Which U.S. president sent Marines to Honduras in 1911 to protect banana interests?

William Howard Taft sent Marines to Honduras in 1911 amid unrest linked to American commercial interests, including the banana trade.

The deployment took place during the wider Banana Wars, a period when the United States used military intervention, occupation, and naval pressure across the Caribbean and Central America. In Honduras, American fruit companies controlled important banana plantations, railways, ports, and export routes, giving economic disputes a strong political dimension.

Taft was president from 1909 to 1913 and promoted Dollar Diplomacy, which sought to protect American financial interests abroad through diplomacy backed by military power. In January 1911, American naval detachments landed in Honduras during a civil conflict to protect American lives and property; Marines were part of the broader intervention forces associated with that episode.

The question is sometimes confused with interventions under Theodore Roosevelt or Woodrow Wilson, who also oversaw Banana Wars operations elsewhere. Taft is the president linked to the 1911 Honduras deployment, while Warren G. Harding did not become president until 1921.