Theodore Roosevelt spelled out a clear foreign policy… built on strength, defending interests, and standing with allies. People rarely look past Roosevelt’s quoting an old African proverb to describe his foreign policy approach. However, TR not only carried a big stick, but altered American foreign policy forever. Later Presidents would use the example set in 1904 to help maintain America’s place in the world. Roosevelt explained it best:
“All that this country desires is to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly, and prosperous. Any country whose people conduct themselves well can
count upon our hearty friendship. If a nation shows that it knows how to act with reasonable efficiency and decency in social and political matters, if it
keeps order and pays its obligations, it need fear no interference from the United States. Chronic wrongdoing, or an impotence which results in a general
loosening of the ties of civilized society, may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation….”
Practically Historical 
