Theodore Rooseveltâ??s involvement in the peace talks which lead to the conclusion of the Russo-Japanese War was a natural outgrowth of his experience and foreign policy. Perhaps the most widely traveled U. S. President since John Quincy Adams, Roosevelt had spent large portions of his life overseas. At the age of 10, Roosevelt left with his family on a Grand Tour of Europe, which lasted over a year, including England, France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany. Two and a half years after their return, the family was off on another tour featuring Egypt, the Holy Land, Austria, Turkey, Greece and Germany. His first honeymoon was to Ireland, England, France and Italy. His second wedding took place in London, followed by tours through England, France and Italy. His much celebrated exploits in Cuba as Colonel of the Rough Riders completed his pre-presidential international travels.
A prominent pro-imperialist politician, Roosevelt led American foreign policy into fields unplowed by prior administrations. Whereas prior administrations were satisfied to limit their interests largely to the Americas, Roosevelt fished in any waters in which the United States, as an emerging world power, had interests. While his intervention in the Venezuelan Crisis of 1902 over debts owed to Britain and Germany could be justified as enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine, his involvement in the 1906 Algeciras Conference over influence in Morocco was part of a new movement into the wider world of diplomacy.
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