22.5 Taft's "Dollar Diplomacy"

Dollar Diplomacy

Taft announced his decision to "substitute dollars for bullets" in an effort to use foreign policy to secure markets and opportunities for American businessmen

When William Howard Taft became president in 1909, he chose to

adapt Roosevelt's foreign policy philosophy to one that reflected American economic power at the time

Taft used the threat of American economic clout to

coerce countries into agreements to benefit the United States.

As Taft's presidency came to a close in early 1913, the United States was firmly entrenched on its path towards

empire

The world perceived the United States as the predominant power of the WesternHemisphere—a perception that few nations would challenge until

the Soviet Union during the Cold War era