The Declaration of Lima and U.S. Foreign Policy in the Americas

In this episode of Mr. Hutchings History, we explore the pivotal Declaration of Lima and its role in shaping U.S.-Latin American relations during the 1930s. As fascist regimes in Europe and Japan’s expansion in Asia threatened global stability, the United States led efforts to secure hemispheric solidarity through Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor Policy. Discover how the Declaration of Lima—adopted in 1938 at the Eighth Pan-American Conference—reinforced principles of non-intervention, peaceful dispute resolution, and collective security among 21 nations of the Americas. We examine its impact on U.S. relations with Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Mexico, and other nations, and how it reflected Roosevelt’s shift from military intervention to diplomatic and economic cooperation. Historians offer differing interpretations of the Good Neighbor Policy’s motivations and outcomes. Was it a genuine commitment to sovereignty or a strategic pivot to secure U.S. dominance? Tune in for an in-depth discussion! #IBHistory #DeclarationOfLima #GoodNeighborPolicy #USForeignPolicy #FDR #PanAmericanRelations #LatinAmerica #Diplomacy #WorldWarII #HemisphericSolidarity #MonroeDoctrine #USHistory #HistoryPodcast #IBDPLecture Works Cited Bemis, Samuel Flagg. The Latin American Policy of the United States: An Historical Interpretation. Harcourt, 1943. LaFeber, Walter. Inevitable Revolutions: The United States in Central America. W.W. Norton & Co., 1983. Wood, Bryce. The Dismantling of the Good Neighbor Policy. University of Texas Press, 1985. Ninkovich, Frank. The Diplomacy of Ideas: U.S. Foreign Policy and Cultural Relations, 1938-1950. Cambridge UP, 1981. Roosevelt, Franklin D. "State of the Union Address, 1933."