Latin American History Commons^™

Atoms For Agency: How Argentina’S Pursuit Of Nuclear Power Plants Represents International Legitimacy And Autonomy, 1951-1978., Jacob R. Gressin

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

Since 1949 Argentina has developed nuclear power plants (NPPs), overcoming political instability and financial barriers, to eventually succeed in the activation of Latin America’s first nuclear power plant, Atucha-1, in 1974. However, given the ample means of electrical production though fossil fuels and hydroelectric power, NPPs in Argentina present a paradoxical means of electrical production. This paper analyzes the history of Argentina’s nuclear power program, from 1951-1978, in order to offer a more holistic understanding of why NPPs were developed. I argue that nuclear power in Argentina was motivated not by a desire for electrical generation or to manufacture …

Doris Stevens: A "Fascist" Feminist? Stevens, The Inter-American Commission Of Women, And The Unión Argentina De Mujeres, 1936-1939, Jeannette Hunker

Scripps Senior Theses

Doris Stevens (1888-1963) was a U.S. feminist, suffragist, and member of the National Women’s Party. After the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1920, Stevens, among other U.S. feminists, involved herself in Latin American politics, working to pass women’s suffrage legislation in multiple countries. Stevens was chair of the Inter-American Commission of Women (IACW) from 1928 to 1939. Eventually, a number of Latin American feminists, as well as members of the Roosevelt administration, sought to remove her from the IACW when her political tendencies posed a threat to both. Accused of being a “fascist,” Stevens was voted …

Central American Migration Patterns: How The Actions Of The United States Have Impacted Emigration From The Northern Triangle Of Central America, Sydney Newby

Honors Projects

This paper is based on the fact that there is a growing number of Americans who feel negatively about immigrants, especially from Latin America. However, these people do not consider what role their own country plays in these migration patterns. There has been an increase in migration from Central America, specifically the countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras and there has been research by experts on what has caused this migration surge. Some of these reasons include political and economic instability. However, a lesser explored reason in the field and a reason that is likely not considered by the …

Lending A Helping Hand: Dollar Diplomacy In Latin America, Rachel Hollenbeck

Undergraduate Research Journal

“Lending a Helping Hand: Dollar Diplomacy in Latin America” examines Dollar Diplomacy as a U.S. foreign policy during the Taft Administration, including the context and previous policies related to Dollar Diplomacy and the success and breakdown of Dollar Diplomacy in Latin America. An explanation of Dollar Diplomacy and the reasons behind implementing the policy are also a part of this study. This paper reveals an aspect of U.S. and Latin American relations that still affects foreign affairs today. While the intentions in creating Dollar Diplomacy were a mixture of good and bad and the hopes for a successful and profitable …

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 …

Constitutional Reflections Of The People: Representation In The Constitutions Of The United States (1789) And Chile (1833), Zoe E. Nelson

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

This paper is a comparative analysis of the American Constitution of 1789 and the Chilean Constitution of 1833, as well as the political writings of major political theorists prior to the making of each constitution. In comparing the historical development and making of Constitutions in post-war, newly independent American nations, this paper seeks to understand the similarities between American and Chilean Constitutional institutions and underlying political theory from a historical perspective. Bearing this purpose in mind, this paper asks, “In what ways were the Constitution making measures of Chile and the United States in 1833 and 1789, respectively, a reflection …

Special Relationships: Anglo-American Latin America Policy And The Redefining Of National Security, 1969-1982, Benjamin Jared Pack

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

From 1969–82, the United States and Great Britain redefined national security in a distinctive way, separating the notion of national security from its traditional foundations in realist thought. The way the two powers come to define national security was the result of more than a century of historical interaction with Latin America and their own historical experience with ideology, imperialism, and colonialism. As such, the way the United States and Great Britain perceived their respective special relationships influenced the way they chose to intervene in matters of national security, particularly in Latin America’s Southern Cone countries of Chile and Argentina. …

Us And The Cold War In Latin America, Thomas Field

Publications

The Cold War in Latin America had marked consequences for the region’s political and economic evolution. From the origins of US fears of Latin American Communism in the early 20th century to the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, regional actors played central roles in the drama. Seeking to maximize economic benefit while maintaining independence with regard to foreign policy, Latin Americans employed an eclectic combination of liberal and anti-imperialist discourses, balancing frequent calls for anti-Communist hemispheric unity with periodic diplomatic entreaties to the Soviet bloc and the nonaligned Third World. Meanwhile, US Cold War policies toward …

Just A Buncha Clowns: Comedic-Anarchy And Racialized Performance In Black Vaudeville, The Chop Suey Circuit, And Las Carpas, Michael Shane Breaux

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

While the practice of white musical variety clowns embodying stereotypes of African, Chinese, and Mexican Americans has been widely documented and theorized in scholarship on US American popular performance, it has been done largely in segregated studies that maintain the idea that racial impersonations in musical variety is a privilege of white performers. For instance, no study exists that focuses on more than one stereotype at a time, and the performer’s body is always either white or of the same “color” as the type being played. In addition, very little has been written about the tours and circuits run by …

Venezuela Undermines Gold Miner Crystallex's Attempts To Recover On Its Icsid Award, Sam Wesson

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

From Riots To Sovereignty: United States Policy Makers Ideas, Perceptions, And Reactions To The Panamanian Struggle For Sovereignty, William Edward Humphrey

Graduate Theses

After the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903 the Panamanian people had to live in an occupied country. The U.S. took control of a ten-mile stretch of land surrounding a canal of immense importance to world trade. The U.S. policy makers ignored the pleas, complaints, and demonstrations of the Panamanian people as they struggled for sovereignty in their country. This thesis will show, through the use of primary sources from the U.S. government that U.S. policy makers refused to see the importance of sovereignty to the Panamanian people until the 1964 Panamanian Flag Riots. After that episode, U.S. policy makers dramatically shifted …

Conflict Beyond Borders: The International Dimensions Of Nicaragua's Violent Twentieth-Century, 1909–1990, Andrew William Wilson

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this research is to identify the importance of Nicaraguan political contests in the global twentieth century. The goal is to demonstrate that, despite its relatively small size, Nicaragua significantly influenced the course of modern history. This has been done by examining the international contestations between Nicaragua’s revolutionary and counterrevolutionary currents from Augusto Sandino’s resistance to U.S. imperialism, to the machinations of the Somoza family, and the Contra War of the 1980s. Upon examination of these events, it becomes clear that Nicaraguans on both sides of the conflict proved adept at cultivating and utilizing transnational networks of material …

Book Review: Christopher Darnton. Rivalry And Alliance Politics In Cold War Latin America, Dustin Walcher, Thomas C. Field Jr., Charles Jones, Michael E. Neagle, Christopher Darnton

Publications

This document includes Dr. Field's review of Christopher Darnton's Rivalry and Alliance Politics in Cold War Latin America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014. ISBN: 9781421413617 (paperback, $44.95). It is part of H-Diplo | ISSF, Roundtable, Volume VIII, No. 8 (2016).

The Guarantee Of Freedom And Dignity? Colombian Land Reform, The Alliance For Progress, And The United States, Thomas A. Costello

Honors Scholar Theses

Although the United States had involved itself in programs of land reform in Korea, Japan, and Western Europe in the mid-20^th century, prior to the establishment of the Alliance for Progress, there was little discussion of encouraging such programs in Latin America. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the attitudes towards land reform in Colombia prior to the signing of Colombian Law 135. By examining documents from the Kennedy administration, this thesis proves the United States exerted its influence on Latin American nations in the early 1960’s to promote the enacting of national agrarian reform projects. Furthermore, …

Book Review: Thomas C. Field, Jr. From Development To Dictatorship: Bolivia And The Alliance For Progress In The Kennedy Era., Dustin Walcher, Thomas Tunstall Allcock, Philip E. Muehlenbeck, Amy C. Offner, James F. Siekmeier, Thomas C. Field Jr.

Publications

This document offers reviews and discussion of Thomas C. Field, Jr.’s book From Development to Dictatorship: Bolivia and the Alliance for Progress in the Kennedy Era. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2014. ISBN: 978-0-8014-5260-4 (hardcover, $45.00).

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 …

American Propaganda, Popular Media, And The Fall Of Jacobo Arbenz, Zachary Carl Fisher

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In June 1954, President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman of Guatemala resigned in the face of a coup led by Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas. While the United States publicly denied involvement, the coup was in fact the culmination of a plan called PBSUCCESS (CIA codeword), led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Although PBSUCCESS lived up to its namesake, it was aided (both intentionally and unintentionally) by various U.S. media outlets. For the duration of Arbenz Guzman's regime, he and his country had been the subject of U.S. suspicions of undue Communist and Soviet influence. A general anti-Communist attitude permeated virtually all …

American Hypocrisy In Foreign Policy: Operation Fubelt And The Overthrow Of Salvador Allende, David G. Huggins

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

There are many examples of United States hypocrisy in foreign policy, in numerous countries in virtually every region of the world. This paper will look at just one of those examples, the United States involvement in the overthrow of President Salvador Allende of Chile. Declassified government documents related to the CIA operation, codenamed FUBELT, are used to show key personnel involved and major aspects of the operation. These documents show a blatant disregard of the United States government's own ideology and policies regarding democracy, as well as its disregard of the United Nations documents that it signed to guarantee the …

A Tale Of Two Freedmen: Comparing Black Self-Determination In Atlanta And Salvador, Caitlin Wells

Latin American Studies Honors Projects

After emancipation, African-Americans in Atlanta, Georgia, sought self-determination through formal political means, whereas Afro-Brazilians in Salvador da Bahia pursued self-determination through cultural expression. To determine why, I have synthesized secondary sources into an original comparative narrative based in the different experiences of slavery, the different emancipation processes, and the different post-emancipation socio-political situations of each region. These contrasting histories led Afro-Brazilians in Bahia to organize much in the ways they had under slavery, whereas African Americans in Georgia were drawn into formal politics through opportunities presented under Radical Reconstruction. Unfortunately, white supremacy was quickly restored in Georgia under Redemption, leaving …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Protest In Washington Dc-4 Days In April

Free South Africa Movement

A brochure from the Steering Committee of the April Actions for Peace, Jobs, and Justice, to protest in Washington, DC against U.S. military intervention in Central America and U.S. government and corporate support for African African apartheid and in favor of ending racism, creating new jobs and cut the military budget.

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 …

The American-Argentine Agricultural Machinery Trade 1880-1900, Thomas J. Smith

All Master's Theses

This paper presents an account of the American-Argentine agricultural machinery trade from 1880-1900. The paper is intended to offer some insights into American commercial expansion in general during that period. The paper provides an account of the nature of the agricultural machinery trade, including consideration of marketing factors and European competition. The paper further illustrates the role of the American State Department in commercial expansion during the years 1880-1900.

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.

The Response Of The United States To Fascism In Latin America 1933-1943, Robert C. Rasmussen

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The conflict between the totalitarian forces of fascism and the democracies was not confined to just the battlefields of Western Europe or the beaches of the South Pacific. Between 1933 and 1943 the forces of these two conflicting ideologies were engaged in a struggle to win the confidence of the people of Latin America. The suc­cess that the United States ultimately had in winning the trust and support of the Latin America nations bolstered the morale of America while at the same time denying the Nazis an important strategic and propaganda triumph.

In this study the activities of the Nazis …

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

History Theses & Dissertations

Abstract unavailable.