American policy towards Japan in 1930s did not reflect Theodore Roosevelt’s principle that this country would necessarily oppose any who would be “top dog” in Asia. Isolationism was applied in Pacific Asia as it was in Atlantic Europe. Pious American rhetoric about self-determination and democratization was in conflict with the reality of imperial rule in the Philippines after its acquisition in 1898. Although a process of self-determination was begun early on and a date was set for the attainment of independence in the mid-1930s, the actual context was one that was imbued with neocolonialism. Nevertheless the ideals and the myths to which they gave rise were important element in the conduct of America policies towards these countries in the second half of the twentieth century.