Theodore Roosevelt’s Foreign Policy and the “Problem” of Italian Immigration

During Theodore Roosevelt’s administration (1901-1909), migration became a major component of diplomatic relations between Italy and the US. The essay focuses on the events of 1904 to 1907 in particular. Where managing migration became a strategic priority to achieve the president's goals of a new foreign policy, Roosevelt and his diplomats in Rome had to confront several crises Italian migrants faced that threatened to undermine the president’s imperial ambitions. Where Roosevelt’s foreign policy of a new imperialism combined with a narrowly defined sense of nationalism influenced immigration legislation in the United States, foreign service officers stationed in both Italy and the United States worked to influence the legislative debate and conditions on the ground for Italian migrants.