Factors Driving Us Foreign Policy Between 1877 And 1973

The main factors driving US foreign policy between 1877 and 1973 were materialistic gain through land and economic opportunities. One could contend that businessmen and farmers had the most at stake when it came to the United States deciding to intervene in other countries endeavors. There are several events in history that prove the US government and policy makers were being driven by the business community to increase personal and economic gain. Businessmen and farmers pushed policy makers for an open door policy when it came to the matter of international trading and selling. In 1953 through 1954 the United States militantly forced Japan into opening their ports to US sellers. This drastically increased profits and business opportunities

After the war was over, the US gained the island of Guam, Puerto Rico, and also the Philippines. Although gaining the countries was not the main goal for the war, there is a consistent trend of the US gaining foreign land following a war. This land gain however was an astronomical gain for US policy makers and merchants because it opened up a huge door to Asian markets. When the United States has economic stakes rooted inside of a foreign country they will do everything necessary to ensure US investments are secure. In the instance with Cuba, the businessmen in the US were vastly pushing for war to ensure economic stability, and security for previous investments. Millions of dollars in US capital was invested into different enterprises on the island, and for the US to put that much capital on the line would be up surd. However, policy makers were being pushed by the business community to quickly intervene in the failing Cuban government, and to put the rebellion to rest. Not only would going to war with Cuba secure the United States’ foreign investments, but also businesses in America such as iron and other metal factories would make a tremendous profit from building and manufacturing products for the

So, even though the main goal of occupying Cuba was to preserve Cuba’s freedom from Spain one could argue that the actual intentions of the US was to gain capital and land in Cuba. Another example of this would be the United States’ occupation and invasion of Haiti. The US government became nervous when Germany began to show interest in the island and moved to increase their influence in Haitian policy. Haiti’s internal government was very unstable in the early 1900’s and the US foreign policy makers were fearful that Haiti’s instability would attract other countries, possibly even communist countries, to intervene. The Wilson administration quickly took control of the Haitian national bank to encourage economic stability on the island. As the United States government gained more control on the island US policy makers quickly began changing polices in the Haitian constitution. For example, policy makers allowed for foreign land ownership, which was one of the United States’ biggest goals when occupying the island. This played in US businessmen’s favor because they could now move different enterprises to the island and sell to other foreign markets world-wide. The government could also put a naval base on the coveted island. The US did not necessarily want to occupy Haiti, however this meant that no other country, specifically a