U.S. History 1877-Present 7: The Clark Memorandum

called on the u.s. to support him saying that American citizens living in

Nicaragua needed Uncle Sam de swooped in and saved the day the US was like no

sweat and sent in the Marines to crush the rebellion but like unwanted [marines appear]

houseguests who just won't leave your couch the Marines occupied in ran [Woman shouting at man to get out of room]

Nicaragua for 21 years from 1912 to 1933 at putting teeth in

the old Monroe Doctrine there yeah but by the late 1920s at the very end of

Coolidge's second term American foreign policy leaders became uncomfortable with

our military governing of sovereign nation it's kind of hard to argue that [Uncle Sam and statue of liberty appears]

you're the land of the free when you're running a military dictatorship in other

land plus Latin American nations were starting to seriously complain about

u.s. bossiness for some reason they had a problem with the u.s. butting in on

all their political and economic affairs the US had been doing a good job this [US flag giving peace sign]

decade of avoiding war in Europe and Asia so we figured kicking one off in

our own hemisphere was not the most fun idea all this led to Secretary of State

Jay Reuben Clark riding up the clock memorandum in December 1928 now we [Reuben Clark appears looking at the Monroe Doctrine]

remember that the Monroe Doctrine claimed the u.s. had an interest in the

well-being and political independence of Latin American nations all of our

interventions Glanton America for a century had been justified by this [Latin Americans appear]

doctrine we were strong and had to protect our weak neighbors whether they

liked it or not but the Clark memorandum took a different stand first all nations

have the right to self-preservation second the US would not intervene in [Little girl standing in between riot police]

Latin American nations just to protect them from European interference which

was the original goal of the Monroe Doctrine third the US would only

intervene if trouble in Latin American nation was threatening u.s. national [British flag aims gun at Nicaragua flag]

security you know like they lost a stove on or something fourth the Monroe

Doctrine doesn't pit America against Latin America

it just puts us on the same side against European interference and last of all

even if the monroe doctrine never existed the US had the right to [US flag extinguishes fire]

intervene in latin america its events there were threatening our national

security our right is a sovereign nation that self-defence was enough of a reason

to intervene we didn't need to justify it through the monroe doctrine all this

makes up some pretty slick foreign policy how because we were informally on

the same side of latin america without ever signing a lion street it was the [People shaking hands and person signing document]

perfect setup for a commitment-phobe yet the threat of the u.s. attacking an

european power because that European powers actions in Latin America

threatened us Europe minding its P's and Q's in Latin America yet the US was [Man performing parkour]

doing some serious foreign policy acrobatics Secretary of State Jay Reuben

Clark could have joined the Cirque de Soleil although he probably wouldn't [Reuben Clark looking at Cirque de soleil performers]

look that great in body makeup in sequence