Teddy Roosevelt's Concept of Peace and National Preparedness
Jan 5, 2011 Michael Streich
The Russo-Japanese War ended with the signing of a treaty at Portsmouth, New Hampshire on September 5, 1905. President Theodore Roosevelt mediated the negotiations and was awarded the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. Roosevelt’s detailed and personal speech in Oslo, Norway would not occur until May 5, 1910, however, during his celebrated tour of Europe following his African safari. Roosevelt’s speech presaged Woodrow Wilson’s League of Nations and called for greater international restrictions on warfare.
The Rising Power of Japan in Asia in the Early 20th Century
Some historians note that while Roosevelt admired and respected the Japanese, he also feared growing Japanese militarism and influence in Asia. Ever since Japan emerged from feudalism in the mid-19th Century, it had transformed itself into an equal power, embracing imperialism. The Russo-Japanese War demonstrated that an Asian nation could defeat a European power. Russia lost two fleets during the war and was battered by Japanese ground forces in Korea.
Japan’s surprise attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur jolted the Russian admiralty and provided an agenda which some historians equate with the December 7, 1941 Japanese surprise attack at Pearl Harbor. Japanese victory in Asia led to revolution in Russia. Virginia Cowles writes that when Tsar Nicholas II read the telegram advising that his Baltic fleet had been sunk by Japan, he put it into his pocket and continued his tennis game.
Teddy Roosevelt’s Concept of Peace and World Order
Third party mediation of international conflicts had been utilized before the Portsmouth Conference. Roosevelt capitalized on this and viewed himself as a fair mediator. Mediation was also a vehicle by which the United States could exert a more forceful and dynamic role among the other industrialized powers. In his 1910 speech, Roosevelt called for “treaties of arbitration” between the “civilized communities.”
Roosevelt’s concept of peace was tied, however, to “righteousness.” Peace must never become “a mask for cowardice and sloth.” Roosevelt argued that, “No man is worth calling a man who will not fight rather than submit to infamy or see those that are dear to him suffer wrong.” When World War I began in August 1914, this became one of his chief criticisms of Woodrow Wilson.
For Roosevelt, Wilson’s neutrality and the pursuit of peace was really cowardice. According to Roosevelt, peace as the “handmaid of righteousness” implied a willingness to confront evil and pursue actions that ended “despotism or anarchy.”
The World Court and League of Peace
Roosevelt’s second observation referred to the need for a world court. Referring to the Hague Conference as a “Magna Charta for other nations,” he likened the Hague Tribunal to the United States Supreme Court that settled disputes between states. Although acknowledging differences, Roosevelt saw “certain valuable analogies.”
His final recommendation involved a League of Peace. Such a league would permit “police power to enforce the decrees of the court.” The purpose of the league would “prevent violence” between nations. In all of his observations, however, Roosevelt stressed the active leadership of “civilized” industrial nations as well as preserving individual national sovereignty.
Did Roosevelt’s Mediation at Portsmouth Outweigh His Militarism?
Roosevelt was the first U.S. president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Ironically, Roosevelt’s years as president also included a strong militarism. In 1902, Roosevelt presented Kaiser Wilhelm II an ultimatum regarding threats of war between Venezuela and Germany. Roosevelt orchestrated an independence movement in Panama so that the U.S. could build a canal. At the end of his second term, he sent the Great White Fleet around the world, demonstrating U.S. naval might.
This was the righteousness of Roosevelt’s peace, however. Roosevelt stated in 1910, “No nation deserves to exist if it permits itself to lose the stern and virile virtues…” Roosevelt suggested that the loss due to “heartless…commercialism,” “prolonged indulgence in luxury…,” or a “warped and twisted sentimentality” could not be used to justify the decay of virtue.
Roosevelt Called for Preparedness to Ensure Peace Among Nations
Writing in 1916 about the on-going Mexican crisis, Roosevelt referred to the “professional pacifists and professional anti-preparedness advocates” and their inability to act with justice. U.S. failure to prepare and take action did not avert bloodshed but invited it. Roosevelt concludes that, “Our Mexican failure is merely the natural fruit of the policies of pacifism and anti-preparedness.”
Roosevelt builds his argument so that he can logically make the connection to World War I. In 1916, the United States was still neutral and President Wilson was planning a reelection campaign with the slogan, “He kept us out of war.” Roosevelt’s comments were made February 3, 1916. Referring to that war, Roosevelt bemoaned U.S. anti-preparedness, suggesting that had Wilson acted differently, “…we would now be sure of peace for ourselves.”
Peace at Any Price was Weakness According to Roosevelt
A strong peace depended on the willingness to go to war to defend that peace. It also meant preparedness, the so-called Roman Doctrine. In this, Roosevelt boosted the global status of the United States. According to Roosevelt, had America prepared, the war might not have lasted so long, resulting in the “loss of thousands of lives of men, women, and children…” That was the fault of the “peace-at-any-price men…”
This was Roosevelt’s concept of peace and this was the message he conveyed in Norway in 1910. Peace required a willingness by civilized nations to enforce harmony among the community of nations. It also required the necessity of preparedness.
Sources:
John Milton Cooper, Jr., The Warrior and the Priest: Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1983)
Edmund Morris, Theodore Rex (Random House, 2001)
Theodore Roosevelt, Fear God and Take Your Own Part (George H. Doran Company, 1916)
Theodore Roosevelt, Nobel Speech, New York Times, May 6, 1910
No comments:
Post a Comment