“During the period between the two world wars, US gunboat diplomacy operated in the Caribbean to make "The American Lake" safe for the fortunes...”

—  William Blum

Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Introduction

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Dec. 10, 2025. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "During the period between the two world wars, US gunboat diplomacy operated in the Caribbean to make "The American Lake…" by William Blum?
William Blum photo
William Blum17
American author and historian 1933–2018

Related quotes

Charlie Chaplin photo

“This is a story of a period between two World Wars — an interim in which insanity cut loose. Liberty took a nose dive, and humanity was kicked around somewhat.”

Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977) British comic actor and filmmaker

Opening placard
The Great Dictator (1940)

K. R. Narayanan photo

“Relations between India and China have been founded on solid understanding of the affinities of the cultures and the civilizations of the two countries, and the imperatives of peaceful co-existence and close co-operation between them in the post-cold war world. I believe that India-China friendship and co-operation could be a shining example of concord and harmonious relations between two ancient civilizations and the foundation for a just, stable and peaceful world order.”

K. R. Narayanan (1920–2005) 9th Vice President and the 10th President of India

Press Information Bureau in: Address By His Excellency Shri K.R. Narayanan, President Of The Republic Of India At Peking University http://pib.myiris.com/speech/article.php3?fl=010508171719, press Information Bureau, 30 May 2000

Lawrence Ferlinghetti photo

“I am waiting for the war to be fought
which will make the world safe for anarchy”

Lawrence Ferlinghetti book A Coney Island of the Mind

Source: A Coney Island of the Mind

Paul LePage photo

“I apologize to Jewish Americans if they feel offended. But I also apologize to Japanese Americans that were put in prison during World War II, and I also apologize to those people that were accused of being communists during McCarthyism, because that's not the American way.”

Paul LePage (1948) American businessman, Republican Party politician, and the 74th Governor of Maine

About LePage's statements on the IRS. As quoted by Seven Days. http://7d.blogs.com/blurt/2012/07/maine-gov-paul-lepage-doubles-down-on-gestapo-comment-after-brock-fundraiser.html (July 12, 2012)

U Thant photo

“The war we have to wage today has only one goal, and that is to make the world safe for diversity.”

U Thant (1909–1974) 3rd Secretary-General of the United Nations

Address of 1964, republished in Portfolio for Peace (1968), p. 14
Context: Two world wars were fought to make the world safe for democracy. Today we have to wage a war on all fronts. This war has to be waged in peace time, but it has to be waged as energetically and with as much total national effort as in times of war. The war we have to wage today has only one goal, and that is to make the world safe for diversity.
The concept of peaceful coexistence has been criticized by many who do not see the need to make the world safe for diversity. I wonder if they have ever paused to ask themselves the question: What is the alternative to coexistence?

“Quite a number of observers have commented on my coolness during various riotous concerts which I performed at during those first tumultuous years of the armistice between World War I and World War II. The reason is very simple: I was armed.”

George Antheil (1900–1959) American avant-garde composer, pianist, author and inventor

David Low (cartoonist) photo

“It may well be, that the future historian, asked to point to the most characteristic expression of the English temper in the period between the two wars will reply without hesitation, "Colonel Blimp."”

David Low (cartoonist) (1891–1963) British cartoonist

C. S. Lewis "Blimpophobia", in Time and Tide September 9, 1944.
Criticism

“Wilhelm II styled himself Admiral of the Atlantic, though that ocean had never been claimed to be an inland waterway. The fleet of gunboats that cruised up and down the Yangtze was a standing temptation for the local representatives of the Great Powers to give point to their often unreasonable demands by a demonstration or the threat of a bombardment. Many instances could be given of this kind of 'gunboat diplomacy' in the interests of missionaries, private debtors and even ordinary Christian converts.”

K. M. Panikkar (1895–1963) Indian diplomat, academic and historian

Asia and Western Dominance: a survey of the Vasco Da Gama epoch of Asian history, 1498–1945

Adolf Hitler photo

“When diplomacy ends, War begins.”

Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Führer and Reich Chancellor of Germany, Leader of the Nazi Party

Tony Benn photo

“All war represents a failure of diplomacy.”

Tony Benn (1925–2014) British Labour Party politician

Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1991/feb/28/the-gulf in the House of Commons (28 February 1991) <br class="br">1990s

Related topics