The Republican Party of the United States has held a variety of views on foreign policy and national defense over the course of its existence. Generally speaking, it has advocated for a more militaristic foreign policy (with the exception of isolationist and libertarian elements). Republican presidents have joined or started a number of wars over the course of American history, with mixed results.
Republicans supported Woodrow Wilson's call for American entry into World War I in 1917, complaining only that he was too slow to go to war. Republicans in 1919 opposed his call for entry into the League of Nations. A majority supported the League with reservations; a minority opposed membership on any terms. Republicans sponsored world disarmament in the 1920s, and isolationism in the 1930s.Alex Goodall, "US Foreign Relations under Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover," in Katherine A.S. Sibley, ed., A Companion to Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover (2014) pp: 53–76 online. Most Republicans staunchly opposed intervention in World War II until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. By 1945, however, internationalists became dominant in the party which supported the Cold War policies such as the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and NATO.
History
Lincoln and Seward in the Civil War
When Abraham Lincoln became president in 1861, he appointed his as Secretary of State Senator William H. Seward, a leader of the Republicans in New York state.Walter Stahr,Seward: Lincoln's Indispensable Man (Simon & Schuster, 2012)John M. Taylor, William Henry Seward: Lincoln's Right Hand (Brassey's, 1991). They worked closely together on all diplomatic matters, and the administration appointed Republicans for the first time to diplomatic positions. Charles Francis Adams, Congressman from Massachusetts, became minister to the Court of St. James (that is, Great Britain), and worked with great success to keep that power neutral. When the war started, Seward turned his attention to making sure that foreign powers did not interfere in the conflict.Taylor, Seward p. 161. When the Confederacy announced in April 1861 that it would authorize privateers, Seward sent word to the American representatives abroad that the U.S. would become party to the Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law of 1856. This would outlaw such vessels, but Britain required that, if the U.S. were to become a party, the ratification would not require action to be taken against Confederate vessels.Stahr,Seward p. 289.
The Palmerston government considered recognizing the Confederacy as an independent nation. Seward was willing to wage war against Britain if it did and drafted a strong letter for Adams, to read to the Foreign Secretary, Lord Russell. Seward submitted it to Lincoln, who, realizing that the Union was in no position to battle both the South and Britain, toned it down considerably, and made it merely a memorandum for Adams's guidance.
In May 1861, Britain and France declared the South to be belligerents by international law, and their ships were entitled to the same rights as U.S.-flagged vessels, including the right to remain 24 hours in neutral ports. Nevertheless, Seward was pleased that both nations would not meet with Confederate commissioners or recognize the South as a nation. Britain did not challenge the Union blockade of Confederate ports, and Seward wrote that if Britain continued to avoid interfering in the war, he would not be overly sensitive to what wording they used to describe their policies.Stahr, Seward pp. 293–295.
In November 1861, a Navy warship under Captain Charles Wilkes, intercepted the British mail ship RMS Trent and removed two Confederate diplomats, James Mason and John Slidell. They were held in Boston amid jubilation in the North and outrage in Britain. The British minister in Washington, Lord Lyons, demanded their release, as the U.S. had no right to stop a British-flagged ship traveling between neutral ports. The British drew up war plans to attack New York and sent reinforcements to Canada. Seward worked to defuse the situation. He persuaded Lyons to postpone delivering an ultimatum and told Lincoln that the prisoners would have to be released. Lincoln did let them go, reluctantly, on technical grounds Relations between the U.S. and Britain soon improved; in April 1862, Seward and Lyons signed a treaty they had negotiated allowing each nation to inspect the other's ships for contraband slaves. In November 1862, with America's image in Britain improved by the issuance of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, the British cabinet finally decided against recognition of the Confederacy as a nation.Taylor, Seward p. 198.Stahr,Seward pp. 307–337.
Despite Britain's neutrality, Confederate agents in Britain had arranged for the purchases of arms to be delivered to Confederate ports through blockade runners, which were fast small freighters built in Britain and owned and operated by British. Furthermore the Confederates funded the construction of warships, most notably the CSS Alabama, which sank many Union merchant ships after her construction in 1862. With two more such vessels under construction the following year, supposedly for French interests, Seward pressed Palmerston not to allow the warships to leave port, and, nearly complete, they were seized by British officials in October 1863.Taylor, Seward pp. 217–219. After the war Washington demanded compensation for the damages in the Alabama Claims. London agreed to arbitration and paid $15.5 million in 1872. The result was a reconciliation and good relations between the two nations, known as the Great Rapprochement.Maureen M. Robson, "The Alabama Claims and the Anglo-American Reconciliation, 1865–71." Canadian Historical Review 42.1 (1961): 1-22.
James G. Blaine in 1880s and 1890s James G. Blaine served as Secretary of State in 1881 and 189-1892 under Republican presidents James G. Garfield, Chester Arthur and Benjamin Harrison. Although his foreign policy experience was minimal, Blaine quickly threw himself into his new duties and quickly had a major impact on shaping foreign policy. By 1881, Blaine had completely abandoned his old protectionist high tariff leanings and now used his position as Secretary of State to promote freer trade, especially within the western hemisphere. His reasons were twofold: firstly, Blaine's old fear of British interference in the Americas was undiminished, and he saw increased trade with Latin America as the best way to keep Britain from dominating the region. Secondly, he believed that by encouraging exports, he could increase American prosperity, and by doing so position the Republican party as the author of that prosperity, ensuring continued electoral success. Garfield agreed with his Secretary of State's vision and Blaine called for a Pan-American conference in 1882 to mediate disputes among the Latin American nations and to serve as a forum for talks on increasing trade. At the same time, Blaine hoped to negotiate a peace in the War of the Pacific then being fought by Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. Blaine favored a resolution that would not result in Peru yielding any territory, but Chile, which had by 1881 occupied the Peruvian capital, rejected any negotiations that would gain them nothing. Blaine sought to expand American influence in other areas, calling for renegotiation of the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty to allow the United States to construct a canal through Panama without British involvement, as well as attempting to reduce British involvement in the strategically located Kingdom of Hawaii. His plans for the United States' involvement in the world stretched even beyond the Western Hemisphere, as he sought commercial treaties with Korea and Madagascar.Edward P. Crapol, James G. Blaine: Architect of Empire. Biographies in American Foreign Policy (SR, 2000), pp 60-85.Lester D. Langley, "James Gillespie Blaine: The Ideologue as Diplomat" in Merli, Frank J.; Wilson, Theodore A. (eds.) Makers of American Diplomacy: From Benjamin Franklin to Henry Kissinger (Scribner, 2000) pp. 253–278.
In 1889 newly elected President Harrison had developed his foreign policy based largely on Blaine's ideas, and they largely agreed. Unrelated personality conflicts caused tensions but they continued to agree on foreign policy. Blaine and Harrison wished to see American power and trade expanded across the Pacific and were especially interested in securing rights to use harbors in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and Pago Pago, Samoa. When Blaine entered office, the United States, Great Britain, and the German Empire were disputing their respective rights in Samoa. Blaine appointed American representatives to a three-party conference in Berlin aimed at resolving the dispute. It produced a treaty that created a condominium among the three powers, allowing all of them access to the harbor.Crapol, James G. Blaine pp 116-117. Regarding Latin America, Blaine promoted the First International Conference of American States, which met in Washington in 1890. They were frustrated in not making much progress on their overly ambitious goals for a customs union, a pan-American railroad line, and an arbitration process to resolve disputes .Crapol, James G. Blaine pp 118-122.
In Hawaii, Blaine worked to bind the independent kingdom more closely to the United States and to avoid its coming under British control. When the McKinley Tariff of 1890 eliminated the import tax on sugar, Hawaiian sugar-growers looked for a way to retain their once-exclusive access to the American market. The Hawaiian to the United States, Henry A. P. Carter, tried to arrange for Hawaii to have complete trade reciprocity with the United States, but Blaine proposed instead that Hawaii become an American protectorate; Carter favored the idea, but the Hawaiian king, Kalākaua, rejected the infringement on his sovereignty. Blaine next procured the appointment of his former newspaper colleague John L. Stevens as minister to Hawaii. Stevens had long believed that the United States should annex Hawaii, and as minister he co-operated with Americans living in Hawaii in their efforts to bring about annexation. Their efforts ultimately culminated in a coup d'état against Kalākaua's successor, Liliuokalani, in 1893. Blaine's precise involvement is unclear. The new government of Hawaii petitioned the United States for annexation, but by that time Harrison and Blaine were no longer in office and the new president Grover Cleveland sytrongly opposed annexation.Crapol, James G. Blaine pp 123–129.
McKinley, Roosevelt and Taft, 1897-1913
The McKinley administration brought foreign affairs to the top of the agenda for the first time since the 1840s. Most Republicans supported an expansionist foreign policy, building the American presence in the world that suited its increasing economic dominance. Opposition came from an anti-imperialist element, that include some old time Republicans, as well as most Democrats. However, in 1898 the Democrats took the lead in demanding Spain stop oppressing the independent-minded people of Cuba, while McKinley tried to stop the rush to war.Frank Ninkovich, "The United States and Imperialism." in Robert D. Schulzinger, ed. A Companion to U.S. Foreign Relations (2006) pp 79–102.
Roosevelt administration, 1901–1909