Big Stick Diplomacy

The Big Stick

American Diplomacy during the early 20th Century

“Speak softly and Carry a Big Stick” This was the main premise behind America’s foreign policy during the early 1900’s. The Roosevelt Corollary or otherwise known as “Big Stick diplomacy” was the fore father of American expansion and an end to isolationism for the United States. What followed were more subdued policies from President Taft’s “Dollar diplomacy to President Wilson’s “Moral Diplomacy” When it was all said and done President’s William Taft and Woodrow Wilson ultimately followed Roosevelt's "big stick" policy. Using the threat of force or “Big Stick” the United States achieved many foreign policy goals. Without such an aggressive foreign policy as the Big Stick, the United States would have been at the mercy of many other European countries. Though both President Taft and President Wilson both had their own ideas and beliefs they too would eventually partake in the “Big Stick” or policing of the western hemisphere.

As the United States began to move away from isolationism to more of a global power the way it interacted with other countries became a major development of the early 1900’s. Foreign policy is the policy of a sovereign state such as the Unites States on how to interact with other sovereign states. In most cases a countries foreign policy sets standards on how organizations, corporations and individual citizens interact with other foreign states. It was a longstanding tradition of the United States to maintain an isolationism stance to foreign states. Since George Washington’s farewell address on September 17, 1796 when he said “It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world” (Washington 2008). The United States continued to approach foreign policy thru ought the 19th century with this state of mind. It was not until the 20th century when the foreign policy of the United States began to change. Other countries...