|
Caribbean Islands United States Preeminence
President James Buchanan first enunciated the perceived need
for the United States to play a police role in the Caribbean as a
way of ensuring the safety of foreign nationals and of enforcing
the Monroe Doctrine by keeping European powers from intervening in
the area. Congress, however, denied him authority to use military
forces for that purpose. Nevertheless, before the end of the
century, Britain had permanently ended its traditional competition
with the United States in the Caribbean in order to attend to
priorities in Asia and Africa. By the 1890s, American expansionists
had rejuvenated the Monroe Doctrine, and the American public
regarded the Caribbean as America's "backyard." Captain Alfred
Thayer Mahan, one of the leading expansionists of the day, argued
for a navy strong enough to completely control the region, which he
described as a "cluster of island fortresses," and the approaches
to the Panama Canal (then under construction).
Victory in the Spanish-American War of 1898-99 gave the United
States a commanding position not only in the Pacific but also in
the Caribbean. Thereafter, the United States began to develop a
sphere of influence in the Caribbean by establishing a preponderant
naval and military presence. As a consequence of its annexation of
Puerto Rico and creation of a Cuban protectorate, the United States
not only gained sites for naval bases but also acquired control of
the major sea approaches to the future Panama Canal. President
Theodore Roosevelt and Secretary of War Elihu Root often expressed
the view that their policy was directed not toward acquisition of
territory but toward discouragement of European encroachments in
the strategically vital Caribbean area.
During the first half of the twentieth century, the military
presence of the United States in the Caribbean was fortified
diplomatically, financially, and commercially. American influence
in the region prevailed by the 1920s. Furthermore, numerous
interventions in the Caribbean and Central America by United States
military forces during the first quarter of the century served to
maintain the status quo, preempt European involvement, safeguard
the Panama Canal and its approaches, and generally protect
perceived American interests. These interventions earned the United
States an unenviable reputation among the smaller Hispanic
countries of the Caribbean Basin. The United States refrained,
however, from intervening in the affairs of Britain's Caribbean
colonies.
Data as of November 1987
|
