Using Mexico as your example, discuss the foreign policy ideas and actions of President Woodrow Wilson. What were the effects of this policy on U.S.-Mexico relations?
What will be an ideal response?
The ideal answer should include:
- Progressive idealism: Wilson believed the United States could lead the world in establishing a new international system based on peaceful commerce and political stability; Wilson initially supported the 1911 Mexican Revolution that overthrew Porfirio Diaz's dictatorship; revolutionary leader Francisco Madero promised democracy and economic reform for landless peasants; Wilson expressed regret over the Mexican-American War and disavowed any interest in another war; refused to recognize Victoriano Huerta after he ousted and murdered Madero; Wilson tried to broker a compromise between Venustiano Carranza's Constitutionalists and Huerta.
- Economic interests: American companies dominated the Mexican economy and owned over one-quarter of Mexico's land; controlled and exploited Mexican mining interests
- Military intervention: Wilson sold arms to Carranza and isolated Huerta diplomatically by persuading Britain to withdraw its support; Wilson used a minor insult directed at U.S. sailors in Tampico to invade Mexico; occupied the port of Veracruz, nearly provoking war with Mexico; Wilson denounced by Carranza for intervening in Mexico; "Pancho" Villa began raiding U.S. border towns as he tried to provoke a war with the United States after Wilson recognized Carranza as the de facto president; General John J. Pershing unsuccessfully pursued Villa for a year throughout northern Mexico
- Impact of Wilson's foreign policy on Mexico: left a bitter legacy of suspicion and distrust; suggested the limits of a foreign policy tied to a moral vision rooted in the idea of American exceptionalism
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Indicate whether the statement is true or false.
What are the historical roots of the differences between the two major sects of Islam (Shi'ite and Sunni)? How has this affected geographic and political developments in the Muslim world and their interaction with non-Muslim societies?
What will be an ideal response?