Sunday, December 2, 2012

December 2: Monroe Doctrine

On this date in History .... 1823:

President James Monroe, in his annual message to Congress, warned European nations that the United States “would not tolerate further colonization or puppet monarchs” and basically told them to “stay out of our backyard” and not interfere in “affairs of the Western Hemisphere.”  He stated, "The American continents … are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers."  

This message, named The Monroe Doctrine, that he “buried in a routine annual message delivered to Congress,” became the watchword of U.S. policy in the western hemisphere. 

It has been invoked a number of times.  In 1904, Theodore Roosevelt invoked the Monroe Doctrine when a number of European countries threatened armed intervention to collect debt.  Roosevelt sent U.S. Marines into the Latin countries to keep European countries out and prevent war activity near the United States. President Kennedy invoked the Doctrine during the Cuba Missile Crisis of 1962, convincing the Soviet Union to dismantle the missiles and missile sites in Cuba.

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