How would a surviving Garfield Administration have handled the War of the Pacific?

CaliGuy

Banned
Based on the information here, it looks like the Administration of U.S. President James A. Garfield and specifically his Secretary of State James G. Blaine adopted a pro-Peruvian stance during the War of the Pacific:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Campaign_of_the_War_of_the_Pacific#Rise_of_Miguel_Iglesias

Anyway, had James Garfield survived his assassination attempt (such as by getting more competent doctors), how would his administration have handled the War of the Pacific?

For instance, would some kind of U.S. military intervention in the region be feasible? Also, would a surviving Garfield Administration have in any way affected the outcome of this war or its aftermath?
 
I don't know enough about Garfield to comment on that aspect, but US intervention in the War of the Pacific was at least a remote possibility IOTL. IIRC the US attempted to purchase a naval base from Peru midway through the conflict, and was only prevented from making good on the agreement when Chile got wind of it and sent troops to occupy the planned base.
 
I understand that, a that point, the US navy was in such a poor shape that the Chilean fleet was considered a serious potential threat by the US. Of course, the US had the ability to fix this in relatively short order while Chile hadn't, but in the meantime Chilean naval superiority, even if temporary, would have played merry hell with American attempts at military intervention. Now, the US of course had other means to make its strength felt, I suppose, primarily through economic pressures. Not sure how much of impact this would have, since the dominant foreign economic player in the region was still Britain, but clearly it wouldn't go unnoticed.
 
My (very amateur) impression is that it would not be too different from OTL -- the "first" change to US foreign policy I see is that James Blaine remains Secretary of State, rather than leaving towards the end of 1881; as such, any noticeable changes to US policy toward South America or naval preparation (or what have you) would be in 1882 or after, and it seems like the war was pretty much played out by that point.

CONSOLIDATE: Speaking of the Pacific more generally in a Garfield Lives TL -- does anybody think that events in Hawaii would be affected? Specifically, if we assume Garfield wins reelection, might the coup of 1887 decide to go the whole hog and have the king step down, so that an earlier republic could petition for annexation?
 
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