Purpose Of Roosevelt's Big Stick Policy

The Big Stick policy, was the name of the foreign policy of TR to describe the President's belief that the US should be a military power but use that power only as a last resort. It comes from an African proverb, "Speak softly but carry a big stick." In other words, don't be an aggressor but have the power to back up your aims. The press used the term to describe TR's relations in Latin America where we intervened militarily several times during his administration.

The purpose of this policy was to exert American Influence and power, and to expand American market. Roosevelt, phased the “speak softly and carry a big stick” which pretty much summed up his foreign affair policy. During the presidency of President McKinley, there were already tension between American economic and foreign markets. The assassination of McKinley in 1091, Roosevelt was ready to step in and file the void. He came prepared.

It didn’t take much time for Roosevelt to but his policy into action. He refrained from using military force to break up strikes, even though prior governments used it. A good example was the strike of the mining company; a bunch of miners went on strike. He

decided to have a meeting with some of the main miners to resolve any issues. No deal was made during that negotiations. Roosevelt went on to use Military force, which at the end would put mining companies out of work. The mining companies were forced to negotiate a deal and close the strike.
Roosevelt felt that he should be prepared for any form of conflict was the best defense for the United States to prevent any future wars.

He also believes that the U.S should represent a show of force to the rest of the world, so other countries would be hesitant to challenge the U.S Military. During his time as president, he brandished the big stick policy serval times. Most notably in Latin America. The current dictator had conducted a very bad economic policy. That drove the nation into poverty. It left the country unable to pay its debt to its European allies. After a few years of negotiations, Germany attempted to use force against Valenzuela. In this case it outraged President Roosevelt, and threatened to attack the German ships it they didn’t halt their assault. The Germans quit and negotiations

continued.
A few years later Roosevelt, came across another situation. The government of Santo Domingo was in need of help paying its debt to Europe. Roosevelt stepped into, impoverished a plan and helped in order to get the debt payed. He also promoted to prevent war in many other ways as well. This happened twice during his presidency. He became a good mediator between aggressive foreign powers and promoted peace instead of war. He did this in secret to protect American interest.