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The Political Strategy of Military Reform: Álvaro Obregón and Revolutionary Mexico, 1920-1924

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Randall Hansis
Randall Hansis*
Affiliation:
North Adams State College, North Adams, Massachusetts
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Extract

On December 1, 1920, General Álvaro Obregón of Sonora became President of Mexico. During the previous May, his supporters had staged a popular coup d'etat which paved the way for his constitutional election. Mexico was then in the throes of revolutionary ferment, and the instability which had accompanied Obregón's ascendancy to Executive Office also threatened to attend his demise. Obregón thus sought to achieve political and social reforms which would strengthen his regime and allow for a peaceful Presidential succession in 1924. As the major institution of coercion during a time of revolutionary violence, the Army had emerged as the most important political institution in Mexico. Although part of a broader political effort which included labor, agrarian and administrative reforms, Obregón's military reconstruction can be viewed as the important keystone in his attempt to consolidate control of Mexico. Obregón’s military reforms sought to insure, first, Army loyalty to the office of President, and, second, military effectiveness when the Army would be called upon to defend the Federal Government. His reforms grew out of the Agua Prieta movement of May 1920, and continued throughout his own administration. As President, Obregón gave intensive attention to military affairs and his military reforms were the most significant achievement of his broadly based effort to consolidate the Mexican Revolution.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , October 1979 , pp. 199 - 233
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1979

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References

1 United States Archives, Record Group 165 (RG 165), Records of the United States Army Military Intelligence Division (M.I.D.), G-2 Report 2025-367/1, unsigned dispatch of the Military Attaché, Mexico City, April 13, 1925.

2 Office of the Chief of Military History, Army War College Records (AWC) 6911-91, Report on the Army of the Defacto Government (Purport Sheet), November 21, 1916.

3 Quoted in Batalla, Narcisco Bassols, El Pensamiento Político de Álvaro Obregón (México, D.F.: Editorial Nuestro Tiempo, 1967), p. 24.Google Scholar

4 Bassols Batalla, p. 24.

5 United States Archives, Record Group 59(RG 59), Records of the Department of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of Mexico, 1910-1929 (microfilm M 274), 812.00/22842, quoted in the report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, June 11, 1919.

6 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/24335, report of Chargé d'Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, June 29, 1920.

7 U.S. Archives, RG 165, M.I.D., G-2 Report 10640-2309, dispatch of Military Attaché George M. Russell in Mexico City, July 18, 1920; U.S. Archives, RG 165, M.I.D., G-2 Report 10640-2339, dispatch of District Intelligence Officer Russell C. Snyder in Laredo, Texas, August 9, 1920.

8 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/24870, report of Chargé d'Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, February 18, 1921; U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/25211, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, October 21, 1921.

9 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26197, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, February 10, 1923.

10 El Archivo General de la Nación /Papeles Presidenciales (AGN/PP), Ramo Obregón-Calles, 1(2): 101-B-9, Obregón to Margarito Bailón, June 18, 1924.

11 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 1(1): 101-A-4, Obregón to General Eugenio Martínez, April 21, 1921.

12 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 1(2): 101-B-10, Obregón to Gabriel Barrios, October 21, 1924.

13 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/24870, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, February 18, 1921.

14 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 1(3): 101-C-3,and 1(3): 101-C-35, memoranda from Obregón to the Minister of War and Marine, various dates.

15 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 1(3): 101-C-135, Obregón to General Joaquín Ámaro, April 29, 1924.

16 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/24644, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, September 14, 1920; U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/24870, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin to the Department of State, February 18, 1921; U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/24866, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, December 11, 1921.

17 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/28878, dispatch of Consul Foster in Salina Cruz to the Department of State, October 10, 1927.

18 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26414, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, July 14, 1923.

19 Obregón kept aware of abuses of soldiers by their officers. After one such incident, Obregón angrily and typically telegraphed General Miguel Cavazos in Puebla: “Your orders were given … in the belief that the passage of your troops would be made with all mercy for the soldiers. It appears to me inhuman that these persons spent the night suffering the rain on the roofs of their railroad cars.” See: AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 1(3): 101-C-1, Obregón to General Miguel Cavazos, February 19, 1921.

20 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/28878, dispatch of Consul Foster in Salina Cruz to the Department of State, October 10, 1927.

21 U.S. Archives, RG 165, M.I.D., G-2 Report 2025-367/1, unsigned dispatch of the Military Attaché, Mexico City, April 13, 1925.

22 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 2-1(19): 101-S-11, Obregón to Minister of War Francisco Serrano, March 10, 1922.

23 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 2(14): 104-M-44, Obregón to General Eugenio Martínez, July 4, 1924.

24 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/19901, dispatch of Consul Coen visiting in San Antonio, Texas, to the Department of State, commenting on the efficacy of Díaz’s military techniques, November 17, 1916.

25 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/25890, quoted in the report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, August 26, 1922.

26 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 1(3): 101-C-8, Obregón to General Jaime Carrillo, various letters 1921 and 1924; AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 20(X): 121-W-R, hundreds of authorization slips personally signed by Obregón to the Minister of War and Marine, each granting requested funds to various officers, many dates, 1920–1924; U.S. Archives, RG 165, M.I.D., G-2 Reports 2025-367/1, unsigned dispatch of the Military Attaché, Mexico City, April 13, 1925.

27 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/27301, dispatch of Consul Myers, Durango City, to the Department of State, June 16, 1924.

28 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26090, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, October 28, 1922.

29 General Arnulfo Gómez in Tampico had the reputation of being involved in forms of graft and hold-up ranging from partnership with bandits to ownership of houses of prostitution and commercial concerns operated largely with military personnel. Obregón transferred Gómez to the Capital in 1922. See: U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/25836, report of Chargé d’ Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, July 28, 1922.

30 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 4(X): 101-R2-C, Obregón to General Guillermo Nelson, November 12, 1924.

31 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 16(8 and 9): 104-R1-E-9, memorandum by Obregón, no address, no date.

32 U.S. Archives, RG 165, M.I.D., G-2 Report 2657-G-349/344, unsigned report, Principal Factors Menacing the Obregón Régime in Mexico, March 4, 1922, p. 6.

33 Puente, Ramón, La Dictadura, la Revolución y sus hombres (México, D.F.: 1938), p. 255;Google Scholar U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/25539, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, April 13, 1922.

34 U.S. Archives, RG 165, M.I.D., G-2 Report 2657-G-349/344, unsigned report, Principal Factors Menacing the Obregón Régime in Mexico, March 4, 1922, p. 26.

35 Many of the exiles had agents in New York, Washington, D.C., and Havana, Cuba. See: U.S. Archives, RG 165, M.I.D., G-2 Report 2657-G-349/344, unsigned report, Principal Factors Menacing the Obregón Régime in Mexico, March 4, 1922.

36 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 23-](X): 213-B-1, Obregón to J. M. Buenrostro, February 28, 1922; AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 4(2): 101-R2-A2, Obregón to Pascual Villanueva, November 4, 1924.

37 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/25707, dispatch of Consul Blocker in Piedras Negras to the Department of State, June 17, 1922. Blocker paid a Mexican telegraph operator for copies of War Department Telegraphic Dispatches sent out from Mexico City.

38 “El Archivo Secreto del General Álvaro Obregón” Hoy, November7, 1943, p. 28.

39 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 1(2): 101-B-20, Obregón to Coronel Jesús Ferreira, July 24, 1924 and numerous items, November, 1921.

40 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 4-1(X): 101-R2-E1, William J. Otts to Eduardo Ruiz, December 15, 1923, and Obregón to Juan B. Delgado, February 21, 1924.

41 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 2-1(17): 101-P-4, General Manuel Peláez to Obregón, May 26, 1921 and Obregón to Peláez, June 14, 1921.

42 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26111, report of Charge d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, November 10, 1922.

43 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/25846, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, August 4, 1922.

44 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/25425, dispatch of Consul Robinson, Saltillo, to the Department of State, March 1, 1922.

45 José C. Valadés, “Dos Amigos,” Hoy, March 21, 1943, quoting a telegram from Villa to De la Huerta, February 20, 1922.

46 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 23-1(X): 213-C-1, numerous affirmations of loyalty from individuals and groups.

47 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/25688, dispatch of Consul Walsh, Nuevo León, to the Department of State, July 16, 1922; U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/25689, dispatch of Consul Blocker, Piedras Negras, to the Department of State, July 16, 1922, citing a War Department Telegraphic Dispatch.

48 U.S. Archives, Record Group 94, Records of the Office of the Adjutant General, 1917-1925, 38-11-274, DeR. C. Cabell, “Weekly Report of Conditions along the Border,” September 29, 1917; U.S. Archives, RG 94, AG 38-1 1-33 1, DeR. C. Cabell, “Weekly Report of Conditions along the Border,” August 16, 1919.

49 U.S. Archives, RG 94, AG 38-11-290, A. S. Morgan, “Weekly Report of Conditions along the Border,” July 2, 1919; U.S. Archives, RG 94, AG 38-11-274, Ruckman, “Weekly Report of Conditions along the Border,” February 19, 1918.

50 Amaya, Juan Gualberto, Los gobiernos de Obregón, Calles y los régimes “peleles” derivados del Callismo (México, D.F.: 1947), pp. 17–18;Google Scholar Casasela, Gustavo, Historia Grápbica de la Revolución Mexicana (México, D.F.: Editorial F. Trillas, S.A., 1965), Vol. 3, pp. 1595–7.Google Scholar

51 Casasola, Vol. III, pp. 15957.

52 Casasola, Vol. III, pp. 1595-7; Amaya, p. 18; U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/25884, dispatch of Consul Blocker at Piedras Negras to the Department of State, August 28, 1922, citing a War Department Telegraphic Dispatch.

53 In his letter Murguía mentioned that twenty-four rebel generals had died fighting Obregón since the overthrow of Carranza. See: Bassols Batalla, p. 25.

54 Obregón was quick to flatter and reward Federal officers who forwarded the overtures from Murguía together with their own declarations of loyalty. See: AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 23-1(X): 213-C-1, Obregón to General Saturnino Cedillo, May 4, 1922, for a typical exchange.

55 Amaya, p. 16.

56 Amaya, p. 17; U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26056, dispatch of Vice Consul Bonnet, Piedras Negras, to the Department of State, October 27, 1922, citing a War Department Telegraphic Dispatch.

57 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/25544, dispatch of Vice Consul Bonnet, Piedras Negras, to the Department of State, April 21, 1922, citing a War Department Telegraphic Dispatch. Compounding the general unrest during 1922, Villa violated his retirement agreement by announcing his candidacy for the Governorship of Durango. With typical sensationalism, he captured the public eye with personal witticisms and topical comments on contemporary politics. Obregón commissioned the Chief of Military Operations in Durango to talk with Villa and his candidacy was immediately dropped.

58 Valadés, “Dos Amigos,” Hoy, April 4, 1943, citing a telegram from Francisco Villa to Adolpho de la Huerta dated August 31, 1922.

59 Valadés, “Dos Amigos,” Hoy, April 4, 1943, citing a telegram from Francisco Villa to Adolpho de la Huerta dated September 15, 1922.

60 Valadés, “Dos Amigos,” Hoy, April 4, 1943, citing a telegram from Francisco Villa to Adolpho de la Huerta dated October 6, 1922.

61 Valadés, “Dos Amigos,” Hoy, March 21, 1943; Valadés, “Dos Amigos,” Hoy, April 4, 1943,citinga telegram from Francisco Villa to Adolpho de la Huerta dated October 23, 1922.

62 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26107, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, November 1, 1922.

63 Amaya, p. 18; Casasola, Vol. III, pp. 1595-7; U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26102, dispatch of Consul Donaldson, Torreon, to the Department of State, November 3, 1922.

64 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 2(13): 101-L-5, Alberto Paní to Obregón, July 9, 1923, enclosing a telegram to Paní from Mexican Consul Vázquez in Laredo, Texas, dated July 8, 1923.

65 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 4-1(X): 101-R2-D, J. F. Peterson in Los Angeles, California, to John F. Camp, San Antonio, Texas, September 29, 1923.

66 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/25533, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, April 8, 1922.

67 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26176, dispatch of Consul Blocker in Piedras Negras to the Department of State, January 23, 1923, citing a War Department Telegraphic Dispatch.

68 U.S. Archives, RG 165, M.I.D., G-2 Report 2657–G–349/344, unsigned report, Principal Factors Menacing the Obregón Régime in Mexico, March 4, 1922, p. 11.

69 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 48(6): 408–V–6, General Guadalupe Sánchez to Plutarco Calles, September 12, 1922.

70 AGN/PP,Ramo Obregón-Calles, 48(6): 408–V–6, Plutarco Calles to General Guadalupe Sánchez, September 13, 1922.

71 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 48(6): 408–V–6, General Guadalupe Sánchez to Plutarco Calles, September 13, 1922.

72 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 1(4): 101–Ch–1, Obregón to General Guadalupe Sánchez, September 15, 1922.

73 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/25971, dispatch of Consul Wood, Veracurz, to the Department of State, September 28, 1922.

74 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26468, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, quoting from the press, September 27, 1923.

75 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26726, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, quoting from the press, December 28, 1923.

76 Rumors at the time of Estrada’s resignation from the Ministry of Agriculture indicated hostility with Obregón. See: U.S. Archives, Record Group 45, Naval Records Collection of the Office of Naval Records and Library, Subject File, 1911 to 1927, WE–5, box 654, report of L. McNamee, Director of Naval Intelligence, “Conditions in Mexico, Weekly Report,” January 19, 1922.

77 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 1–1(6): 101–E–3, Fernando Torreblanca to Manuel Padres, June 5, 1922.

78 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 1–1(8): 101–G–15, General Enrique Estrada to Obregón, May 19, 1923.

79 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 1–1(8): 101–G–15, Obregón to General Enrique Estrada, May 25, 1923.

80 U.S. Archives, RG 165, M.I.D., G-2 Report 2657–G–349/344, unsigned report, Principal Factors Menacing the Obregón Regime in Mexico, March 4, 1922, p. 20.

81 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26443, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, August 24, 1923.

82 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26447, dispatch of Consul McConnico, in Guadalajara, to the Department of State, August 29, 1923.

83 Durán, Luis Monroy, El ultimo caudillo: apuntes sobre la historia de México acerca del movimiento armado de 1923 (México, D.F.: J. S. Rodríguez, 1924), p. 104.Google Scholar

84 Monroy Durán, p. 104.

85 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26474, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, October 6, 1923; U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26513, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, November 16, 1923.

86 Quoted in Amaya, p. 37.

87 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 4–1(X): 101–R2–H, Obregón to General Enrique Estrada, December 8, 1923.

88 Amaya, p. 35, p. 107.

89 U.S. Archives, RG 165, M.I.D., G-2 Report 2657–G–417/41, unsigned report of the Military Attaché, July 28, 1923.

90 U.S. Archives, RG 165, M.I.D., G-2 Report 2657–G–432/11, unsigned report of the Military Attaché, December 8, 1923.

91 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26112, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, December 7, 1923.

92 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26673.5, dispatch of Consul General Hanna in Mexico City to the Department of State, quoting from a letter of Eduardo Maestre, December 28, 1923.

93 Gruening, Ernest, Mexico and Its Heritage (New York: The Century Company, 1927), p. 321.Google Scholar

94 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26727, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, December 22, 1923.

95 U.S. Archives, RG 165, M.I.D., G-2 Report 2657–G–432, report of Military Attaché Russell in Mexico City, December 22, 1923.

96 U.S. Archives, RG 165, M.I.D., G-2 Report 2657–G–432/11, unsigned report of the Military Attaché, December 8, 1923.

97 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26727, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, December 22, 1923.

98 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26727, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, December 22, 1923.

99 de Dios Borjórquez, Juan, Obregón: apuntes biográficos (México, D.F.: 1929), p. 50.Google Scholar

100 U.S. Archives, RG 165, M.I.D., G-2 Report 2657–G–349/344, unsigned report, Principal Factors Menacing the Obregón Régime in Mexico, March 4, 1922, p. 9.

101 U.S. Archives, RG 164, M.I.D., G-2 Report 2657–G–349/344, unsigned report, Principal Factors Menacing the Obregón Régime in Mexico, March 4, 1922, p. 41.

102 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 4(2): 101–R2–A2,Obregón to Manual García Vigil, December 8, 1923.

103 Amaya, pp. 35–6.

104 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 4(2): 101–R2–A2, Minister of War Francisco Serrano to Obregón enclosing a copy of Maycotte’s proposed plan, December 14, 1923.

105 AGN /PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 4–1(X): 101–R2–E27, Obregón to Plutarco Calles, December 16, 1923.

106 U.S. Archives, Rg 59, M 274, 812.00/26768, report of Chargé d’Affaires Summerlin in Mexico City to the Department of State, quoting from the press, January 4, 1924.

107 U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/26884, dispatch of Consul Wood, Veracruz, to the Department of State, January 7, 1924.

108 Puente, Ramón, La Dictadura, La Revolución y sus hombres (México, D.F.: 1938), p. 259.Google Scholar

109 “El Archivo Secreto del Álvaro Obregón,” Hoy, November 28, 1942.

110 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 5(X): 101–R2–II, Obregón to General J.J. Mendez, December 7, 1923.

111 Office of the Chief of Military History, Army War College Course G-2, #6, “Summary of the Estimate on Mexico, 1924–25.” Rebel troops were disorganized, demoralized and poorly treated by their officers, as a general rule, while Federal troops were better supplied and more disciplined. See: U.S. Archives, RG 59, M 274, 812.00/27048, dispatch of Consul Wood in Salina Cruz to the Department of State, January 26, 1924; U.S. Archives, Record Group 80, Office of the Secretary of the Navy, Correspondence, box 71, Report of the USS Tulsa, “Conditions at Puerto Mexico,” March 26, 1924.

During the crisis, Obregón was in the field constantly and maintained an almost daily telegraphic communication with his major generals. See: AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 4–1(X): 101–R2–F, numerous items, various dates December 1923 to March 1924.

112 AGN/PP, Ramo Obregón-Calles, 5(X): 101–R2–P, Obregón to Frank Bohn, February 12, 1924.