| ID | 132007 |
| Title Proper | Pan-American lobbyist |
| Other Title Information | William Eleroy Curtis and U.S. Empire, 1884-1899 |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Coates, Benjamin A |
| Publication | 2014. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | William Eleroy Curtis was central to the creation of the Pan-American movement in the United States. As a lobbyist and bureaucrat, he helped organize the first Inter-American Conference in 1889-1890. As a journalist he became a leading "expert" on Latin America. This article uses Curtis to explore the relationship between Pan-Americanism and empire. Before 1898, Curtis sought only expanded trade, not territory for the United States. However, to explain why the country would "naturally" come to dominate Latin American markets, he depicted Latin Americans as backward yet capable of uplift through the infusion of U.S. knowledge and capital. He thus justified hemispheric control and helped U.S. Americans envision empire as a tutelary imperative. When Curtis supported territorial expansion in 1898 he did so in the language of civilizing mission rather than market aggrandizement. In combining narratives of difference and equality, Pan-Americanism served Curtis as a transitional imperial ideology. |
| `In' analytical Note | Diplomatic History Vol.38, No.1; January 2014: p.22-48 |
| Journal Source | Diplomatic History Vol.38, No.1; January 2014: p.22-48 |
| Key Words | United States - US ; Pan Americanism ; Hemispheric Control ; Territorial Expansion ; Imperial Ideology ; Geopolitics ; History - US ; Envision Empire ; Latin America ; Economic Context ; William Eleroy Curtis ; Traditional Empire ; Trade and Commerce |