Dollar diplomacy

Dollar diplomacy was a U.S. foreign-policy approach, especially under President William Howard Taft, that used American loans and investment to expand U.S. influence abroad.

William Howard Taft: The 27th president of the United States, whose administration promoted dollar diplomacy. Taft made economic investment a prominent instrument of U.S. policy.
Nicaragua: A Central American country that became a major site of U.S. intervention in the early twentieth century. U.S. loans and repeated military interventions made Nicaragua a central case of the policy.
Roosevelt Corollary: The 1904 addition to the Monroe Doctrine claiming a U.S. role in addressing chronic disorder in the Americas. It supplied the interventionist rationale that dollar diplomacy sought to pursue through finance.
Nicaraguan Civil War of 1912: A conflict between Nicaraguan factions in which U.S. forces intervened to support the government. The intervention showed that financial influence could lead directly to armed conflict.
Philander C. Knox: U.S. secretary of state under President William Howard Taft. Knox advanced the policy by arranging loans and financial oversight abroad.
Honduras: A Central American country whose debts and infrastructure drew U.S. financial involvement in the early twentieth century. American bankers sought to refinance Honduras’s debts and influence its customs revenues.
Panama Canal: An artificial waterway across Panama connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Canal security strengthened U.S. interest in political stability across Central America.
Anti-Americanism: Opposition to the political, economic, or cultural influence of the United States. Intervention and financial control fueled resistance to U.S. power in the region.
Foreign bond: A debt security issued by a government or organization in a country other than its own. U.S. banks bought foreign bonds to gain leverage over debtor governments.
China: An East Asian country targeted by competing foreign powers for commercial access and political influence. Taft’s administration sought U.S. participation in Chinese railway financing.

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