Latin American History Commons^™

Peaceful Collaboration: The Truman Administration's Response To The Costa Rican Revolution Of 1948 And The Costa Rica-Nicaragua Crisis Of 1948-1949, James Wilkerson

History Theses & Dissertations

Before, during, and after the Costa Rican Revolution of 1948 and the Costa Rica-Nicaragua Crisis of 1948-1949, the Truman Administration maintained a posture of strict neutrality and helped to isolate, and bring a quick end to, both conflicts. This thesis attempts to revise the historiography of the Costa Rican Revolution by challenging the common view that the United States inaugurated the Cold War in Latin America by facilitating the overthrow of the communist-supported government in Costa Rica. The Truman Administration did not care who won and only wanted the Revolution and Crisis to come to a quick end. The United …

After The Deluge: Central American Historiography At Low Tide, Robert H. Holden

History Faculty Publications

This essay reviews the following works:

Centroamérica: Filibusteros, estados, imperios y memorias. By Víctor Hugo Acuña. San José, Costa Rica: Editorial Costa Rica, 2014. Pp. xv + 151. $5.99 paperback. ISBN: 9789968684408.

I Ask for Justice: Maya Women, Dictators, and Crime in Guatemala, 1898–1944. By David Carey Jr. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2013. Pp. xxv + 335. $55.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780292748682.

A Camera in the Garden of Eden: The Self-Forging of a Banana Republic. By Kevin Coleman. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2016. Pp. 312. $27.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781477308554.

Empire by Invitation: William Walker and Manifest Destiny in …

Beyond Mere War: Authority And Legitimacy In The Formation Of Latin American States, Robert H. Holden

History Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Bracero Families: Mexican Women And Children In The United States, 1942-64, Rachael Frances Delacruz

History Theses & Dissertations

The Bracero Program created a bilateral agreement between the United States and Mexico that legalized US agricultural growers to import Mexican workers on seasonal labor contracts between 1942 and 1964. The Bracero Program exclusively contracted men, allowing male laborers known as braceros to migrate according to seasonal patterns. Many braceros left their families behind in Mexico. However, some bracero families made the dangerous choice to remain together, with women and children migrating illegally to the United States. The experiences of these women and children are silenced in traditional documentary sources like government reports and sociological studies, as well as glossed …

Crossing Borders: Mexican Immigration Into The United States, Ewelina L. Dzieciolowski

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Immigration has been one of the major political and economic topics debated by governments in the world. In the United States, migration legislation is debated in the Senate, and impacts every industry throughout the country. Therefore, with further research in this field more answers for why migration occurs can be found. Although various disciplines focus on this phenomenon, each offers reasons specific to the discipline which is searching for an explanation. This thesis acknowledges that economic factors, social aspects, push and pull influences are some of the reasons for immigration, but it also proposes that there are other forces behind …

Nicaragua's Survival: Choices In A Neoliberal World, Stanley G. Hash Jr.

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

In January 1990 the Nicaraguan electorate chose to abandon the failing Sandinista Revolution in favor of the economic neoliberal rubric. However, since 1990 Nicaragua's economy has been stagnant. Today it is one of the four poorest states in Latin America having been one of the wealthiest before 1975.

The purpose of this work is to explain Nicaragua's poor performance since 1990. The hypothesis is that domestic independent variables are central to recovery and are the underlying causes of Nicaragua's failure to fully recover.

The abuses of the Somozas' ancien régime before the 1979 revolution are well documented; less well documented …

The Catholic Church In The Nicaraguan Revolution: Interdependence And Social Movements, Eric W. Frith

History Theses & Dissertations

In July 1979, Anastasio Somoza Garcia fled Nicaragua, signaling the beginning of a true revolution, in every sense of the word. The triumph of the Nicaraguan Revolution hinged primarily on the development of a broad-based opposition coalition that included workers, peasants, the bourgeoisie and conservative upper-classes, students, and Catholic Christians. For centuries the Catholic Church in Nicaragua had maintained a mutually supportive relationship with the State. In the mid-1960s, however, a social movement began to sweep through the Church at the grassroots, causing the foundations of the Church-State relationship to shift dramatically. This social movement manifested itself in a common …

Institutions, Developmental Alliances, And Economic Development In Korea And Brazil (1950-1985), Charles Paul Winebarger

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This paper compares the development of Korea and Brazil, 1950-85. These newly industrialized countries developed at above-average rates among less developed countries. Korea developed more rapidly than Brazil. The paper contends that institutions, interest groups (especially firms) and the state, enter into developmental alliances. Alliances affect policies. Policies, then, affect development.

Findings reveal interesting trends in the 1950s' democracies of the cases. Both countries had semi-autonomous states, equivocally committed to industrialization. Industry was the growth point in each. Korea used local firms to industrialize; Brazil used foreign firms. In both cases, the state allied itself with firms. Policy mostly favored …

"Never Draw Unless You Mean To Shoot": United States Department Of State's Responses To Property Seizures In Latin America, Nathan D. Younge

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines the U.S. Department of State's diplomatic handling of disputes over the seizure of U.S.-owned property in Latin America between 1937 and 1973. Seizures in Bolivia, Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba, Peru and Chile are used as case studies, and provide examples of successful and unsuccessful diplomatic outcomes.

Several key factors are analyzed in each dispute, including Several key factors are analyzed in each dispute, including whether the Department took a conciliatory or confrontational approach toward each country, the kind of economic pressure applied, the situations under which the Department opted for official diplomatic involvement, and the types of informal …

The Impractical Ideal Costa Rica, The United States And Central America Reunification, 1902-1932, Donald R. Lam

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines the motivations of Central American Unionists and the failure of their movement in the early years of the twentieth century. The existing literature attributes the failure of Central American unification during this era to U.S. policies meant to maintain a divided isthmus in order to economically and politically exploit the region. A closer analysis of the primary sources, however, reveals that union failed because of internal factors, and that Washington's actions generally favored efforts to rejoin the nations to reduce isthmian tensions. Attempts to reunite the republics failed because of regional and domestic political rivalries, weaknesses in …

Edgardo Mercado Jarrin: Peruvian Foreign Policy During The First Three Years Of The Revolutionary Military Government, 1968-1970, Cindy Lucille Robertson

History Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines Foreign Minister Edgardo Mercado Jarrin's policies between 1968 and 1971, investigating the degree to which he formulated an independent Peruvian foreign policy. It traces the ideological underpinnings behind Peruvian diplomacy. The study analyzes three basic dimensions of foreign policy: the seizure of La Brea and Parinas oil fields, the capture of unregistered fishing vessels, and the extension of relations to nonaligned and communist countries. General Mercado charted a new course for Peruvian diplomacy by focusing on the inequities of international maritime law, strengthening relations with the Soviets, carving a niche for Peru in Third World politics, and …

The Evolution And Implementation Of Eisenhower's "New Look" Foreign Policy: Guatemala, Jonathan Joseph York

History Theses & Dissertations

In 1954, a United States assisted coup ousted the freely elected Jacobo Arbenz Guatemalan government. The Eisenhower administration took action because it believed the Guatemalan government was influenced by a communist movement directed from Moscow. Eisenhower's "New Look" foreign policy, a continuation of the containment theory, utilized and revitalized the inner core of the Executive Branch to achieve its objective of eliminating the communist menace emanating from Guatemala. The strategy that supported Eisenhower's policy was successful largely due to conducive political and public opinion in the United States and instability within Guatemala. The "New Look" strategy incorporated use of diplomatic …

Controlling The Big Stick: The United States Navy And The Cuban Intervention Of September 1906, Christopher A. Abel

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

A case study method is used to examine the role played by the United States Navy in bringing about the Second Cuban Intervention of 1906-1909. The 1906 American navy had a distinct lack of centralized direction during the September crisis in Cuba. As a consequence, initiative in the crisis passed to the several naval officers representing the United States in Cuba at the time. These officers acted in consonance with the navy's own institutional agendas and contrary to the objectives of the Theodore Roosevelt administration. In so doing these officers were supported and even rewarded for their actions by the …

The Effects Of United States Inter-American Policy On U.S. Relations With Chile, 1958-1978, Michael Hunter Brown

History Theses & Dissertations

This thesis is an examination and explanation of United States relations with Chile from 1958-1978. The policy of U.S. opposition to the Chilean left, especially during the government of Marxist Salvador Allende from 1970-1973, and support of anti-Marxist forces in Chile, which included a repressive military dictatorship established by a coup in 1973, reflect the overall themes of anti-Marxism and protection of American economic interests inherent in U.S. global and inter-American policy since the Second World War. The major sources of information for this study are reports from investigations and hearings conducted by the United States Congress, especially Covert Action …

The British Diplomatic Response To The Central American Policies Of The Franklin Pierce Administration, 1853-1856, William Mark Hillsman

History Theses & Dissertations

This thesis is an examination of the British Foreign Office's response to the Central American policies of the Franklin Pierce administration. When the Pierce administration came to power in 1853 the United States government abandoned the idea, contained in the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850, of an Anglo-American partnership in Central America and instead launched a diplomatic offensive designed to force Britain completely out of the area. The major source for this study is the Clarendon Manuscripts which contain the personal correspondence of Foreign Secretary Clarendon and his minister in Washington, John F. Crampton, as well as numerous intergovernmental memoranda and …

American Press Reaction To Intervention In Nicaragua, Raymond O. Eason

History Theses & Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The United States And The 1954 Guatemalan Revolution: Intervention Or Prevention, Michael Plunkett

History Theses & Dissertations

Abstract unavailable.

Ambassador Harry Frank Guggenheim In Cuba: 1929-1933, Donald Ross Brimmer

History Theses & Dissertations

Abstract unavailable.

The Bad Neighbor Policy: James Rockwell Sheffield And United States-Mexican Relations 1924-1927, Herbert L. Salyer

History Theses & Dissertations

Abstract unavailable.

The Coming Of The Mexican War: Joel Poinsett And Anthony Butler In Mexico, 1825-1836, Gallais E. Matheny

History Theses & Dissertations

Abstract unavailable.