7 - The Empire of 1898 – and Upheaval

Summary

U.S. Empire in the Caribbean and the Pacific evolved precisely to try to create a modicum of efficiency and stability from a foreign policy that gave priority to commercial opportunity, domestic politics, and strategic power. There is a great field for American interests in both Russia and China but they are interdependent. Diplomacy is the management of international business and the Russians understand this as well as any peoples in the world. As a result of McKinley's foreign policy choices in early 1898, the United States first went to war, then became responsible for a series of interventions in Cuba to protect U.S. interests, and next sank into a decade-long involvement in Asia that led to war, conflict with Japan and Russia, and the acceleration of the Chinese revolution. The Insular Cases changed U.S. constitutional history for the sake of empire. McKinley transformed presidential powers by the grace of empire.