612 Chapter 23 Woodrow Wilson and the Great War
Wilson’s “Moral” Diplomacy
Wilson did not lead the nation to war; both he and
the nation stumbled into it without meaning to. Part
of the reason was that Wilson’s foreign relations,
though well-intentioned, were often confused. He
knew that the United States had no wish to injure
any foreign state and assumed that all nations would
recognize this fact and cooperate. Like nineteenth-
century Christian missionaries, he wanted to spread
the gospel of American democracy, to lift and
enlighten the unfortunate and the ignorant—but in
his own way. “I am going to teach the South
American republics to elect good men!” he told one
British diplomat.
Wilson set out to raise the moral tone of
American foreign policy by denouncing dollar diplo-
macy. Encouraging bankers to lend money to coun-
tries like China, he said, implied the possibility of
“forcible interference” if the loans were not repaid,
and that would be “obnoxious to the principles upon
which the government of our people rests.” To seek
special economic concessions in Latin America was
“unfair” and “degrading.” The United States would
deal with Latin American nations “upon terms of
equality and honor.”
Yet Wilson sometimes failed to live up to his
promises. Because of the strategic importance of the
Juan O’Gorman, a famous Mexican painter, did this mural (left) celebrating Francisco Madero, leader of the Mexican revolution. In 1913, Madero
was murdered by his top general, Victoriano Huerta (right). Chaos ensued.
Panama Canal, he was unwilling to tolerate “unrest”
anywhere in the Caribbean. Within months of his inau-
guration he was pursuing the same tactics employed by
Roosevelt and Taft. The Bryan-Chamorro Treaty of
1914, which gave the United States an option to build
a canal across Nicaragua, made that country virtually
an American protectorate and served to maintain in
power an unpopular dictator, Adolfo Díaz.
A much more serious example of missionary
diplomacy occurred in Mexico. In 1911 a liberal
coalition overthrew the dictator Porfirio Díaz, who
had been exploiting the resources and people of
Mexico for the benefit of a small class of wealthy
landowners, clerics, and military men since the 1870s.
Francisco Madero became president.
Perhaps inspired by progressive reforms in the
United States, Madero proposed a liberal constitution
for Mexico. But British oil magnates, who controlled
most of Mexico’s chief export, conspired with
Victoriano Huerta, a general in Madero’s army. In
1913 Huerta assassinated Madero and seized power.
Britain promptly recognized Huerta’s government.
The American ambassador urged Wilson to do so
too, but he refused. His sympathies were with the
government of Madero, whose murder had horrified
him. “I will not recognize a government of butch-
ers,” he said. Wilson instead brought enormous pres-
sure to bear against Huerta. He demanded that