President THEODORE ROOSEVELT often said that the United States needed to “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” While Roosevelt on several occasions used the American military to directly intervene in Caribbean and Latin American nations, he approached foreign policy issues in a very different way when it came to Asia. Competing with European nations in that sphere, his policy was more nuanced. Indeed, in 1907 Roosevelt ordered the main part of the U. S. Navy’s fleet, the so-called Great White Fleet, which included 16 battleships, to embark on a 45,000-mile world tour. He hoped that the show, rather than the use, of American seapower would preserve American interests in Asia.
In Asia, Roosevelt’s main foreign policy objective was to maintain the Open Door Policy in China. He also was concerned about maintaining the balance of power that existed in East Asia. The chief threats to the balance of power in the region came from Russia and Japan, both of which wanted to control a greater share of China. In 1904, these two nations—Russia and Japan—had gone to war with each other as they were attempting to build a stronger sphere of influence in Asia. For the most part, President Roosevelt supported Japan’s efforts to obtain world-power status, which he recognized could not be prevented. He thought, however, that such status could be obtained through peaceful means, rather than war and conflict.
Accordingly, with the outbreak of the Russo-jAPANESE War, President Roosevelt initiated secret negotiations to arrange a peace. These efforts to negotiate an end to this conflict resulted in Roosevelt’s winning of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1906, the first American to earn that award. Roosevelt’s goal in supporting the Japanese was to allow them to secure a sphere of influence in East Asia (similar to what Roosevelt had done in Central America, the Caribbean, and Latin America), and second, to secure a tighter link between Japan and the United States. While Roosevelt sought to build a lasting relationship with Japan, his efforts were frustrated by the anti-Asian nativism rampant in the United States in the early part of the 20th century. This controversy was particularly played out in California where the state legislature debated laws to bar further Japanese immigration and local school boards ordered the segregation of Asian schoolchildren so that they would not “contaminate” white children. The so-called Yellow Peril caused outrage in Japan, and pro-military elements within the Tokyo government began calling for a possible war with the United States. To calm this growing sentiment, President Roosevelt put aside his own racist tendencies to find a solution to this growing controversy. Roosevelt’s Gentlemen’s Agreement with Japan in 1907 resolved the mounting tension between the two nations as Japan agreed to halt immigration to the United States and the San Francisco school board agreed to rescind its segregation order.
Fearing that he would be attacked for appeasing the Japanese, President Roosevelt subsequently ordered the Great White Fleet on its world tour late in the year. The fleet would make many stops across the globe, but perhaps most significantly, it made an appearance in Tokyo Bay. While many in the United States, including members of Congress, feared that this show of American military strength might rekindle the militarist sentiment in Japan, Japan instead responded in a calm fashion that emphasized its recognition of American military strength. President
Roosevelt demonstrated skill in his dealings with Japan. His policies are credited with staving off direct conflict with Japan while at the same time preserving a strong United States presence in East Asia.
Further reading: Kenneth Wimmel, Theodore Roosevelt and the Great White Fleet: American Seapower Comes of Age (Washington, D. C.: Brassey’s, 1998).
—David R. Smith
World History
