Nation of Nations Concise 2/e Davidson, Gienapp, Heyrman, Lytle, & Stoff
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The construction of the Panama Canal was emblematic of the rise of American power-power that became increasingly nationalistic and interventionist, dominating the hemisphere and stretching toward Asia. By the early twentieth century European diplomats had convinced themselves that they could maintain global order by dividing the world into spheres of influence and joining themselves in a series of political alliances. The system of alliances and spheres of influence did not hold, however, and Europe's Old World order collapsed in a terrible war.

Progressive Diplomacy

Progressive diplomacy, like progressive politics, stressed moralism and order and stretched executive power to new limits. It was driven by a sense of global destiny, a commitment to civilizing "lesser" peoples, and economic expansionism. In the Caribbean, Theodore Roosevelt attempted to promote stable governments that would be fiscally responsible and resist European influence. His self-imposed "Roosevelt Corollary" (1905) to the Monroe Doctrine proclaimed the right of the United States to intervene in the internal affairs of Latin American countries to keep financial order and forestall European intervention. Under its auspices, Roosevelt wielded his "big stick."

But in distant Asia he exercised ingenuity rather than force, seeking to counterbalance Russian and Japanese ambitions in the Far East while maintaining the "open door" in China and protecting the Philippines. His actions reflected his core strategy: an enthusiastic nationalism that could preserve world order.

Recognizing the reality of American economic expansion, President Taft and his secretary of state, Philander Knox, attempted to substitute "dollars for bullets," by undertaking "dollar diplomacy." Unsuccessful in China, the Taft-Knox policies did help American capital to penetrate Latin America more deeply, but lost favor at home.

Woodrow Wilson and Moral Diplomacy

Woodrow Wilson brought a sincere commitment to freedom, democracy, Christian values, and international harmony. He believed in an American mission to spread democracy and capitalism to promote stability and progress (and American markets) in the world.

Yet like Roosevelt and Taft, Wilson faced the near impossibility of trying to graft American-style democracy and capitalism onto foreign countries with their own traditions. Soon Wilson, like his predecessors, was intervening in Central America, and-with embarrassing consequences-in Mexico. Wilson's missionary diplomacy, like Roosevelt's big stick diplomacy and Taft's dollar diplomacy before it, found the world hard to shape to an American blueprint.

The Road to War

The outbreak of war in Europe in August 1914 shocked Wilson and the American people. Wilson condemned both sides and proclaimed a policy of neutrality. By standing above the fray, he believed the United States could lead the world to a higher peace of international cooperation and collective security to replace the discredited old order of balanced powers and spheres of influence. But his natural sympathies, like the sympathies of most Americans, lay with the British. Their command of the high seas soon undercut American neutrality, which in practice favored Britain and the rest of the Allied Powers. In desperation, Germany (leader of the opposing Central Powers) launched a vicious submarine assault on Allied and neutral shipping that brought the United States into the war in 1917-a war to bring about a higher peace.

War and Society

American society organized for war in peculiarly progressive ways. Fielding an army by democratic conscription, mobilizing the economy with centralized executive agencies, propagandizing the war by using modern techniques of advertising-in all these ways progressive faith in planning, efficiency, patriotism, and publicity guided the war effort on the home front. The result was a deepening partnership between centralized government and business. Meanwhile, demographic changes, including large migrations of Latinos and African Americans, reshaped the nation's cities and deepened tensions.

The conservative side of progressivism also flourished. Its impulses toward social control justified the draft as enforced democratization. Its faith in education led to soldier training programs in hygiene, literacy, and Americanization, as well as experiments with IQ tests. Its penchant for assimilation became a frenzy for loyalty and conformity, leading to court-sanctioned infringement of civil liberties.

Overseas, the arrival of the American Expeditionary Force helped to break the European stalemate. Allied victory, negotiated on the basis of Wilson's 14-point peace plan, gave him the opportunity to put his progressive ideals into practice.

The Lost Peace

At the Paris peace conference Wilson fought-with mixed results-for a new world order based on harmony, cooperation, democracy, and self-determination. Softening some Allied demands for retribution, he achieved his greatest success in winning acceptance of the League of Nations, a new international organization. He believed it was the heart of the treaty because it could correct the mistakes made at the conference and ensure peace for the future.

Returning home, he found his hopes and his treaty dashed in the Senate, where his own refusal to compromise combined with Republican hostility to ensure defeat. Meanwhile, riots, strikes, and a "Red Scare" left the country reeling, disillusioned, tired of idealistic crusades and interested in returning to the tasks of getting and spending.

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