Dollar Diplomacy is the effort of the United States—particularly under President William Howard Taft—to further its aims in Latin America and East Asia through use of its economic power by guaranteeing loans made to foreign countries. The term was originally coined by President Theodore Roosevelt on account of money that made it possible to pay soldiers without having to fight; most would agree it was a considerably meager wage.
The concept is relevant to both Liberia, where American loans were given in 1913, and Latin America. Latin Americans tend to use the term "Dollar Diplomacy" disparagingly to show their disapproval of the role that the U.S. government and U.S. corporations have played in using economic, diplomatic and military power to open up foreign markets.
Read more about Dollar Diplomacy: Dollar Diplomacy in The Americas, Complete Overview
Famous quotes containing the words dollar and/or diplomacy:
“How can a man be satisfied to entertain an opinion merely, and enjoy it? Is there any enjoyment in it, if his opinion is that he is aggrieved? If you are cheated out of a single dollar by your neighbor, you do not rest satisfied with knowing that you are cheated, or with saying that you are cheated, or even with petitioning him to pay you your due; but you take effectual steps at once to obtain the full amount, and see that you are never cheated again.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“There are few ironclad rules of diplomacy but to one there is no exception. When an official reports that talks were useful, it can safely be concluded that nothing was accomplished.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)