At the end of this tutorial, students will be able to:
Following his election in 1908, William Howard Taft worked to implement his own foreign policy with regard to Central America in the form of "Dollar Diplomacy." This concept encouraged American investment in foreign countries in an effort to convince those governments to be friendlier to the the United States. Taft believed that these countries would be more favorable to the United States once they realized the benefits of having American businesses in their countries.
The problem for Taft was that these countries were not interested in having in American involvement in their country, monetary or otherwise. "Dollar Diplomacy" did not improve American prestige anywhere in the world and Taft lost his re-election effort in 1912.