Argentina and the United States: An Alliance Contained

Abstract

In this contribution to the University of Georgia’s United States and the Americas series, David Sheinin has produced a masterful, insightful survey of two centuries of diplomatic, economic, and cultural interaction. While scholars of U.S.-Argentine relations tend to focus upon the periodic high-profile conflicts and tensions that have all too often marred the relationship, Sheinin emphasizes an imperfect but critical underlying harmony and cooperation that has proven to be more durable than any political dispute. In essence, he extends a thesis he has articulated in previous works to encompass the entire scope of U.S.-Argentine relations. With his command of even the most recent secondary literature and exceptional archival research on three continents, he has produced a valuable synthesis of newer cultural trends with traditional diplomatic history.Argentina and the United States begins with a concise discussion of relations from independence through the end of the nineteenth century, illustrating the roots of commercial and cultural ties that would bind the two nations throughout their history. His study of early twentieth-century relations is far more detailed and nuanced. This is hardly surprising, as the author has largely redefined historians’ understanding of this period. The second half of the book assesses the last 60 years with a predictable emphasis on World War II and the battle over Peronism. The strongest chapters, however, cover the Frondizi era through the “Dirty War”; here Sheinin weaves together themes as disparate as Cold War national security doctrine, boxing, human rights disputes, labor relations, anti-Semitism, and Get Smart into a cogent, concise, and artful whole. The work concludes with Menemismo and the almost complete harmonization of Argentine policy with the United States as the end of the Cold War and Carlos Menem’s election unshackled a natural entente that had been “contained” for a century by suspicion, misunderstanding, and rivalry.The greatest strengths and weaknesses of this work rest in the constraints imposed by the survey format. Sheinin’s broad view allows him to see beyond acrimonious episodes such as World War II, “Braden o Perón,” or the human rights campaign of Jimmy Carter. In this way he presents a far more seamless history that minimizes seemingly important differences between regimes, governments, or presidencies and exposes a current of continuity. The price of this breadth is that the author cannot always employ the deeper analysis that is the hallmark of his narrower studies. While this volume delves more deeply into major issues than many surveys, it does presuppose a solid background in U.S. and Argentine history on the part of the reader. This permits a degree of detail that will make Argentina and the United States of value to any scholar of inter-American relations.Several aspects of the work stand out as particularly noteworthy. Sheinin clearly falls into the camp of scholars who have recently shifted the focus of Argentine diplomatic history away from Europe and toward the western hemisphere, especially the United States. That he is able to tell much of the story of Argentine diplomacy with only periodic mention of Great Britain is a telling and refreshing reflection of recent historiographic trends. Furthermore, his study implies the primacy of cultural and commercial ties over formal state-to-state diplomacy, an intriguing view that fuels much of the current debate within diplomatic history. In addition, Sheinin’s extensive bibliographic essay pays homage to earlier studies and illustrates their lasting value but highlights the many new directions and developments in recent scholarship. Finally, the author’s archival and primary source research is exceptional and exhaustive. Although this adds to every chapter, it lends particular weight to his treatment of the modern era, where he delves into the diplomacy of the proceso, the restoration of democracy, and the Menem era. This manifests itself most clearly in his insightful discussions of nuclear diplomacy and human rights.There are a few scholars in every generation who possess the range, expertise, and perspective to produce a truly first-rate survey, and Sheinin clearly falls within this elite group. This volume offers the most balanced and comprehensive analysis of U.S.-Argentine relations to date, a clear step in the ongoing evolution of diplomatic history, and a convincing synthetic framework that future scholars should be able to revise only with great difficulty.