Behaving Righteously

Abstract

Chapter 5 offers a fresh perspective on the Chinese boycott of US goods in 1905–1906. It argues that Roosevelt, who previously supported the exclusion of Chinese immigrants, came to view aspects of the exclusion regime as detrimental to US interests in China. The chapter documents the president’s attempts to convince Congress to implement reforms by harnessing support among the business community, missionaries, and educators. These groups, others who opposed reform, such as organized labor—led by Samuel Gompers—and Chinese-Americans sought to influence Roosevelt as well as public opinion. The chapter explains how TR’s concern that the boycott was transforming into an antiforeigner movement, and his belief that Beijing was unwilling to suppress it, led the president to begin planning for a military intervention. In the end this was unnecessary, as the boycott dwindled, but TR suffered a rare foreign policy setback when he failed to convince Congress to embrace reforms.