Good Neighbor Policy - Definition and Overview

The "Good Neighbor" policy was the policy of the United States Administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in relation to Latin America in 1933-45, when the active U.S. intervention of previous decades was moderated in pursuit of hemispheric solidarity against external threats.

In his first inaugural address on assuming the Presidency (March 4, 1933), Roosevelt declared:

In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the good neighbor--the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others — the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors.

Later that year, military intervention in the Latin American countries was sworn off. The result of the Good Neighbor policy greatly changed relations between the United States and the Latin American countries. Movies by Disney and Carmen Miranda were produced in order to help influence the policy with the American people.

The policy was not explicitly contrary to the Roosevelt Corollary which it effectively superseded, but its tone foreshadowed a more co-operative approach to the resolution of hemispheric problems.