Analyze the Success and Failures of President Kennedy’s Foreign Policies Towards Latin America Between 1961 and 1963.

Assess United States and Latin American relations during the presidencies of Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the twentieth century, the United States and Latin America relations changed with the differing foreign policies of Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Latin America is in the western hemisphere, and their economy and political systems are influenced greatly by the
United States. The relations improved from the reign the Teddy Roosevelt to Franklin D.
Roosevelt.

The United States and Latin American relations were on good terms, but the only problem lied in that Latin America suffered from being too dependent on the US. Latin America experienced many instances of having American navy protection. Teddy Roosevelt, famous for his big stick diplomacy, utilized his navy to control important industries which affected America greatly, like the Panama canal. With the Roosevelt Corollary, Roosevelt was able to contain
Latin America within the influence of the western hemisphere and away from the east. The
Venezuela Crisis of 1902, would demonstrates the US’s ability to drive out European forces.
However, even though Latin America were guaranteed protection, this came with a price. Most
Latin American countries had a reflux economy which depended solely on the US. This led to
LA countries selling most of their main crops to the US and not being able to cater to the needs of their own citizens. The famine and economic oppression coming from the United State’s sphere of influence resulted in LA rethinking the actual relation between the major two parts of the west.

The relations improved with the foreign policy of Franklin D. Roosevelt. What made
Franklin D. Roosevelt different from Teddy Roosevelt was that he allowed the United States to become more free and become a global partner. This was all accomplished with the “Good
Neighbor Policy.” The United States wanted to be a Good Neighbor to Latin America and
Franklin D. Roosevelt did indeed accomplish this. Frank D. Roosevelt lowered Tariffs with the
Reciprocal Trade Agreement of 1934 which eased trading with Latin America. Also, Roosevelt funded Latin America with financial aid through export-import banks to get Latin America out of
Great Depression. Finally, twenty-one mutual trade agreements were signed between the US and
LA between 1934-1939. The strong bond in relations between America and Latin America were evident as Latin America declared war on Axis powers to help the US. From this it can be seen that the Good Neighbor Policy and the mutual assistance coming from both US and LA did develop improved and good relations between the two.

It can be seen that the “Big Stick” policy of Teddy Roosevelt, for a short period of time, aided and supported the relation between the US and LA, however, the circumstances that came with the dependency of Latin America countries resulted in a weakened relation and economic repression. It was not until Franklin D. Roosevelt and his “Good Neighbor” policy that the economy of LA was restored and both allies were in good terms once again. In conclusion, it can be assessed that the relations between the US and LA were stronger in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s reign, than that of Teddy Roosevelt.