Julia Wuestefeld
Grade 12
How did the policies and actions of later U.S. presidents (Kennedy to Clinton) reflect change and continuity from the policies and actions of their predecessors? Use as examples at least two different countries in two different regions of Latin America/Asia-Pacific, 1898-2000.
Wednesday March 16th, 2010
Word Count: 1146
Policies and actions of United States presidents have greatly impacted Latin American countries through history. However, with different changes in ideology, the types of policies and actions taken by the presidents also changes, affecting Latin American countries differently. The policies and actions of later U.S. presidents mirror the actions of early 20th century president, rather than the ones after the Great Depression, reflecting both continuity and change from the policies and actions of their predecessors. The actions of the later presidents are very comparable to those that occurred before the depression, displaying continuity in ideology. However, there is a change in policies compared to the ones issued after the depression, presenting change.
Latin America and the Caribbean
United States
United StatesThere is continuity in the policies and actions of the United States presidents regarding Latin America; the actions taken place after 1961 reflect those that occur before the Great Depression. In the early 20th century the US made much use of what was known as "Gunboat Diplomacy". The US would send their navy to settle any unrest in Latin American countries that would disrupt their investments in the countries. Since their investments consisted basically of agricultural commodities and mineral and oil extraction, it was very susceptible to political uprisings. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson sent marines into the Dominican Republic because the country did not sanction US control of its border affairs. The US Navy took over the government and ran a dictatorship until 1924. Then, they established a puppet dictator, Rafael Trujillo, to run the...