The Good Neighbor Policy applied to the United States’s stance on relations with other nations in the Western Hemisphere from 1933 through
1946. It was an important departure from American foreign policy in the
region to that point. Most significantly, relations with the countries of
Latin America improved considerably with the changes.
Until the 1930s, the United States freely intervened in the affairs of
other countries in Latin America. Economic concerns and political motivations prompted the United States on more than one occasion to send
armed forces into a country. By 1930, Latin American countries were
deeply resentful and suspicious of the U.S. government. If relations were
to improve with these countries, policymakers had to direct significant
changes.
President Herbert Hoover (1874–1964, served 1929–33) was the
first to initiate changes in government policy. A memo written by his undersecretary of state, J. Reuben Clark (1871–1961), became the first official statement of nonintervention in 1930. It rejected the notion that
the United States had the right to police the Western Hemisphere.
President Hoover then took action by withdrawing American forces in
Nicaragua and prepared to withdraw from Haiti. His administration,
however, failed to develop the concept to the extent that merited significant attention.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945, served 1933–1945)
significantly expanded the policy begun by the Hoover administration.
The concept of a good neighbor was introduced in his first inaugural address on March 4, 1933, as one who respects both him or herself and, as
a result, the rights of others. By September 1933, President Roosevelt
and his secretary of state, Cordell Hull (1871–1955), had further defined the Good Neighbor Policy. Noninterference and nonintervention became the keystones of U.S. policy in the region. Latin American countries began to surrender their resentments and engaged in more open dialogues with the U.S. government.
Many Latin American countries joined the Allied efforts in World
War II (1939–45). Such assistance was viewed as a positive effect of the
Good Neighbor Policy. Relations with Latin American countries continued to improve through the war effort. Changing administrations, however, and the new international situation following World War II
brought shifts in U.S. policies. Though elements of the Good Neighbor
Policy remained in various forms, it became less significant after 1946.