

...to America’s isolationist principles. Woodrow Wilson aimed to fix the interior problems of the United States and was an isolationist. President Woodrow Wilson was a progressive who wanted to create a world with democracy. His ideal of “Moral Diplomacy,” was that people had the right to choose their own form of government and leaders through democratic elections because it had to represent the leaders of the government had to represent the ideals of the governed. This idea was used when there was a revolution in Mexico where General Huerta seized power and Wilson believed that Huerta’s actions were wrong so he sent troops to occupy a port to cut off...

Words: 521 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Diplomacy, Wilson and Roosevelt

...Historians used ‘progressive diplomacy’ as an expression to explain the presidential regards of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Both Roosevelt and Wilson, during their presidency, dealt with extreme reforms in foreign policy to change the old world order. Progressive Diplomacy, describes the trading expansion in the United States, during 1901 through 1920, which both Roosevelt and Wilson funded by accelerating the military forces in the United States. In their precedencies, Roosevelt and Wilson used the ideology of progressivism to shape their approach in changing the United States’ foreign policies through expanding the military and giving a new world order by using the value of moralism. Theodore Roosevelt used his ‘Big Stick’ approach to impact other nations in order to solve disputes with the Caribbean. Using a progressive ideology he believed in order to conserve and grow the United States’ economic and political stature, the military needed to be strengthened. He described his activism as a silent but an aggressive movement. Roosevelt’s pursued plans to enlarge foreign policy, was to build a canal across the Isthmus of Panama, to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, which would expand the United States trade. He first tried to compromise a leasing consensus with Columbia, which in turn was rejected by Columbia’s senate, in the fall of 1903. Coming up with a new strategy, Roosevelt plotted against Colombia. He told Philippe Bunau-Varilla, an engineer agent...

Words: 778 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Essay

...and how American involvement changed the course of the war. When World War I started in 1914 after the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the to the Austro-Hungarian throne, the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, immediately proclaimed neutrality and asked Americans to remain “impartial in thought as well as in action”. He did not want to be involved in this war neither “the Central Powers” nor “the Allied Powers”. United States kept out of war for 3 years until April of 1917 when President Wilson called Congress into special session and asked them for a declaration of war. There were many reasons that changed Wilson’s mind about stay out of war; the first was the sink of the Lusitania in May 1915 where nearly 1,200 people died, including 128 Americans. President Wilson sent three notes to Germany asking them to abandon unrestricted submarine warfare, but there was until they received the third note, almost an ultimatum, when Germany ordered to their U-boat commanders not to sink passenger liners without warning. President Wilson did not know that Germany had ordered U-boat commander not to sink passenger liners without warning, when in August 1915; a U-boat mistakenly torpedoed the British liner Arabic, killing two Americans. Wilson protested, and Germany, eager to keep the United States out of war, backed down. Although Wilson’s diplomacy had achieved his immediate goal, the Lusitania and Arabic crises highlighted the elements that led to war. Wilson hated war...

Words: 469 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

William Howard Taft's Dollar Diplomacy

...Dollar diplomacy was one of William Howard Taft’s major plans to increase the American influence around the world. While Taft , teddy Roosevelts successor continued most of the big stick diplomacy he also inserted a momentum in enhancing great integration between United States and Central America in the world through the dollar diplomacy policy. The policy majorly encouraged the American businesses to invest in various countries in an effort to convince the governments of those countries an Ally of the United States. Taft greatly believe that once those countries have received American investment would realize the profits of those investments and would dearly make sure that the American Businesses enhance their markets for long period of...

Words: 284 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Compare and Contrast

...6 March 2016   Woodrow Wilson’s Presidency  “If you want to make enemies, try to change something”. Woodrow Wilson became the  28th President of the United States in 1913. Making him the second Democratic President since  before the Civil War. Wilson was a very skilled man as he was a Professor and the President at  Princeton University. Before his presidency he was also elected the Governor of New Jersey in  1910. While Wilson was President many different things were introduced to the United States,  but what makes him popular is that he was one of the most interventionist Presidents in the U.S.  A few ways that made Wilson an interventionist president is the United States interventions in  Mexico, in Latin America and in Haiti.  When Wilson first entered office he made it clear that he did not follow the foreign  policies that Roosevelt and Taft one followed. Mexico had been in a revolution for quite a while  until Wilson stepped in on the situation. At the time Mexico had been going through many years  of poverty, war, and revolutions. Their leader during their revolution was a man named  Victoriano Huerta who “clamped a bloody authoritarian rule on the country” ​ http://millercenter  .org/president/ biography /wilson­foreign­affairs​ . While other countries were okay with this,  Wilson was opposed to the investments that Huerta was offering that wasn’t in favor of the  Mexican people. This continued for a few more years until early 1917 when Wilson realized that  ...

Words: 602 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

America and the Great War

...America and the Great War World War I (WWI) or ‘The Great War’ began on 1914 and ended on 1918. The war turned into “prolonged global struggle” (Keene, Cornell & O'Donnel, 2012, p.594). It killed and wounded millions of men and cost billions of dollars. The war was between the Allies Powers and the Central Powers. It took Americans over two years to join the war. In the end of the war and under the peace settlement, Germany was required to pay reparations of war damages and give up many of its territories (Keene, Cornell & O'Donnel, 2012). Nationalism, imperialism, and militarism in Europe led to World War I. The increase in aggressive nationalism of one’s country led to the hatred of another country, which supported Europeans leaders’ aggressions towards each other. Germany wanted to become a world power like Britain and France. The rise of nationalism in German-speaking states called for unification of Germany as one nation-state. The force of nationalism led to the force of imperialism. Both France and Britain had large empires due to their imperialistic influence and their grip over trade on foreign markets. Germany was trying to become larger and stronger empire by colonizing overseas. Europeans powers were fighting for raw materials for trade, industry, and foreign markets. They began the race to acquire colonies in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific, which created more rivalry and hatred between European countries. The competition for industrial power and the need...

Words: 1202 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Moralistic Foriegn Policy

...predecessors,. President Woodrow Wilson sought to reform United States foreign relations by implementing a moralistic foreign policy using economic power. He started with his attack on Dollar Diplomacy. American Investors in Latin America and China could no longer depend on United States government support. He took a further stance against imperialism with the Jones Act of 1916, which promised independence and territorial status to the Philippines. However, a crisis in Haiti and threat to American lives and property forced his hand, and the President had to send in military intervention. Eventually, Wilson had to revert back to the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine to supervise the finances of Haiti. He also purchased more territories in the Caribbean. He wished to go no further with aggressive foreign policy when Europe was on the brink war. His goal was for America to remain neutral. Neutral trade was a great financial benefit for the struggling American industry, but exercising America’s neutral trade rights posed great threat. The Germans began attacking merchant ships, and over one hundred American lives were lost. President Wilson threatened Germany with the break of diplomatic relations. The Germans agreed to the Sussex pledge, a pledge to not sink passenger and merchant ships without warning. The Sussex pledge temporarily kept the United States form war and gained Wilson a diplomatic victory. Keeping the country out of war won the reelection for Wilson. ButWilson, but...

Words: 317 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Woodrow Wilson

...Woodrow Wilson I. Wilson’s Early Life Born December 28, 1856 at Staunton, Virginia; one of four children to Joseph Ruggles Wilson and Janet Wilson as Thomas Woodrow Wilson. Initially lived for only at year at Staunton; the family moved to Augusta, Georgia until 1870 moving to Columbia then Wilmington in 1784. Woodrow (who would later drop his first name Thomas/Tommy) got his early education from a few ex-Confederate soldiers who set up some schools after the Civil war and his father who taught him religion, literature and British history. In the year 1873, at sixteen years of age, Wilson attended Davidson College, North Carolina for only one year due to his health and concerns at home. 1875, he attended a College of New Jersey (better known as Princeton University) which he later graduated in 1879. That same year he would study law in the University of Virginia but would end up leaving during the second year due to personal reasons. He would continue his study of law on his own accord after returning home of Wilmington, North Carolina. Year 1882, he set up a legal practice with a friend from the University of Virginia and later passed the Georgia Bar Exam. However, he became tired with the practice of law; he decided to continue his education and attended at John Hopkins University, Baltimore. There he was enrolled as a graduate student in history and political science and earned his PH.D in 1886. With his research study, he made the dissertation known as Congressional...

Words: 2025 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Roosevelt's Corollary In The Late 1800s

...Initially, it gave American military access to Latin American countries and protected them from Europe. Economically wise, the Canal Zone in Panama increased world trade. Although its greatest impact was on Panama; as previously it was a poor, third world country however after the construction of the canal it developed and became infused with income and initiative. The foreign policy also managed to resolve the Russo-Japanese war, and restored political contentment between both nations through the Portsmouth Peace Conference . Additionally, maintained a balance of power in Asia that might uphold the U.S interests. Regarding sociological aspects, the Corollary was able to diffuse in 1907 a diplomatic quarrel caused by an anti-Japanese movement in California; by restricting Japanese immigration. This solution favored both sides, clearing problems associated with the Japanese in the States and the Americans resentment towards them. Overall, I presume this foreign policy was efficacious among the succeeded, as it was thoroughly engaged in world affairs, illustrated advantageous outcomes financially, socially and...

Words: 714 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Waterfront Film Industry

...the center of American isolationism and the era of cultural growth within the early 1900’s, the establishment of film revolutionized popular opinion in encouragement of the war effort. To a certain extent, the film industry during WWI aided in increasing productivity, rationalizing supplies, and building a strong war morale in the homefront; necessary for a victory. Under Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, isolation was more or less implemented along with a few other imperialistic endeavours; focusing mainly on the Spanish American War. As for the rising conflict in Europe, Wilson initially proposed to be the “counselor of peace” in his speech to Congress. Venturing off upon the Monroe Doctrine, American involvement...

Words: 725 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Compare Woodrow Wilson’s Vision for the League of Nations with the Working of United Nation Today.

...Introduction: Woodrow Wilson was the president of the United States of America – USA from 1912 through the first world war – WW1. At the end of the war in 1918, he distinguished himself as the greatest political figure in the international arena with his vision for strong international peace body which he elaborated in his fourteen points speech. (UNOG, Online: 2009) The fourteenth point of his speech was the formation on League of Nations which will usher in justice, peace, freedom and concord. The major participants in the formation of the league of the nation were the Great Britain, France, and the United States of America to preserve the future global peace and forestall such conflicts like first world war. (University of Virginia, Online: 2009)The League was based on the covenant which was written into the Treaty of Versailles and other peace treaties and provided for an assembly, a council and a secretariat with each section vested with a task to help the league maintain peace (UNOG, Online: 2009) Franklin D. Roosevelt the President of the United States of America, Winston Churchill the Prime Minister of the Great Britain and other notable leaders reasoned that the destructive consequences of WW2 warranted the call to form an international organization which would play a vital role in achieving the global peace. (US Department of States, Online:2005 and National Archives, Online: 2009) Hence, the United Nations replaced the League of the Nations after the...

Words: 2062 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

K247358648

...CHAPTER 22 PRACTICE TEST 1. The United States response to events in China during the last years of the 19th century was to a. send an American gunboat to force the Manchu dynasty to capitulate. b. request equal trading privileges and announce the desire to preserve China's territorial integrity. c. bomb the capital until Chinese terrorists surrendered. d. send covert aid to the Harmonious Righteous Fists in an effort to overthrow the anti-Western Manchu empress. 2. The Roosevelt Corollary a. claimed that the United States had the right to act as a policeman in Latin America to keep order and prevent chronic wrongdoing. b. was issued to justify the role the United States played in ending the Russo-Japanese War. c. reversed that part of the Monroe Doctrine that stated the United States would not intervene in European affairs. d. demanded that Germany pay reparations for the sinking of the Lusitania. 3. A practical demonstration of the principles that Theodore Roosevelt announced to Congress in December 1904 can be seen in events in the Dominican Republic, where the United States a. supported a revolution to oust the repressive dictator and institute a liberal democracy. b. operated the customs service and took over the management of the foreign debt. c. supervised the election of the first free-elected president of the nation. d. invited two rival powers to a peace conference at Portsmouth, New Hampshire...

Words: 1734 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

How Did Lawson's Foreign Policies Influence American Expansion

...imperial nation” (Hewitt, Lawson 630). The US. wanted to expend its power so they sought to compete with European countries for even bigger and stronger power (Hewitt, Lawson 630). Central American canal was built which allowed faster connection to Asian markets and helped the US. Navy to transfer between two oceans much easier and effective (Hewitt, Lawson 630). The other canal-Panama Canal was under American control as well, which was opened to sea traffic (Hewitt, Lawson). Wars were a big chance for expansion by increasing economics. In Cuba, they had a perfect opportunity to develop their market by using precious resources. Also, Conquer the Philippines, has grown the expansion, by good geographical connection with China. All in all, I would say that the wars were the first and the most important steps that allowed the US. to take next steps to become premier world power. • Compare and contrast the foreign policies of Presidents Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson and explain how they impacted (supported or detracted from) American expansion?...

Words: 501 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

How Did Woodrow Wilson Create An Isolationist Government

...develop into a world power through the acquisition of states and dominance in the Spanish-American war of 1898, were both President Roosevelt and Taft fostered an aggressive national foreign policy to create an independent and naval empire. Although some agreed, many remained isolationist, but soon after Woodrow Wilson became President, he pressed the necessity to work for new reforms that especially aimed income tax towards the rich. Upon Wilson's entry to presidency, European powers dominated the world through military...

Words: 533 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Wilson's Imperialism

...Casey Moseley American History 4/28/12 Wilson’s Moral Imperialism During the early 1900’s, Woodrow Wilson proclaimed what he wanted in the world, democracy for all nations.  This meant that he believed that countries should have the right to resist their government and become a democratic nation.  He used the Fourteen Points and the Treaty of Versailles as grounds for his beliefs. The main themes of the Fourteen Points were self-determination, freedom of the seas, and open diplomacy.  Wilson’s ideals would have been beneficial to the world had they been able to survive in such a time of struggle. However, his views of moral imperialism were not only unrealistic, but Wilson himself contradicted what he said.   Before Wilson even announced the Fourteen Points, Vladimir Lenin, the new dictator of Russia, published the secret treaties the Allies agreed to.  In the treaties, the Allies had plans of sharing the territories conquered during the war. This was a complete catastrophe for Wilson since he promoted a just peace in Europe.  Soon after, Wilson announced the Fourteen Points.  Included in the Fourteen Points was the right of self-determination for countries and “the readjustment of colonial claims with colonized people given “equal weight” in deciding their futures, and the creation of a “general association of nations” to preserve the peace” (Foner, p. 778). The general association of nations would be known as the League of Nations. This document was extremely contradictory...

Words: 880 - Pages: 4