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Occupation: Theodore Roosevelt was former secretary of the navy. He then became volunteered in the rough riders and pushed for Cuban independence. After his short time in the rough riders he was nominated for the governor of New York. Soon after he became vice president and following McKinley’s death he became president. During the issues on the Philippians he was vice president and president.

Position on issue: Theodore Roosevelt was an avid believer that in order to have a strong Navy you needed safe ports to anchor around the world. Teddy wanted to boost the United States global power. One of his sayings were “speak softly and carry a big stick”, meaning he was willing to use force and he wasn’t going to get bullied around. Roosevelt and other imperialists in the government thought that keeping the Spanish colonies as American colonies would be in America’s favor. And his thoughts towards the Philippians were that the U.S. should be claimed to serve as both a port for trading and a military base to enforce power. If not the Philippians would just be taken by a European nation. In dealing with panama Theodore Roosevelt was determined to finish the once started Panama Canal. His reasoning for wanting to complete this project was to shorten voyages by 8,000 miles. This would allow the U.S navy to travel faster to places in danger. Teddy Roosevelt also introduced the Roosevelt Corollary. This stated that European powers would not be tolerated in the Americas. This was brought up because of the amount of debt some of the countries owed to the European nations. He wanted to maintain regional stability.

List of reason for interest in topic: Theodore Roosevelt had no choice but to be interested in this topic because he was president. But even before he was president he wanted to improve America’s global power. He was in favor of having the “biggest stick” and that meant to him an elite navy. In having an elite navy they had to have a better way to sail from the pacific to the Atlantic and his solution to this was the Panama Canal. Considering his beliefs on America being a global power, it only made sense for him to want to utilize the Philippians and build a military base to enforce America’s power in Asia.

 "American President: Theodore Roosevelt: Foreign Affairs." //Miller Center//. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2012. .

"Rough Riders - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2012. .

States, the United. "SparkNotes: Theodore Roosevelt: 1901–1909: Imperialism." //SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides//. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2012. .

"Timeline of Theodore Roosevelt's Life by the Theodore Roosevelt Association." //About Theodore Roosevelt: President and more, from The Theodore Roosevelt Association.//. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Feb. 2012. .