Citizen diplomat: The foreign policy of Benjamin Harrison and the Anglo-Venezuelan boundary disput

This dissertation stresses the assumption that the role played by President Benjamin Harrison as Senior Counsel for Venezuela in the arbitration of the boundary dispute between British Guiana and Venezuela in 1899, can be better understood when seen against the background of his administration's foreign policy (1889-1893).;Part 1 of this study looks at the important beginnings in foreign affairs provided by Harrison and his Secretary of State James Blaine--especially in relation to America's strategic objectives in the Western Hemisphere and the development of a new trade policy toward Latin America.;Part 2 deals exclusively with the Anglo-Venezuelan boundary dispute. In the main, it focuses on the period 1876-1896, characterized by America's progressive involvement in the affair. Part 2 also attempts to reconstruct the inner story of the Anglo-Venezuelan Tribunal, which met in Paris in the summer of 1899, from the verbatim records of the proceedings, Harrison's personal letters, and several contemporary accounts. Part 2 finally discusses Harrison's interpretation of the award and the lack of any stable government in Venezuela at the time which the award was handed down. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).