Foreign Policy

Foreign Policy

Amstutz, David Lee. "A Populist Approach to Foreign Policy: Governor William A. Poynter, the South African War, and the Indian Famine, 1899-1901." Great Plains Quarterly Winter, 2014 34(1): 11-34. Nebraska Populist's reaction to the Boer War and 1899 Indian famine revealed Populists to be internationalists who believed spreading American democratic values abroad would create a safer and more peaceful world. Populists were anti-isolationists and anti-imperialists. Article also contains some treatment on the Cuban Revolution and Spanish-American War.

Cherny, Robert W. "Anti-Imperialism on the Middle Border, 1898-1900." 1, no. 1 (1979): 19-34. Fusionists (Populists, Bryan Democrats, and Silver Republicans) led the anti-imperialist movement in Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

Fry, Joseph A. "Silver and Sentiment: The Nevada Press and the Coming of the Spanish-American War." Nevada Historical Society Quarterly 1977 20(4): 222-239. All Nevada newspapers criticized Spanish rule in Cuba and most disagreed with Cuban policies of President William McKinley (1843-1901). Populist and Democratic papers resorted to yellow journalism and advocated war with Spain to improve Nevada's economy. Republican papers called for war with Spain, but cited principally self-defense and humanitarian reasons. America: History and life, 16A:1122

Hankins, Barry. "Manifest Destiny in the Midwest: Selected Kansans and the Philippine Question." Kansas History 1985 8(1): 54-66. Most Kansans supported imperialism and the acquisition of the Philippine Islands in 1899. Populists John Davis and Jeremiah Botkin argued against taking the Philippines. William A. Peffer wrote a book in support of manifest destiny. America: History and Life, 24A:5398

Lindgren, James M. "The Apostasy of a Southern Anti-Imperialist: Joseph Bryan, The Spanish-American War, and Business Expansion." Southern Studies 1991 2(2): 151-178. Bryan edited the Democratic Richmond Times and originally was anti-imperialist. To undercut Populism, he came to support expansionism and the war as the only way to defeat radical ideas. He believed economic recovery was possible only through the new imperialism. America: History and Life, 30:8658

Lovett, Christopher C. "'To Serve Faithfully': The Twenty-Third Kansas Volunteer Infantry and the Spanish-American War." Kansas History 1998-99 21(4): 256-275. Black leaders worked with Populist Governor John W. Leedy to have a two-battalion regiment of African-American troops raised in Kansas. Leedy called the 23d Kansas Volunteer Infantry into being to appease black leaders, further the Populist ideal of a coalition between the races, and to garner votes. Difficulty with the Topeka police force led to the battalions' departure for Cuba before training was complete. Arriving there in late August 1898, the regiment guarded Spanish prisoners and worked at supplying vital services to the San Luis province. America: History and Life, 36:9268

Mickelson, Peter. "Nationalism in Minnesota During the Spanish-American War." Minnesota History 1968 41(1): 1-12. Older traditionalists as well as the business community were, at first, strongly opposed to the war. Populists, on the other hand (as exemplified by Ignatius Donnelly), were willing to fight for "human liberty" and to thwart the Spanish "moneyed interests." Once the war actually began, most opposition evaporated in a wave of newly discovered patriotism. America: History and Life, 6:514