Term paper on Good Neighbor Policy

Good Neighbor Policy

RESOURCE GUIDE

Since the Spanish-American War, the United States had won the enmity of Latin American nations for its repeated intervention in their affairs. Relations began to improve, however, during the 1920s. President Hoover toured Latin America and in 1930 allowed publication of the Clark Memorandum, which repudiated the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. In the 1930s the United States expanded this ‘‘policy of the good neighbor.” Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, all troops were withdrawn from Haiti and Nicaragua, the Platt Amendment affecting Cuba was terminated, the temptation to intervene in Mexico, which was nationalizing foreign oil interests, was avoided, and unilateral intervention, except in instances recognized by international law, was officially renounced.
Suggestions for Term Papers

1. Discuss the origins and consequences of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.

2. Discuss U.S. intervention in Latin American affairs from Presidents Theodore Roosevelt to Calvin Coolidge.

3. Compare the Latin American policy of President Herbert Hoover with that of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

4. What were the consequences of the Good Neighbor Policy?

5. Why did the United States change its Latin American foreign policy from intervention to that of the Good Neighbor?

Suggested Sources : See entry 32 for related items.

REFERENCE SOURCES

A Reference Guide to Latin American History . James D. Henderson et al. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1998. Useful survey of Latin American history providing a descriptive chronology, thematic survey of topics and issues, and over 300 biographical sketches. With maps, photographs, and a bibliography.

GENERAL SOURCES

Cohen, Warren I. Empire without Tears: America ‘s Foreign Relations, 1921–1933 . New York : Knopf, 1987. Concise description of foreign policy in the years just prior to adoption of the Good Neighbor Policy. Good background material.

Curry, Earl R. Hoover’s Dominican Diplomacy and the Origins of the Good Neighbor Policy . New York : Garland , 1979. Examination of Latin American policy under Hoover , with the beginnings of Roosevelt ‘s good neighbor approach.

Roosevelt, Franklin D. Development of United States Foreign Policy . Washington , DC : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1942. Government publication compiling FDR’s addresses, messages, and announcements up to 1942 regarding foreign policy matters, beginning with the announcement of the Good Neighbor Policy in 1933. (See World Wide Web entry.)

SPECIALIZED SOURCES

Fejes, Fred. Imperialism, Media, and the Good Neighbor: New Deal Foreign Policy and United States Shortwave Broadcasting to Latin America . Norwood , NJ : Ablex, 1986. Examination of the place of broadcasting to Latin America within the foreign policy structure of the Good Neighbor Policy.

Gellman, Irwin F. Roosevelt and Batista: Good Neighbor Diplomacy in Cuba , 1933–1945 . Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press, 1973. Interesting and informative treatment of foreign relations with Cuba during the Batista period.

Green, David. The Containment of Latin America : A History of the Myths and Realities of the Good Neighbor Policy . Chicago : Quadrangle Books, 1971. Historical overview of the conditions resulting from implementation of the Good Neighbor Policy in Latin America .

Grow, Michael. Good Neighbor Policy and Authoritarianism in Paraguay : United States Economic Expansion and Great-Power Rivalry in Latin America during World War II . Lawrence : Regents Press of Kansas , 1981. Concise, useful examination of the nature of authoritarian politics in Paraguay alongside economic relations with the United States .

Pike, Frederick B. FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy: Sixty Years of Generally Gentle Chaos . Austin : University of Texas Press, 1995. Detailed treatment of the Good Neighbor Policy, its implementation, and its effects some sixty years later.

Roorda, Eric. The Dictator Next Door: The Good Neighbor Policy and the Trujillo Regime in the Dominican Republic, 1930–1945. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1998. Recent examination of the Trujillo years and foreign relations under the Good Neighbor Policy.

Steward, Dick. Trade and Hemisphere: The Good Neighbor Policy and Reciprocal Trade . Columbia : University of Missouri Press, 1975. Overview of commerce and economic relations with Latin American countries during the period of the Good Neighbor Policy.

Wood, Bryce. The Dismantling of the Good Neighbor Policy . Austin : University of Texas Press, 1985. Good exposition of the decline of the policy with special emphasis on the Argentine situation with Péron.

———. The Making of the Good Neighbor Policy . New York : Norton, 1967. Thorough and well-documented examination of the origin and development of the Good Neighbor policy. Extensive bibliographic references.

Woods, Randall B. The Roosevelt Foreign-Policy Establishment and the ‘‘Good Neighbor”: The United States and Argentina . Lawrence : Regents Press of Kansas , 1979. Detailed description of foreign relations with Argentina during World War II.

AUDIOVISUAL SOURCES

History of U.S. Foreign Relations—A Series . Springfield , VA : National Audio-Visual Center , 1979. 4 videocassettes. Docudrama begins with ‘‘An Age of Revolutions” and traces the development of American foreign policy through its increasing maturity as a nation. Final volume is ‘‘The Road to Interdependence.” Each cassette is 30 minutes.

WORLD WIDE WEB

‘‘Addresses and Messages of Franklin D. Roosevelt.” U.S. Foreign Policy Development under FDR . June 1996. http://www.sunsite.unc.edu/pha/7–2-188/188title.html Printed as Senate Document No. 188 in 1942 (see General Sources entry above), this is a compilation of official source material intended to present the chronological development of foreign policy from 1933 to February 1942. Can click on any of the documents from the table of contents.