Roosevelt vs. William Taft Essay
Both Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft served as us presidents consecutively. They both employed different foreign diplomacies while in power. For instance, Roosevelt was a geopolitician who believed that Americans were privileged and meant for supremacy both in politics and economics (Gould and Lewis) He perceived Africans as a weak race that was incapable of strong governments and economic progress. He did not advocate or bother with the rights of the small countries as he termed them as incapable of progress and success. He believed in the power balance between among industrializes nations through negotiations to evade war. He barred superior powers from invading the U.S territories. Roosevelt focused on guarding U.S self-interest as well as ensuring world peace and progress.
William Taft was termed as a dollar diplomat. He had experience in addressing imperialism from rivals such as Japan (Gould and Lewis) However he did not have a grasp of the balance of power, politics and leadership capacity in foreign affairs as compared to Roosevelt. Taft focused on expanding global business opportunities for the U.S. unlike Roosevelt, he did not show off U.S power but adopted more peaceful and efficient ways of ensuring peace and order. He assumed the dollar diplomacy to substitute dollars for bullets. Unlike Roosevelt, Taft showed concern for small countries and advocated for their rights. Taft was scholarly and reserved, unlike Roosevelt who was a war hero and a big game hunter. As opposed to Roosevelt, Taft focused on the establishment of an independent judiciary and lower or no tariffs for business people while Roosevelt pushed for high tariffs to generate high income for the country. Taft lacked diplomatic expertise as compared to Roosevelt who had expertise skills in international relations and diplomacy. Taft showed great concern for justice and morality in foreign matters, unlike Roosevelt whose reign whose characterized with injustice especially for small countries.
Work cited
Gould, Lewis L. The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. Univ Pr of Kansas, 1991.
Gould, Lewis L. The William Howard Taft Presidency. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2009.
