Pushing on an Open Door: American Bankers and the Imperial Turn, 1898–1915

Bruinsma, “Pushing on an Open Door”: Debates between pro- and anti-imperialists after the 1898 war with Spain took place within the context of major changes to the fabric of the domestic economy through a corporate restructuring of American capitalism. In this process, some of the most prescient thinkers argued for an imperialist policy on economic grounds. Financial journalist Charles A. Conant, most notably, argued that his theory of surplus capital showed an urgent need for foreign investment markets. Together with others, such as banker Frank Vanderlip, Conant believed the country was in an existential “world contest” for control of the “world’s industrial markets.” Formal imperialism in the Philippines was considered as one option, but the consensus settled on the superiority of an informal empire through Open Door and Dollar Diplomacy policies, creating safer and more stable investment markets for US capitalists. The core of US 20th-century foreign policy traces back to this period and was based on a confidence that US capitalists, on a level playing field, would outcompete any rival. These policies implied a larger role for the state in society and, crucially, in the pursuit of foreign markets. This paper will discuss Conant and other dollar diplomats’ efforts to influence their peers between 1898 and 1915, as well as the tension between theory and practice in the face of reluctance on the part of US bankers. It will also discuss how state-capital relations changed in the formation of these policies and how these events helped to break down the distinction between the public and the private in the Progressive Era.