by Patrick J. Buchanan – October 20, 1997

For the Theodore Roosevelt Big Stick Award for 1997, permit me to nominate Harold Creel of the Federal Maritime Commission.

Fed up with Japan’s refusal to pay $4 million in fines, Creel last Thursday ordered all U.S. ports closed to Japanese ships. The Coast Guard was to carry out Creel’s embargo. On Friday, a stunned Japan capitulated, accepting U.S. demands to halt the harassment of U.S. shipping in Japanese harbors, which had caused the crisis. Creel’s escalation worked.