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==President==
==President==
When President McKinley was fatally shot by an [[anarchist]] in 1901, Roosevelt automatically became President, and was reelected against a challenge by the Democratic candidate Alton B. Parker in [[United States presidential election, 1904|1904]].
When President McKinley was fatally shot by an [[anarchist]] in 1901, Roosevelt automatically became President, and was reelected against a challenge by the Democratic candidate Alton B. Parker in [[United States presidential election, 1904|1904]].
[[Image:Tr2006.jpg|thumb|300px|''Time'' July 3, 2006]]
[[Image:Tr2006.jpg|thumb|290px|''Time'' July 3, 2006]]
===Foreign Policy===
Roosevelt's administration was marked by an active approach to foreign policy. Roosevelt saw it as the duty of more developed ("civilized") nations to help the underdeveloped ("uncivilized") world move forward. In [[Cuba]], the [[Philippines]], [[Puerto Rico]], and the [[Panama Canal Zone]], he used the Army's medical service, under [[Walter Reed]] and [[William C. Gorgas]], to eliminate the [[yellow fever]] menace and install a new regime of public health. He used the army to build up the infrastructure of the new possessions, building railways, telegraph and telephone lines, and upgrading roads and port facilities.
[[Image:Panam2.JPG|thumb|350px|Roosevelt builds the canal—and shovels dirt on Colombia]]
Roosevelt dramatically increased the size of the navy, forming the new warships into a "Great White Fleet" for display purposes and sending it on a world tour in 1907. This display was designed as a show of force to impress the Japanese. Yet, the ships were almost forced to return because of the inadequacy of American ports in the Pacific.<ref>See Edward S Miller,''War Plan Orange'' (Annapolis, 1991) </ref>
====Roosevelt Corollary ====
The '''Roosevelt Corollary''' to the [[Monroe Doctrine]] was a substantial expansion in 1904. Roosevelt asserted the right of the United States to intervene to stabilize the economic affairs of small nations in the Caribbean and Central America if they were unable to pay their international debts and were at risk of intervention by European powers. The new policy primarily prevented intervention by Britain and Germany, which loaned money to the countries that did not repay. The catalyst of the new policy was Germany's aggressiveness in the Venezuela affair of 1902-03. The intervention took the form of takeover of the customs collection, and disbursement of the funds to the debtors and claimants. The policy was unpopular abroad.<ref>Serge Ricard, "The Roosevelt Corollary." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 2006 36(1): 17-26. Issn: 0360-4918, online </ref>
Mitchener and Weidenmier (2006) show the economic benefits to the small countries. The average debt price for countries under the US "sphere of influence" rose by 74% in response to the pronouncement and actions to make it credible. That is, their bonds rose 74% because buyers now believed they would be repaid. The increase in financial stability reduced internal conflict because political factions could not count on winning control of the national treasury if they won a civil war. The program spurred export growth and better fiscal management, but debt settlements were driven primarily by gunboat diplomacy.<ref>Kris James Mitchener and Marc Weidenmier, "Empire, Public Goods, and the Roosevelt Corollary." ''Journal of Economic History'' 2005 65(3): 658-692. Issn: 0022-0507; online</ref>
====Panama Canal====
Roosevelt understood the strategic significance of the [[Panama Canal]], which opened up the Pacific Coast and Asia to cheap shipping, and made it possible for the Navy to move between the Atlamntic and Pacific rapidly. He negotiated for the U.S. to take control of its construction in 1904; he felt that the Canal's completion was his most important and historically significant international achievement.
==1912 election==
==1912 election==