mexican revolution questions of the day # 4 daniel w. blackmon ib hl history coral gables sr. high

Mexican Revolution Questions of the Day # 4

Daniel W. Blackmon

IB HL History

Coral Gables Sr. High

The Question

• Analyze the role of the United States in the Mexican Revolution. (HL) (1999)

Key Terms

• Analyze

• “Role of the US”

• Note: Time frame is 1900-1940

Thesis

• “Porfirio Díaz is alleged to have remarked, ‘Poor Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States.’ This comment could well serve as a key to the US’ role in the Mexican Revolution;

Thesis

• “the US was a constant presence in Mexico and in the minds of Mexican leaders. US interference in Mexico was inconsistent in motivation and in results, but it had to be accounted for at all times.”

Thesis

• US investment in Mexico helped create the conditions which led to the Revolution in the first place; the plotting of Henry Lane Wilson contributed to the overthrow of Madero and civil war;

Thesis

• access to weapons and money from the US were important in Orozco and Villa’s victory on Madero’s behalf, and on Villa’s ability to continue his struggle against Carranza (and why Zapata was defeated). The invasion of Vera Cruz caused crippling financial losses to Huerta’s government, leading to his resignation.

Thesis

• The Pershing Expedition provided a means for Carranza to legitimize his government, and, finally, diplomatic relations with the US were important issues for Obregón, Calles, and Cárdenas.

Thesis

• Franklin Roosevelt’s decision not to intervene in Mexico after Cárdenas nationalized US oil companies marks a recognition of the revolutionary government as a fully sovereign state.”

The US and the Porfiriato

New Mining Code

• The Guggenheims invested in the American Smelting and Refining Company, the Aguascalientes Mining Company, the Guggenheim Exploration Company and the Mexican Exploration Company. Investments reached $12,000,000.

New Mining Code

• In 1898, Colonel William Greene became the copper king of Sonora, investing his profits from copper into ranching and lumber

Cananea Strike 1906

• The strike was against William Greene’s Consolidated Cananea Copper Company. Greene called in Arizona Rangers, who invaded Mexico who violently broke the strike.

Oil

• Edward Doheny (who will later be involved in the Teapot Dome Scandal in the US) forms the Mexican Petroleum Company in Tampico and Tuxpan.

• Sir Weetman Dickinson Pearson formed the El Aguila Company.

• These two companies made Mexico one of the leading oil producers in the world.

US as a Haven for Revolutionaries

• Flores Magon brothers

• Creelman Interview

• Francisco Madero

US as a Haven for Revolutionaries

• Capture of Ciudad Juarez by Orozco / Villa permitted resupply to Madero’s forces, while also denying the Porfiristas customs revenue.

Woodrow Wilson and the Military Phase of the Revolution

• Significance of Ciudad Juarez

• Villa for Madero

• Villa under and against Carranza

Woodrow Wilson

• In 1914, Villa expropriated the estates of rancheros who fled, selling the cattle to the US, Cuba, and Europe and using the money to fund his army and government

Woodrow Wilson

• Although he is best known in the US for his later attacks in New Mexico, in this period he was scrupulous to protect the persons and property of foreigners, especially US citizens.

Woodrow Wilson

• US support was important to him. And in fact, he did not definitively lose that support until the Battle of Celayo in 1915 proved to Woodrow Wilson that Villa would be the loser in the civil war.

Woodrow Wilson

• Henry Lane Wilson

• Decena Trágica

• Pact of the Embassy

The Decena Trágica

• Reactionary military units released Reyes and Díaz from prison.

• Street fighting broke out. Madero appointed Victoriano Huerta to defend the government

The Pact of the Embassy

• US Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson regarded himself as a servant of American business interests. Wilson brought Reyes, Díaz, and Huerta together

The Pact of the Embassy

• Huerta seized Madero. Madero was then shot.

• Victoriano Huerta proclaimed himself president.

Woodrow Wilson and Huerta

• The new US President, Woodrow Wilson, refused to recognize Huerta’s government, over-ruling the urging of Henry Lane Wilson.

• “I will not recognize a government of butchers.”


• Suspecting Ambassador. Wilson’s judgment, he sent his own envoy to Mexico, but chose a man who did not speak Spanish!


• President Wilson replaced Ambassador. Wilson, but chose an ambassador who did not speak Spanish either!

• The new ambassador was ignorant, ill-informed, and bigoted.


• Woodrow Wilson is determined that Huerta must go.

• Wilson’s first choice was to allow assistance to the Constitutionalists via the common border.

Vera Cruz intervention

• A trivial incident involving US sailors at Tampico

• Huerta had to shift forces to face the Americans,

• US occupation cut off tariff revenue from Huerta, who was also in serious financial difficulty.


• The Constitutionalists condemned the US intervention (they didn’t like gringos on their soil either) but used the opportunity put even more pressure on Huerta militarily.


• Huerta decides to resign on July 8, 1914.

• ABC Mediation– Wilson allows Argentina, Brazil and Chile to

negotiate US withdrawal from Vera Cruz

Pershing Expedition 1916

• Villa is very badly defeated by Alvaro Obregón at Celaya. Villa charged recklessly with cavalry; Obregón responded with artillery and machine guns.

• Wilson now decided to extend recognition to the Constitutionalists (Carranza).


• Villa was furious at Wilson’s decision, and raids the US at Columbus, New Mexico. The town was destroyed and 18 Americans killed.


• The political furor led Wilson to despatch a punitive force into Mexico to catch Villa, on the grounds that Carranza did not control that part of the border. Catching Villa proved impossible; the terrain was rugged, and Villa was a hero.


• Carranza, having stood up to the US and finally achieving his demand of US withdrawal, is strengthened.


• Skirmishes between Carrancistas and Pershing occurred. Wilson, who was becoming worried about a war with Germany, ordered Pershing to withdraw.

US policy from 1920-1940

Obregón and the US

• Oil and US property in Mexico dominated relationship. US businessmen, such as Harry Sinclair, Edward L. Doheny, and Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall (all of whom branded in the Teapot Dome Scandal that wracked the extremely pro-business Warren G. Harding) were concerned that US properties would be seized under Article 27.

Obregón and the US

• As a result of pressure from oil interests, Harding refused to recognize the Obregón government until 1923.

Obregón and the US

• Obregón’s problem is that he needed oil revenue (especially with the post-war depression) but could not cave in to US pressure for political reasons.

Obregón and the US

• Mexican Supreme Court decisions provided a compromise, using the principle of “positive acts” prior to 1917.

Obregón and the US

• The principle is then ratified in the Bucareli Agreements in 1923, which obtained Obregón diplomatic recognition. ((577-79)

Calles and the US

• US fears over the expropriation of US companies under Article 27 continued. The US Ambassador was deeply hostile, and convinced that a Bolshevist plot existed to take our property.

Calles and the US

• Calles responds to pressure by having a bill passed that repeated the Bucareli Agreements, but for a limited period (50 years).

Calles and the US

• In 1927, Dwight Morrow was sent to Mexico as Ambassador. Morrow was more conciliatory, even learning Spanish. Morrow proves a sensitive negotiator, and is able to receive favorable rulings from Mexican courts while carefully observing Mexico’s “full legal sovereignty, even when the interests of United States citizens were involved.” (587)

Implementation: Cárdenas

• Expropriation of US Oil Companies

• In 1936, Mexican workers at US owned fields went on strike. The companies refused to negotiate with the strikers.


• The strike began to damage the economy, so Cárdenas ordered arbitration.

• The arbitration board ruled in favor of the strikers, ordering a 33% increase in pay and improvements in the pension and welfare system.

Conclusion

• The US played an important role in the causes, course, and final results of the Mexican Revolution, although that role was often inconsistent.


• The companies appealed to the Mexican Supreme Court.

• The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the arbitrator.


• The companies continued to defy the ruling, whereupon Cárdenas ruled that they had defied Mexican sovereignty and nationalized the holdings.


• A storm of protest erupted in the US, with the oil companies, led by Standard Oil, urging intervention to prevent this Communist conspiracy.


• But the President is Franklin D. Roosevelt, who has proposed the Good Neighbor Policy.

• FDR refused to intervene, and instead insisted that the oil companies seek compensation through negotiations.

• They eventually settled for $24 million

mexican revolution questions of the day # 4 daniel w. blackmon ib hl history coral gables sr. high

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