Did Teddy Roosevelt co-found the Empire of Japan?
And North Korea too!
I am reviewing all the major wars, interventions, and conflicts waged by the United States government. My previous article in this series examined the conflicts of the 19th Century...
The War of 1812
The Mexican War
The Spanish-American War
The Philippines War
I want to persuade readers of 4 points
Most U.S. wars have made the world a worse place, and Americans less free and secure.
Our “patriotic holidays” should honor soldiers without mischaracterizing U.S. wars.
The claim that U.S. soldiers “defended freedom” is sweet-sounding but false.
We must deny politicians the ability to wage aggressive war.
I ask 3 questions about each war I review
Did it defend America?
Did it protect or harm freedom?
Did it make the world better or worse?
The answer was the same for all 19th Century U.S. foreign wars I reviewed in my previous article...
None defended America
All of them harmed freedom
All of them were wars of conquest
All of them made the world worse, not better.
This installment will move us into the 20th Century.
As you read what follows, please understand — I am not blaming America for anything, but I am blaming U.S. politicians (and foreign politicians too) for a great many things.
The events I will describe in this article justify asking the following question…
Did Teddy Roosevelt co-found the Empire of Japan?
Related to this question is another — Did Teddy Roosevelt (TR) plant the seeds that eventually led to Pearl Harbor, North Korea, and Mao’s China? I think the evidence says yes! The story is told by several historians. Jim Powell gives a good overview of Teddy’s career as a military gangster in Chapter 2 of his book Bully Boy Powell shows that TR…
Loved war (until his own son died in one)
Conspired to spark the Spanish-American War in order to build a U.S. empire
Waged a war of conquest in the Philippines where torture, rape, and murder were used as “military tactics” to subdue the populace
The same ground is covered in more detail in Honor in the Dust by Gregg Jones, and in The War Lovers by Evan Thomas. But James Bradley takes the case against Teddy even further in his book The Imperial Cruise. Bradley uses primary sources to show that TR…
Subscribed to the same racist Aryan theory that would later animate the Nazis.
Believed that it was the right and duty of Aryans to conquer darker people.
Foreshadowed Hitler by adopting the Japanese as honorary Aryans (Bradley, chapter 6).
Proposed a Japanese “Monroe Doctrine” for the Western Pacific and encouraged Japan to conquer an empire in that area (Bradley chapter 8).
But Teddy went one crucial step further. He offered up Korea as Japan’s first imperial victim (Bradley, chapter 12).
The specific step Teddy Roosevelt took to inaugurate the Empire of Japan
On November 28, 1905, TR closed the U.S. embassy in Korea and turned it over to Japan (Bradley, page 313). Japan then invaded and conquered Korea.
You should remember November 28, 1905 the same way you remember December 7th, 1941 — both are days of infamy, and one leads to the other. Let’s make the connections and count the costs…
TR’s murderous conquest of the Philippines gave the Japanese an imperial model to emulate. His actions also robbed the U.S. of the moral high ground. We could no longer consistently oppose empire building.
TR’s proposal of a Japanese “Monroe Doctrine” for the Western Pacific morphed into what the Japanese later called their Greater Asia Co-prosperity Sphere. That was Japan’s euphemistic name for their blood-drenched conquests.
TR’s betrayal of Korea essentially co-founded the Japanese empire. It also created a mainland base to support Japan’s later invasion of China. Japan’s aggression against China then led to FDR’s eventual retaliation which then led to Pearl Harbor and a greatly expanded World War 2.
The way U.S. politicians then fought World War 2 caused the creation of North Korea and Red China, leading to millions of deaths.
Does TR deserve the primary blame for all these calamities and the creation of the Empire of Japan?
No, Japanese politicians bear far greater responsibility. But TR made a huge negative contribution.
Sadly, many people will try to excuse TR on the grounds that most people back then were racist and militarist. But in fact, 250,000 Americans*, including luminaries like Mark Twain and former President Grover Cleveland, joined together in the Anti-imperialist League to fight against TR’s crimes. This shows that many people from that era could tell the difference between right and wrong. If they could, then Teddy could too. He simply chose to do evil instead.
Bottom line: Teddy Roosevelt’s wars and interventions did not defend America or freedom. They did not make the world a better place. They made the world profoundly worse, setting in motion events that would slaughter millions of people.
Things could have been different
Imagine a world where…
U.S. politicians set a good example for the Japanese by not conquering an empire
Teddy Roosevelt did not encourage Japan to create its own empire
Teddy Roosevelt did encourage Japan to be peaceful
Teddy Roosevelt did not betray Korea
The Japanese did not conquer Korea or invade China
There was no Pearl Harbor attack, and no North Korea or Red China
Would you rather live in that world, or the world Teddy Roosevelt helped create?
My next article will continue with the wars of the 20th Century. I will ask the profound question, "Did U.S. politicians support the more evil side in WW1?"
If you find these articles valuable please share them with others.
Use these articles to start a discussion about the correct way to honor veterans and the war dead given the sad reality of past U.S. wars. I think it should be possible to honor their courage and mourn their loss, without telling lies about how the political class misused them.
Here is the list of books I’ve consulted so far in this series.
Bully Boy by Jim Powell
A Wicked War by Amy S. Greenberg
The Politics of War by Walter Karp
The War Lovers by Evan Thomas
Honor in the Dust by Gregg Jones
The Imperial Cruise by James Bradley
*NOTE: The figure of 250,000 members of the Anti-imperialist League comes from Johnson, Robert David. “Anti-Imperialism.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History. 2015-10-05. Oxford University Press.
Perry Willis was the Executive Director of the national Libertarian Party and has managed or worked on six Libertarian Party presidential campaigns. He is the co-founder of Downsize DC and the Zero Aggression Project. He also co-created the One Subject at a Time Act, the Read the Bills Act, and the Write the Laws Act, all of which have been introduced in Congress.