Short answers, pulled from the story.
American imperialism is the exercise of power by the United States outside its borders. It encompasses territorial conquest and colonialism in its early history, and later shifted to controlling or influencing other countries through alliances, aid, gunboat diplomacy, trade, regime change, and cultural influence without direct annexation.
The United States acquired the Louisiana Purchase of 828,000 square miles in 1803, annexed 525,000 square miles of Mexican territory through the 1846-1848 Mexican-American War, purchased Alaska's 665,384 square miles from Russia in 1867, and later took Hawaii, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, and other Pacific islands. Hawaii became the 50th US state in 1959.
The CIA launched a coup in late 1952 via Operation Ajax with British support, overthrowing Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who had nationalized the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1951. The coup restored the Shah's power, and the nationalized company was replaced by a consortium of BP and eight European and American oil companies. The US formally acknowledged its role in August 2013.
In exchange for US security guarantees, Saudi Arabia agreed to price oil exclusively in US dollars, displacing British sterling and establishing the dollar as the primary international reserve currency. Saudi oil revenues were channeled back into US Treasury securities, and the Gulf region became a primary market for US military exports, creating a durable economic and military dependency.
The Department of Defense reported 587 bases in 2015, while an independent count found 800, including 174 in Germany, 113 in Japan, and 83 in South Korea. As of 2024, approximately 160,000 active-duty US personnel were deployed outside the United States and its territories.
Butler, described as the most-decorated Marine of his era, stated in a 1933 speech that he had been "a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism," helping make Mexico safe for American oil interests in 1914, assisting financial interests in Haiti and Cuba, and operating across three continents on behalf of Wall Street. He served under President Wilson, who launched seven overseas armed interventions.