Protection of American Lives and Property Abroad

Report Outline
Hoover Policy vs. Coolidge Pollicy of Protection
American Citizens and Property in Foreign Lands
Protection of American Lives in China
Protection in Central America and the Caribbean

Hoover Policy vs. Coolidge Pollicy of Protection

Earlier, announcements on protection of American life and property in Nicaragua, which had led to some confusion as to the future policy of the Hoover administration, were amplified by Secretary of State Stimson in a radio address, May 9, 1931, in which he said there was no intention to withdraw from American citizens in that country “the protection which American citizens in foreign lands are entitled and accustomed to receive under the law of nations.”

The long series of revolutions in Latin America and elsewhere during the last two years had often brought American lives and property into jeopardy, he said, and had created a condition of strain in the State Department almost as serious as if the United States itself was at war.

We have been and continue to be zealous in our concern for the lives of our nationals wherever they may be found. Where American investments or claims are imperiled by the widespread depression, we are seeking to give to Americans all of the counsel and assistance to which they are entitled under the law of nations, while never losing sight of the great fact pointed out by Elihu Root, nearly a quarter of a century ago, that it is “the established policy of the United States not to use its army and navy for the collection of debts.”