Dollar diplomacy with a new look: President Eisenhower's inter-American policies, 1953--1961
Abstract
This study seeks to explain the inter-American policies of the Eisenhower administration by examining U.S. relations with three of the most important Latin American nations, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. Although scholars have generally argued that the primary goal of U.S. officials in Latin America was to keep the region free from communism, this dissertation argues that U.S. policymakers regarded nationalism as an equally formidable threat to U.S. interests in Latin America. Possessing an unshakable faith in the power of free enterprise, administration officials urged Latin American leaders to open their doors to U.S. capital and commodities. The Eisenhower administration believed that private capital development, rather than economic aid from public funds, could best facilitate the growth of economically self-sufficient Latin American economies that would eventually become large markets for American products. Achieving this goal would also eliminate the need for Latin American countries to request economic assistance from Washington, thereby promoting Eisenhower's goal of reducing government expenditures and balancing the budget. But Latin American governments deterred U.S. entrepreneurs from investing in the region by implementing various restrictions on foreign firms and by threatening to nationalize them. U.S. officials counseled Latin Americans to make their foreign investment climates more hospitable, and they warned them not to expect Washington to provide them with large amounts of public assistance. The Eisenhower administration became more willing to extend economic aid to Latin America after 1957, but this decision did not imply that it had abandoned its original goal of facilitating economic development based upon private capital investment. Additional economic aid was intended to complement private capital rather than to replace it. Based upon numerous U.S. Government documents and the papers of influential administration officials, this study analyzes the efforts of U.S. policymakers to overcome obstacles to their attempts to promote free trade and investment policies in the Western Hemisphere.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Hearden, Purdue University.
Subject Area
American history|Biographies
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