Intervention and dollar diplomacy in the Caribbean, 1900-1921

Abstract

The commonly held view that the interests of American business dominated U.S. foreign policy in the Caribbean during the early part of this century is challenged by Dana G. Munro, prominent scholar and former State Department official. He argues that the basic purpose of U.S. policy was to create in Latin America political and economic stability so that disorder and failure to meet foreign obligations there would not imperil the security of the United States. The U.S. government increasingly intervened in the internal affairs of the Central American and West Indian republics when it felt that their stability was threatened. This policy culminated in the military occupation of Haiti and the Dominican Republic and varying degrees of control in other countries.