1906 had been a busy year on the domestic front for Theodore Roosevelt, but the president

had plenty else on his plate that year, foreign crises, military crises, and a natural disaster.

In September 1905, the fledgling Republic of Cuba had held an election. When the incumbent president,

Tomas Estrada Palma and his moderate party, defeated the Liberal Party. The Liberals cried

foul, and by August 1906 were in armed revolt against Estrada Palma. By September, the liberal rebels controlled most of the country, and Estrada Palma was appealing to the U.S. government to intervene militarily in support of his government.

An irritated Theodore Roosevelt remarked,

All that we wanted from them was that they would behave themselves and be prosperous and happy

so that we would not have to interfere.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Music Episode 43, Carry a big stick.

U.S. military intervention in Central America was becoming routine.

Responding to instability in the Dominican Republic, U.S. Marines had landed in 1903 and 1904.

The introduction of the banana into the United States in the late 19th century led to a booming demand, and the American corporation's United Fruit

and Standard Fruit had substantial investment in Central America, particularly in the nation of Honduras,

where dependence on the banana trade

became a source of government instability and provoked foreign intervention.

In 1904, the American writer William Sidney Porter, who wrote under the pen name O. Henry,

would coin the term banana republic to describe a fictional Central American nation modeled on Honduras.

And then there was Cuba.

As you may recall from episode 21, the United States had imposed upon Cuba a treaty provision

that gave the U.S. permission to intervene militarily in Cuba if Cuba proved

unable to maintain an adequate government.

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