Theodore Roosevelt Quotes
I am so angry with that infernal, little, Cuban republic that I would like to wipe its people off the face of the earth. All that we wanted from them is that they would behave themselves and be prosperous and happy so that we would not have to interfere.
See {640521} for the trigger of his anger. This is a good example of a politician using indiscreet hyperbolic terms in anger. In a different time, the President might have been accused of planning extermination and genocide of the Cuban people.
Theodore Roosevelt 1858-1919, 26th President of the United States (Republican, NY), Remark to Ambassador Henry White, Quoted in Morris, Theodore Rex
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
He had secretly asked the United States to send American troops back to Cuba to help keep law and order as the Cubans could not nor could they govern the polarized society that had been festering under incompetent Spanish rule. President Roosevelt was furious that the Cubans could not govern the country. See {640520}.
See {633152} for more of the reasoning for this point. “Neocon” is a shortened form of “neoconservative”. At the time the neoconservatives were advocating use of military intervention in the Middle East. Munich was the German city in which British Prime Minister notoriously tried to appease Hitler and the Nazis. This led to WWII and has become the historical icon for appeasement of a powerful tyrant and the cost of such.
Despite a policy of non-intervention in the affairs of other countries, America has frequently found a reason to make an exception to the policy and send troops to a foreign nation to shape the government in a direction to our liking. After WWII America also used covert operations to change regimes or destabilize governments perceived not in America’s interests. Sending troops to Western Hemisphere nations was continued as well but much less frequently than earlier.
- Born: October 27, 1858
- Died: January 6, 1919
- Nationality: American
- Profession: Nobel Peace Prize
Theodore Roosevelt Jr., often referred to as Teddy or his initials T. R., was an American statesman, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer, who served as the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. He previously served as 33rd governor of New York from 1899 to 1900 and the 25th vice president of the United States from March to September 1901. Roosevelt emerged as a leader of the Republican Party and became a driving force for anti-trust and Progressive policies.