The administrations which fel that the U.S. should use its powers to intervene in Latin America included the administrations of TR, Taft, and Wilson. Each of these presidents, however, had his own style of using American power. TR believed in using force, or the threat of force, to attain the conditions he desired in Latin America. This is known as his "Big Stick" policy. A prime example of this is the events leading up to the construction of the Panama Canal. First Roosevelt sent the Secretary of State, Hay, to Great Britain to negotiate a treaty, then to Columbia. Roosevelt was furious when the Columbian senate adjourned without a vote on the treaty. When circumstances led to a revolution brewing in Panama, Roosevelt had a ship there to protect U.S. interests. In this manner, he saw that the canal was built.
TR also presented his policy on Latin American relations in his Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. This corollary was aimed to prevent Latin American nations from defaulting on loans, with the belief that they would be protected from any agression. Roosevelt's language in this corollary was that the U.S. could act as a police force in the Western Hemisphere if any nation is guilty of a "chronic wrongdoing."
TR's successor, Taft, had a different approach to Latin American relations. Taft was a firm believer in "dollar diplomacy." This meant that the U.S. would show its power in Latin America not by military force but by economic influence, making "ever ambassador a salesman." One difficulty to dollar diplomacy was faced in 1911 when Nicaragua experienced a revolt. Taft was forced to send in troops to maintain the current government, to protect the U.S. investments in the country. By 1914, U.S. loans and other investments in Latin America had reached $1.6 billion.
Wilson too had another approach. He believed that Taft's dollar diplomacy was not that answer, but that by securing democratic governments in Latin America. With this policy, the U.S. helped put down numerous revolts in the Caribbean nations, then set up democratic governments in these countries. An example of this is the 1915 revolution in Haiti, during which Wilson sent in the U.S. marines, set up a government, and kept the nation occupied with marines for years to come.
After these presidents, the next set of presidents had a new situation to deal with. The Great War had just ended, and many Americans cried out for a return to isolation, to get away from the problems of "the rest of the world." However, with the end of the war, and after the brief period of prosperity it afforded, the nation and indeed much of the world fell into a deep depression, which would affect the administrations of government and their policies. All of these presidents, though, favored an improvement of U.S. - Latin American relations.
Harding was the first post-war president. He campaigned the platform of a return to "normalcy," the isolation which the U.S. had been in before the war, as well as the policy of laissez faire in business. Business relationships with Latin America were an important part of his Latin American relations.
Business relations were also important to Harding's successor to the presidency, Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge continued the isolation of the nation which Harding had brought, but in 1926, he sent the marines to Nicaragua to protect U.S. business interests. Hoover also continued the isolation, and part of his policy was seeing that a high protective tariff was passed to protect American businesses.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), however, was the best example of an attempt to improve Latin American relations. His inaugural speech included his "Good Neighbor" policy, in which he promised better relations with other nations in the Western Hemisphere. To show these better relations, his administration saw the end of the Platt Amendment in Cuba, the end of the U.S. claim to unilateral intervention in Panama, and the end of the occupation of Haiti by U.S. troops.
These were the policies of the administrations of the presidents from TR to FDR. They differed among themselves, each motivated not only by the man who was president but also the events surrounding the times. They were motivated in cases by business issues (money) or by pure compassion for fellow peoples. With this, this paper on the Latin American policies of these presidents concludes.