Abstract
A short introduction presents the main themes and arguments of the book. It deals with the structural elements in U.S. policy toward its sphere of influence in Central America and the Caribbean. The introduction considers the different ways in which the United States has attempted to maintain the political status quo in the region and introduces the question of U.S. collaboration with local authoritarian regimes. A short review of scholarly contributions on this issue ends with the conclusion that the connection between Washington and the dictators of Central America went through significant developments during the Good Neighbor era. The introduction further argues that by studying the encounters between American diplomats and the authoritarian regimes of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, we can gain a deeper understanding of the complex dynamics by which high policy took shape in local contexts. The introduction ends with a review of the chronological flow of the manuscript and the main themes of each chapters.
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Notes
- 1.
On U.S. occupations, consult: Bruce J. Calder, The Impact of Intervention: The Dominican Republic during U.S. Occupation, 1916–1924 (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1984); Louis A. Pérez, Jr., Cuba under the Platt Amendment (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1986); Mary A. Renda, Taking Haiti. Military Occupation and the Culture of U.S. Imperialism (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2001); Michel Gobat, Confronting the American Dream: Nicaragua under U.S. Imperial Rule (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2005); Alan McPherson, The Invaded. How Latin Americans and their Allies Fought and Ended U.S. Occupations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).
- 2.
The Good Neighbor is generally associated with the Franklin Roosevelt administration and the years 1933 to 1945. Since the non-intervention principle is taken to be a central element of the Good Neighbor policy in this book, it includes the years during which that policy was introduced and “dismantled”. See n5 below for the beginnings of the non-intervention principle under Herbert Hoover. For the slow process by which the non-intervention policy was abandoned, a process that ended with the 1954 CIA coup in Guatemala, see Bryce Wood, The Dismantling of the Good Neighbor Policy (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1985).
- 3.
Bryce Wood, The Making of the Good Neighbor Policy (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961); Irwin F. Gellman, Good Neighbor Diplomacy: United States Policies in Latin America, 1933–1945 (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979); Fredrik B. Pike, FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy: Sixty Years of Generally Gentle Chaos (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1995).
- 4.
The definition and practice of non-intervention developed throughout the Good Neighbor era. At minimum, it refers to the absence of overt military intervention. At maximum, it means the total abandonment of any attempt, even in the form of advice, to interfere in the internal affairs of Latin American republics (at times, this book will use the term “non-interference” to refer to that latter definition). At several points throughout this text, the evolution of non-intervention will be described, mainly from the standpoint of the United States.
- 5.
Probably the most recent and forceful argument for the importance of Herbert Hoover’s administration in establishing the non-intervention principle is: Alan McPherson, “Herbert Hoover, Occupation Withdrawal, and the Good Neighbor policy”, Presidential Studies Quarterly 44:4 (December 2014), 623–639. DOI 10.1111/psq.12153. Wood explains how it developed during the early years of the Roosevelt administration and takes Hull’s declaration at the Buenos Aires conference as the end-point of that development: Wood, The Making, passim, especially 118–122.
- 6.
McPherson, “Herbert Hoover”, par. 1.
- 7.
William Krehm, a Canadian journalist and Time correspondent in Central America and the Caribbean during World War II, wrote several articles during the 1940s in which he provided colorful portraits of both the dictators of the region as well as several U.S. ambassadors of the time. He also criticized the non-intervention policy as a fraud because it permitted the persistence of the dictatorial regimes. A collection of his articles was published in Spanish in 1948 and in English in 1984. William Krehm, Democracies and Tyrannies of the Caribbean (Westport, CT: Lawrence Hill and Company, 1984).
- 8.
Walter LaFeber, Inevitable Revolutions. The United States in Central America (New York: Norton, 1983), 19–83; Lars Schoultz, Beneath the United States: A History of U.S. Policy toward Latin America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998), 271; David F. Schmitz, ‘Thank God they’re on our side.’ The United States and Right-Wing Dictatorships, 1921–1965 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1999), 47. Additionally, Max Paul Friedman discusses U.S. cooperation with Latin American and Central American dictators during World War II, especially Ubico, but assumes that close ties dated to the 1930s, stating that “Support for dictatorship and military rule made it possible for the United States to behave in a more ‘neighborly’ fashion”: Max Paul Friedman, Nazis and Good Neighbors: The United States Campaign against Germans of Latin America in World War II (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 75. Brian Loveman argues that after the era of intervention, “some U.S. objectives could be secured, especially ‘stability’ and a commitment by Latin American governments to meet ‘international obligations’, by installing ‘elected’ dictatorships…”. Brian Loveman, No Higher Law. American Foreign Policy and the Western Hemisphere since 1776 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2010), 242.
- 9.
Thomas Leonard argues that U.S. policymakers scorned the illegal practices by which the dictators of Central America remained in power. In his interpretation, the way in which the dictators came to power could be considered a test of U.S. devotion to the non-intervention principle: Thomas M. Leonard, Central America and the United States: The Search for Stability (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1991), 99–101. Alternatively, John Findling finds that while the U.S. was quite satisfied to accept dictatorial rule in Central America during the 1930s, the State Department never got along with Jorge Ubico or Maximiliano Hernández Martínez and did not shed a tear when those leaders were toppled in 1944: John Findling, Close Neighbors Distant Friends: United States-Central American Relations (New York: Greenwood Press, 1987), Chap. 5.
- 10.
Paul C. Clark, Jr., The United States and Somoza, 1933–1956. A Revisionist Look (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1992) and Andrew Crawley, Somoza and Roosevelt. Good Neighbour Diplomacy in Nicaragua, 1933–1945 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). References to specific findings from these works can be found throughout this book.
- 11.
Eric Paul Roorda, The Good Neighbor Policy and the Trujillo Regime in the Dominican Republic, 1930–1945 (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1998), 1–2, Chap. 6, and 242–243.
- 12.
Kenneth Grieb has published several articles on U.S. involvement in the regimes of Jorge Ubico and Maximiliano Hernández Martínez at crucial moments in their rise to power. See especially: Kenneth J. Grieb, “American Involvement in the Rise of Jorge Ubico”, Caribbean Studies, 10:1 (April 1970), 5–21; ibid., “The United States and General Jorge Ubico’s Retention of Power”, Revista de Historia de América 71 (January to June 1971), 119–135; ibid., “The United States and the Rise of General Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez”, Journal of Latin American Studies 3:2 (November 1971), 151–172. His major monograph on the regime of Jorge Ubico contains many insights into the caudillo’s relationship with the United States: Kenneth J. Grieb, Guatemalan Caudillo. The Regime of Jorge Ubico: Guatemala 1931–1944 (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1979). Several other studies that deal with the governments of Ubico, Martínez, and Carías from a domestic angle, but which do offer insights in their relationship with the United States will be quoted throughout this book. Studies that focus specifically on U.S. relations with these governments are scarce. One recent exception is: Adam Fenner, “Puppet Dictator in the Banana Republic? Re-examining Honduran-American Relations in the Era of Tiburcio Carías Andino, 1933–1938”, Diplomacy & Statecraft 25:4 (2014), 613–629.
References
Calder, Bruce J. 1984. The Impact of Intervention: The Dominican Republic during U.S. Occupation, 1916–1924. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Clark, Paul C., Jr. 1992. The United States and Somoza, 1933–1956. A Revisionist Look. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Crawley, Andrew. 2007. Somoza and Roosevelt. Good Neighbour Diplomacy in Nicaragua, 1933–1945. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fenner, Adam. 2014. Puppet Dictator in the Banana Republic? Re-examining Honduran-American Relations in the Era of Tiburcio Carías Andino, 1933–1938. Diplomacy & Statecraft 25 (4): 613–629.
Findling, John. 1987. Close Neighbors Distant Friends: United States-Central American Relations. New York: Greenwood Press.
Friedman, Max Paul. 2003. Nazis and Good Neighbors: The United States Campaign Against Germans of Latin America in World War II. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Gellman, Irwin F. 1979. Good Neighbor Diplomacy: United States Policies in Latin America, 1933–1945. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press.
Gobat, Michel. 2005. Confronting the American Dream: Nicaragua under U.S. Imperial Rule. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Grieb, Kenneth J. 1970. American Involvement in the Rise of Jorge Ubico. Caribbean Studies 10 (1): 5–21.
———. 1971a. The United States and General Jorge Ubico’s Retention of Power. Revista de Historia de América 71: 119–135.
———. 1971b. The United States and the Rise of General Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez. Journal of Latin American Studies 3 (2): 151–172.
———. 1979. Guatemalan Caudillo. The Regime of Jorge Ubico: Guatemala 1931–1944. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.
Krehm, William. 1984. Democracies and Tyrannies of the Caribbean. Westport, CT: Lawrence Hill and Company.
LaFeber, Walter. 1983. Inevitable Revolutions. The United States in Central America. New York: Norton.
Leonard, Thomas M. 1991. Central America and the United States: The Search for Stability. Athens, OH: University of Georgia Press.
Loveman, Brian. 2010. No Higher Law. American Foreign Policy and the Western Hemisphere since 1776. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
McPherson, Alan. 2014a. The Invaded. How Latin Americans and Their Allies Fought and Ended U.S Occupations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
———. 2014b. Herbert Hoover, Occupation Withdrawal, and the Good Neighbor Policy. Presidential Studies Quarterly 44 (4): 623–639. https://doi.org/10.1111/psq.12153.
Pérez, Louis A., Jr. 1986. Cuba under the Platt Amendment. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Pike, Fredrik B. 1995. FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy: Sixty Years of Generally Gentle Chaos. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Renda, Mary A. 2001. Taking Haiti. Military Occupation and the Culture of U.S. Imperialism. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
Roorda, Eric Paul. 1998. The Good Neighbor Policy and the Trujillo Regime in the Dominican Republic, 1930–1945. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Schmitz, David F. 1999. ‘Thank God They’re on Our Side.’ The United States and Right-Wing Dictatorships, 1921–1965. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
Schoultz, Lars. 1998. Beneath the United States: A History of U.S. Policy toward Latin America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wood, Bryce. 1961. The Making of the Good Neighbor Policy. New York: Columbia University Press.
———. 1985. The Dismantling of the Good Neighbor Policy. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
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van den Berk, J. (2018). Coping with the Caudillos. In: Becoming a Good Neighbor among Dictators. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69986-8_1
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