Final answer:
Theodore Roosevelt advocated for the U.S. to be an international police power via the Roosevelt Corollary, which extended the Monroe Doctrine and justified U.S. intervention in the Western Hemisphere to prevent European influence, protect U.S. interests, and manage financial stability in the region.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Roosevelt Corollary
Indeed, Theodore Roosevelt did claim that the United States should act as an international police power in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, particularly to protect these regions from European intervention. This principle was outlined in the Roosevelt Corollary, which extended the Monroe Doctrine's policy of noninterference to actively justify U.S. intervention. Roosevelt argued that such actions were necessary to maintain regional stability and preempt European powers from asserting their influence, which he believed would be a violation of the Monroe Doctrine.
The application of the Roosevelt Corollary led to a series of U.S. military interventions in Latin America. It was used to establish American protectorates, manage revenue systems of other nations like the Dominican Republic, and justify forces' deployment to countries such as Nicaragua, Haiti, and others, under the guise of protecting U.S. interests or ensuring loan repayments to European and American banks. While the policy intended to prevent European encroachment, it led to significant tension between the U.S. and its southern neighbors and was viewed in Latin America as a mask for economic imperialism.
Over time, the view on U.S. intervention shifted, with later leaders initiating policies like the 'Good Neighbor Policy,' which moved away from interventionism. Nonetheless, the impact of the Roosevelt Corollary on U.S.-Latin American relations was profound, setting a precedent for American foreign policy actions throughout the 20th century.