Trying to restore confidence, he blamed the crisis primarily on Europe, but then, after saluting the unbending rectitude of the Puritans, he went on:[168] It may well be that the determination of the government...to punish certain malefactors of great wealth, has been responsible for something of the trouble; at least to the extent of having caused these men to combine to bring about as much financial stress as possible, in order to discredit the policy of the government and thereby secure a reversal of that policy, so that they may enjoy unmolested the fruits of their own evil-doing.
Regarding the very wealthy, Roosevelt privately scorned. "their entire unfitness to govern the country, and ... the lasting damage they do by much of what they think are the legitimate big business operations of the day."[169]

Foreign policy
Main article: Foreign policy of the Theodore Roosevelt administration
Japan
The American annexation of Hawaii in 1898 was stimulated in part by fear that otherwise Japan would dominate or seize the Hawaiian Republic.[170] Similarly, Germany was the alternative to American takeover of the Philippines in 1900, and Tokyo strongly preferred the U.S. to take over. 