Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy was supposedly based on his favorite African proverb: “speak softly and carry a big stick and you will go far.” The meaning of this proverb has been debated, but in general, Roosevelt interpreted it to mean that the U.S. should use diplomatic tactics to achieve goals, but should also maintain and display a strong military (a “big stick”) in order to demonstrate their capability to use force if necessary. On more than one occasion, the U.S. did end up using a show of military force, or actual military action, to resolve a foreign policy issue in a way that benefitted U.S. interests.

In this exercise, you will analyze and discuss events during America’s Age of Empire and determine if U.S. actions constituted “speaking softly” or using a “big stick.”

Step 1: Read the following list of late-19th and early-20th century events involving U.S. foreign policy that were covered in the reading. Decide if they fit into the category of “speaking softly” (diplomacy or negotiations) or the category of “big stick” (military display or use of military force). Some might be both if the U.S. employed both diplomacy and military displays or action to achieve the goal. You may do some independent research if needed to get more detail on the events. Create your own table similar to the one below.

1. Which category you put the event in
2. Which specific details of the event made you decide to categorize it that way
3. What foreign policy goal the U.S. was trying to achieve with these actions or decisions
4. Whether or not the U.S. achieved the goal

Be sure to include the table that you created in Step 1 in your discussion post!

Step 3: Respond in two separate posts to two classmates (in at least 75 words). Explicitly address their examples and try to extend, complicate, or redirect their points in a substantive, knowledge-demonstrating way. Be sure to cite relevant concepts and key terms from the reading.

Discussion Grading Rubric