Oil and Moral Diplomacy in U.S. - Latin American Relations, 1913-40

Abstract

Mark T. Gilderhus. Diplomacy and Revolution, U.S.-Mexican Relations Under Wilson and Carranza. Tucson, Arizona: The University of Arizona Press, 1977. Stephen J. Randall. The Diplomacy of Modernization: Colombian-American Relations, 1920-1940. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1977. Studies that look at an American President showing a concern for human rights, while at the same time American officials and oil companies are engaging in activity which would ensure adequate United States petroleum reserves, are particularly appropriate at this time. Historians, rightly or wrongly, often claim to be able to see the past in the present, and if one deleted the surnames of the participants much of the general comment in the two books under review could appear to be very au courant. The fact remains that they deal with the period 1913-40 and provide important insights with regard to United States policy toward Latin America in general and Colombia and Mexico in particular. Mark T. Gilderhus's Diplomacy and Revolution, U.S.-Mexican Relations Under Wilson and Carranza explores the era of the Mexican Revolution until 1919, while Stephen J. Randall's The Diplomacy of Modernization: Colombian-American Relations, 1920-1940, looks at a less dramatic relationship, but one that is very instructive. It was a relationship in which Mexico loomed large as an example that United States politicians, in both Republican and Democratic administrations, wanted to avoid. One revolution appeared to be enough, especially one which had serious implica- tions for foreign, particularly American, investment; and the fact that no other Latin American country had a Revolution comparable to the Mexican upheaval might in part be attributed to the success of the policy emanating from the U.S. Department of State in the post-Wilson era.1 Certainly the evidence presented in Randall's study of Colombia lends credence to the view.