Editing Big stick ideology (section)

==== Venezuelan Affair (1902) and the Roosevelt Corollary ====
{{stack|[[File:BigStickinLAmerica.jpg|thumb|Some American uses of the "big stick" in [[Middle America (Americas)|Middle America]], {{circa|1900–1906}}<ref name="Bailey">{{Harvnb|Bailey|1980|p=500}}</ref>]]}}

In the early 20th century, [[Venezuela]] was receiving complaints from [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] and [[German Empire|Germany]] about "acts of violence against the liberty of British subjects and the massive capture of British vessels" who were from the UK and the lack of Venezuelan initiative to pay off long-standing debts.<ref name="Hershey">{{Harvnb|Hershey|1903|p=251}}</ref><ref name="Barck">{{harvnb|Barck|1974|p=99}}</ref> After the [[Royal Navy]] and [[Imperial German Navy]] [[Venezuelan crisis of 1902–1903|took naval action with a blockade on Venezuela]] (1902–1903), Roosevelt denounced the blockade. The blockade provided the initial basis of the [[Roosevelt Corollary]] to the [[Monroe Doctrine]].<ref name="MSN Foreign">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Theodore Roosevelt: Foreign Policy |series=Encarta |publisher=MSN |year=2008 |url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761558578_5/Theodore_Roosevelt.html |access-date=2008-07-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028195204/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761558578_5/Theodore_Roosevelt.html |archive-date=2009-10-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="LaFeber">{{Harvnb|LaFeber|1993|p=198}}</ref>

In 1904, although he had mentioned the basis of his idea beforehand in private letters, Roosevelt officially announced the corollary, stating that he only wanted the "other republics on this continent" to be "happy and prosperous". For that goal to be met, the corollary required that they "maintain order within their borders and behave with a just obligation toward outsiders".<ref name="LaFeber" />

Most historians, such as one of Roosevelt's many biographers [[Howard K. Beale]], have summarized that the corollary was influenced by Roosevelt's personal beliefs as well as his connections to foreign bondholders.<ref name="LaFeber" /><ref name="Fagan">{{cite web| last=Fagan | first=Patrick| title=On Historians' Changing Perceptions of Theodore Roosevelt Pre-1950s and Post-1940s| publisher=WorkingPapers.org| date=May 18, 2005| url=http://workingpapers.org/writings/roosevelt.htm| access-date=2008-08-27 }}</ref><ref name="Gould">{{Harvnb|Gould|1991|p=380}}</ref> The U.S. public was very "tense" during the two-month blockade; Roosevelt asked  Britain and Germany to pull out their forces from the area. During the requests for the blockade's end, Roosevelt stationed naval forces in [[Republic of Cuba (1902–1959)|Cuba]], to ensure "the respect of Monroe doctrine" and the compliance of the parties in question.<ref name="Barck" /> The doctrine was never ratified by the senate or brought up for a vote to the American public. Roosevelt's declaration was the first of many presidential decrees in the 20th century that were never ratified.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Burns|first1=James MacGregor|last2=Dunn|first2=Susan|title=The Three Roosevelts|date=2001|publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press|isbn=0871137801|pages=[https://archive.org/details/threerooseveltsp00burn/page/76 76–77]|edition=1st|url=https://archive.org/details/threerooseveltsp00burn/page/76}}</ref>