Henry Cabot Lodge's 1912 resolution expressed concern about corporate ownership of a harbor or other place that could threaten American communications or security. Its wording targeted a relationship with a foreign government that could give that government practical control. The immediate concern involved land around Mexico's Magdalena Bay, although Lodge acknowledged that inquiries had found no government taking possession and that the commercial negotiations remained tentative. The approaching opening of the Panama Canal increased the strategic importance he attached to Magdalena Bay and the Galápagos Islands. He presented advance notice as a way to prevent a later confrontation in which withdrawal might humiliate another power. The lecture interprets this assertion about territory in Mexico as an example of the doctrine's imperial implications.
Chapter · 1:31:38-1:39:20
The Lodge Corollary and strategic corporate ownership
The 1912 resolution addressed corporate ownership that could give a foreign government practical control of strategically placed territory, prompted by tentative negotiations around Magdalena Bay.