Latin America has been an integral part of the United States’ informal empire since the Monroe Doctrine of 1823. After the rise of the Soviet Union, the United States often used the fear of communism to justify invasive policies. When the Nixon/Ford administration wanted to intervene in Latin America, it too claimed that communism threatened the region. By doing so, the administration continued a paternalistic approach to Latin America that was actually driven less by communism than by a desire for hemispheric control. The United States viewed economic nationalism in Latin America as threatening to U.S. interests. In order to maintain economic supremacy, the Nixon/Ford administration developed four South American allies,Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, and Argentina, which played a crucial role in preserving an open market for U.S. interests. The Nixon/Ford administration interfered in Latin America because it became alarmed that the United States was losing regional hegemony.