Gunboat diplomacy
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In practical terms, it means when the peasants revolt against United Fruit in Latin America, send in the Marines. When a small republic has a coup d'etat that you don't like the results of, send in the Marines.
Theodore Roosevelt famously described this policy as "a big stick."
Smedley Butler, a retired Marine Corps general, wrote the booklet War is a Racket detailing how gunboat diplomacy works. In a famous quote from the book:
“”I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.[2]
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Very few U.S. presidents since the late 19th century have not resorted to gunboat diplomacy. The two who notably eschewed it were Herbert Hoover and Jimmy Carter.
George W. Bush took gunboat diplomacy to a new level of stupid after 9/11.
[edit] More examples of U.S. gunboat diplomacy
- Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, 1961, under John F. Kennedy
- U.S. intervention in the Dominican Republic, 1965, under Lyndon Johnson
- U.S. invasion of Cambodia, 1970, under Richard Nixon. Euphemistically called an "incursion" and often considered a side campaign of the Vietnam War
- U.S. invasion of Grenada, 1983, under Ronald Reagan
- U.S. military "advisers" sent to El Salvador and Honduras, and the "contrarevolutionary" guerrilla war against Nicaragua, also under Reagan. See also Iran-Contra
- U.S. invasion of Panama, 1989, under George H. W. Bush
- U.S. troops restore the absolute monarchy in Kuwait, 1991, also under Bush. (But they eventually became a constitutional monarchy, so that worked out well. So, one out of nine' ain't bad?)
- U.S. invasion of Haiti, 1994 (called off at the last minute after the Haitian government agreed to transfer power), under Bill Clinton
- The one and only... 2003, under Dubya
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ The Morocco Crisis of 1911, Mount Holyoke
- ↑ The newspaper "Common Sense" 1935, according to Wikiquote