<P> I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism . I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time . Now I am sure of it...I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914 . I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in . I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street...Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints . The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts . I operated on three continents . </P> <P> Journalist Ashley Smith divides theories of the U.S. imperialism into 5 broad categories: (1) "liberal" theories, (2) "social - democratic" theories, (3) "Leninist" theories, (4) theories of "super-imperialism", and (5) "Hardt - and - Negri" theories . </P> <P> There is also a conservative, anti-interventionist view as expressed by American journalist John T. Flynn: </P> <P> The enemy aggressor is always pursuing a course of larceny, murder, rapine and barbarism . We are always moving forward with high mission, a destiny imposed by the Deity to regenerate our victims, while incidentally capturing their markets; to civilise savage and senile and paranoid peoples, while blundering accidentally into their oil wells . </P>

Where did america expand their territory to during the imperialist era