Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine

Questions for Further Study

• 1. Roosevelt's enunciation of the corollary to the Monroe Doctrine arose from specific circumstances relating to American foreign policy during the early twentieth century. What were those events and how did they influence the president's thinking?
• 2. What assumptions about American values and principles in foreign policy did Roosevelt's statement reflect? Why were he and the nation he led in a position to instruct Latin American nations about how they should behave?
• 3. What recent experiences did Roosevelt refer to in making his case for the right of the United States to decide what civilized international behavior was? To which nations were his remarks directed?
• 4. What role might military power play in the execution of Roosevelt's new approach to Latin America?
• 5. Does Roosevelt's statement about American foreign policy a century ago have any contemporary echoes? To what degree did Roosevelt's comments embody enduring attitudes toward the role of his nation on the world stage?