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The United States and Carranza, 1917: The Question of De Jure Recognition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Mark T. Gilderhus
Mark T. Gilderhus*
Affiliation:
Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, Colorado
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Extract

Woodrow Wilson seldom wavered in his determination to guide the Mexican Revolution along a course acceptable to the United States. From the beginning, he insisted upon the creation of a stable, constitutional, and representative government which could reform social and economic inequities and would provide a hospitable environment for American economic interests. The possibility of involvement in World War I, however, weakened the president's bargaining power with Mexico and reduced his ability to pursue his goals effectively. As Wilson learned to his regret, blatant interference tended to heighten Yankeephobic Mexican nationalism and to create a circumstance which Germany might exploit to her advantage. This problem became critical early in 1917, when the German question profoundly influenced the American government's response to the new Mexican Constitution. Historians hitherto have neglected this relationship, even though it provides an intriguing insight into United States policy toward the government of First Chief Venustiano Carranza.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , October 1972 , pp. 214 - 231
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1972

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References

1 Lansing to Wilson, Apr. 25, 1917, 812.01/A, Records of the Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs of Mexico, 1910–1929, National Archives Microfilm Publications, Microcopy No. 272 (hereafter cited as RDS with appropriate information).

2 New York Times, Dec. 18, 1915, Jan. 1, 17, 1916; Wilson to Carranza, Feb. 2, 1917, Oath of Allegiance and Office by Fletcher, Mar. 9, 1916, box 4, Henry P. Fletcher Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. Also see Gilderhus, Mark T., “The United States and the Mexican Revolution, 1915–1920: A Study of Policy and Interest,” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Nebraska, 1968), 52–53.Google Scholar

3 The Constitution of 1917 is conveniently printed in English in United States, Department of State, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1917 (Washington, D.C., 1926), 950–981; see 955–957 for Article Twenty-Seven. The Spanish text of the constitution is found in Ramírez, Felipe Tena (ed.), Leyes Fundamentales de México, 1808–1957 (México, 1957), 817–881.Google Scholar

4 Dunn, Frederick Sherwood, The Diplomatic Protection of Americans in Mexico (New York, 1933), 332–336.Google Scholar

5 This information is found in Rippy, Merrill, “The Mexican Oil Industry.” Essays in Mexican History, ed. by Comer, Thomas E. and Castañada, Carlos E. (Austin, 1958), 253 Google Scholar; Meyer, Lorenzo, México y Estados Unidos en el Conflicto Petrolero (1917–1942) (México, 1968), 25, 82Google Scholar; Pletcher, David M., Rails, Mines, and Progress: Seven American Promoters in Mexico, 1867–1911 (Ithaca, N.Y., 1958), 3, 331.Google Scholar

6 Meyer, , México y Estados Unidos, 28–34, 78–80, 87–88.Google Scholar

7 For example, see Tannenbaum, Frank, Mexico: The Struggle for Peace and Bread (New York, 1950), 104–105.Google Scholar

8 To support this contention, Meyer points to a statement by Pastor Rouix, a Carranza cabinet official, who affirmed the first chief’s vigorous but private support of nationalization and expropriation; in addition, Meyer argues that Article Twenty-Seven, being fully consistent with Carranza’s executive decrees before Feb. 5, 1917, fulfilled a program initiated in the pre-constitutional era. See México y Estados Unidos, 78–80.

9 Fabela, Isidro (ed.), Documentos Históricos de la Revolución, Vol. 3: Revolución y Régimen Constitucionalista, Carranza, Wilson y el ABC (México, 1962), 185.Google Scholar Article Fourteen of the constitution provided against retroactive enforcement of laws enacted by Congress; see Foreign Relations, 1917, 952. Also see Memorandum for Frank L. Polk from the Office of the Counselor, Mar. 27, 1917, Frank L. Polk Papers, Yale University, New Haven Conn.

10 Lansing to Charles B. Parker, Jan. 22, 1917, 812.011/11A, RDS.

11 Canova to Fletcher, Feb. 10, 1917, enclosures, box 4, Fletcher Papers.

12 Foreign Relations, 1917, 1044; Fletcher to Lansing, Feb. 26, 1917, 812.63/380, RDS.

13 Selected examples are Harold Walker to Polk, Feb. 11, 1917, Polk Papers; L. C. Neale to Polk, Feb. 3, 1917, 812.011/27, Mine and Smelter Operators Association to Lansing, Apr. 25, 1917, 812.63/459, RDS.

14 Spokesmen for the corporations which sought Anderson’s assistance began discussing the defense of their interests in the middle of November, 1916. The group included Frederick Watriss, president of the Yaqui Delta Land and Cattle Co., Frederick Kellogg, an attorney for the Doheny petroleum interests, George Carnahan of the Intercontinental Mexican Rubber Co., Judge Delbert Haff of the Cananea Copper Co., and William Loeb of the American Smelting and Refining Co.; see Anderson Diary, Nov. 15, Dec. 29, 1916, Chandler P. Anderson Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D. C. Also see correspondence betwen Frederick Watriss and Polk, Nov. 21, 1916, to Feb. 6, 1917, Polk Papers.

15 Anderson to Polk, Mar. 8, 1917, 812.011/57, RDS; Anderson Diary, Mar. 10, 1917, Anderson Papers.

16 Anderson Diary, Mar. 8, 1917, Anderson Papers.

17 Anderson to Polk, Mar. 20, 1917, Polk to Anderson, Mar. 21, 1917, Polk Papers; Memorandum for Polk from the Office of the Counselor, Mar. 19, 1917, 812.011/57, RDS.

18 See Rausch, George J. Jr., “The Exile and Death of Victoriano Huerta,” Hispanic American Historical Review, 42 (May, 1962), 133–151 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Meyer, Michael C., “The Mexican-German Conspirarcy of 1915,” The Americas, 23 (July, 1966), 76–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

19 Lansing Diary, July 11, 1915, Robert Lansing Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D. C; Anderson Diary, Jan. 3, 1917, Anderson Papers; War Memoirs of Robert Lansing, Secretary of State (New York, 1935), 308; Cronon, E. David (ed.), The Cabinet Diaries of Josephus Daniels, 1913–1921 (Lincoln, Neb., 1963), 106–107, 111.Google Scholar

20 For evaluation of this thesis, see Katz, Friedrich, “Alemania y Francisco Villa,” Historia Mexicana, 12 (July-Sept., 1962), 88–102 Google Scholar; and Sandos, James A., “German Involvement in Northern Mexico, 1915–1916: A New Look at the Columbus Raid,” Hispanic American Historical Review, 50 (Feb. 1970), 70–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

21 Parker to Lansing, May 1, 1916, series 2, box 144, Woodrow Wilson Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Special Agent Barnes (Dept. of Justice) to A. Bruce Bielaski (chief of the Bureau of Investigations, Dept. of Justice), June 13, 1916, AG 2381442, box 8129, Record Group 94, Document Files-Mexican Border, Records of the Adjutant Genetral’s Office, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

22 Enrique A. González to Cándido Aguilar, May 26, 1916, Aguilar to González, June 2, 1916, L-E 800R, leg. 9, expediente H. 53 “ 910-20/1, Revolución Mexicana Durante Los Años 1910 a 1920, Archivo de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores de México (hereafter cited as AREM with appropriate information).

23 Katz, Friedrich, Deutschland, Diaz und die mexikanische Revolution, Die Deutsche Politik in Mexiko 1810–1920 (Berlin, 1964), 353–354; this volume is the best single study of Mexico’s relations with Germany.Google Scholar

24 Ibid., 354–355; and Lansing War Memoirs, 311. In addition, in May, 1918, Henry P. Fletcher reported hearsay evidence of Carranza's overtures to Berlin; see Fletcher to Lansing, May 14, 1918, 712.62/4, box 6708, Record Group 59, State Decimal File, Records of the Department of State, National Archives, Washington, D. C. (hereafter cited as State Decimal File). A classified intelligence report of Carranza’s alleged rejection of German overtures—dated Dec. 8, 1916—was found in Record Group 165, General Staff, War College Division, Records of the War Department, National Archives, Washington, D. C. This writer received permission to use the document, but not to cite it directly.

25 During the campaign of 1916, Republicans and many American Roman Catholics objected to Wilson's handling of the Mexican question, and some critics, most notably Theodore Roosevelt, seemed to favor military intervention. Such belligerency embarrassed the candidate, Charles Evans Hughes, who criticized the president’s policy toward Mexico, but opposed undue reliance on armed force. See Link, Arthur S., Wilson, Vol. V: Campaigns for Progressivism and Peace, 1916–1911 (Princeton, N.J., 1965), 5, 40–41, 100–102, 130–132.Google Scholar

The joint Mexican-American commission convened early in Sept., 1916, and attempted unsuccessfully to find a formula providing for the withdrawal of the punitive expedition. Members of the Mexican delegation insisted that the United States must evacuate the force as a prerequisite to discusión of questions at issue, principally the defense of the border and the status of American property in Mexico. Proceedings ground to a halt in Dec, 1916, and the commission adjourned sine die on Jan. 15, 1917. Soon afterward Wilson decided to recall Pershing’s troops without demanding an equivalent concession from Mexico. See Link, , Wilson, 5, 51–55, 120–123, 328–339Google Scholar; and Fabela, Isidro, Historia Diplomátca de la Revolución Mexicana (México, 1959), Vol. 2, 305–381.Google Scholar

26 Katz, , Deutschland, 356–357 Google Scholar; and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Official German Documents Relating to the World War (New York, 1923), Vol. II, 1337–1338.

27 See Barbara Tuchman, W., The Zimmermann Telegram (New York, 1958)Google Scholar; Spencer, Samuel R. Jr., Decision for War, 1917, The Laconia Sinking and the Zimmermann Telegram in the Public Reaction against German (Rindge, N.H., 1953), 55–70 Google Scholar; and Link, , Wilson, 5, 342–346.Google Scholar

28 New York Times, Mar. 2, 3, 1917.

29 Foreign Relations, 1917, supp. 1, 234–235.

30 Foreign Relations, 1917, 911–912; Foreign Relations, 1917, supp. 1, 238–239; Fletcher to Lansing, Mar. 13, 1917, box 4, Fletcher Papers.

Isidro Fabela has charged that Fletcher’s instructions directed him to present an ultimatum at Guadalajara—either Carranza should break relations with Germany at once or the United States would declare war on Mexico; see Documentos Históricos, III, 284–286. This writer found no evidence to substantiate this charge.

31 Hendrick, Burton J., The Life and Letters of Walter Hines Page (Garden City, N.Y., 1925), Vol. 3, 351–354.Google Scholar

32 Aguilar made this claim to Professor Stanley R. Ross in 1953; see Burdick, Charles B., “A House on Navidad Street, the Celebrated Zimmermann Note on the Texas Border?” Arizona and the West, 8 (Spring, 1966), 28.Google Scholar

33 Fabela, , Documentos Históricos, 3, 284–286.Google Scholar

34 Portillo, José López y Weber, , “Cómo Perdió Carranza el Apoyo de Estados Unidos y Cómo se Relacionó esto con la Proposición que a México Presentó Alemania en 1917,” Memoria de la Academia Mexicana de la Historia, 19 (Jan.-Mar., 1960), 31–33.Google Scholar

35 A number of studies suggest that Carranza took the Zimmermann proposal seriously, and rejected it only when “ premature publicity “ ruined the scheme. Among them are Martin, Percy A., Latin America and the War (Baltimore, 1925), 521–541 Google Scholar; Taracena, Alfonso, Venustiano Carranza (México, 1963), 264–267, 274–275Google Scholar; Estañol, Jorge Vera, La Revolución Mexicana, Orígenes y Resultados (México, 1957), 603 Google Scholar; and Ibáñez, Vicente Blasco, Obras Completas, Vol. 2: El Militarismo Mejicano (3d ed., Madrid, 1958), 1476.Google Scholar In contrast, Katz, , Deutschland, 365–366,Google Scholar and Ewing, Floyd F., “Carranza’s Foreign Relations: An Experiment in Nationalism,” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, 1952), 220–221,Google Scholar maintain that Carranza fully understood the risks of alliance with Germany and never seriously entertained the suggestion.

This writer searched the Archivo de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores with the hope of finding documents upon which to base a valid appraisal of Mexico’s response to the Zimmermann telegram. In the archival index, he found reference to a file of documents entitled “Documentos sobre Relaciones entre México y Alemania Durante los Años 1915–1920, Especialmente sobre el Telegrama Zimmermann de 1917.” He received permission from the appropriate authorities to examine the file, but when he and the staff searched for the documents, they could not be found. Regrettably they appeared to be lost, misplaced, or possibly destroyed. It was possible to examine a file of documents relating generally to Mexican relations with Germany from 1880 to 1920, but it contained no reference to the Zimmermann note.

36 Mexico, Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, Labor Internacional de la Revolución Constitucionalista de México (México, η.d.), 433–436, 452–454. Early in Feb., 1917, Cándido Aguilar reportedly expressed the view that American participation in the European war would present Mexico with the possibility of involvement in the conflict; he also thought that the United States was hesitant to declare war on Germany because of its uncertainty over Mexico’s position. In Fletcher’s view, “This may help to explain the unwillingness of the de jacto Government … to make a clear statement of their position in regard to the mooted German-Mexican alliance.” See Fletcher to Lansing, Mar. 30, 1917, 711.12/36, Records of the Department of State Relating to Political Relations Between the United States and Mexico, 1910–1929, National Archives Microfilm Publications, Microcopy No. 314 (hereafter cited as RDS with appropriate information).

37 Foreign Relations, 1917, supp. 1, 241–242, 261–262.

38 Fletcher to Lansing, Mar. 30, 1917, 711.12/36; Wilson to Lansing, Apr. 19, 1917, 711.12/36½, RDS.

39 Foreign Relations, 1917, supp. 1, 262, 265–266. Generals John J. Pershing and Hugh L. Scott shared the belief that “the German situation in Mexico seems to be solving itself....” See Scott to Frank R. McCoy, Apr. 30, 1917, box 14, Frank R. McCoy Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D. C; and Pershing to Scott, Apr. 7, May 1, 1917, box 181, John J. Pershing Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

40 Fletcher to Henry Cabot Lodge, Aug. 10, 1917, box 4, Fletcher to Lansing, Mar. 13, 1918, box 5, Fletcher Papers.

41 Bonillas’s commission from Carranza as ambassador, Feb. 13, 1917, Lansing to Ramón P. de Negri, Mar. 10, 1917, Bonillas to E. Garza Pérez, Apr. 17, 1917, L-Ε 1351, leg. 1, expediente 1/131/258, Ing. Ignacio Bonillas: Su Expediente Personal, AREM; Foreign Relations, 1917, 915.

42 Labor Internacional, 474; Fletcher’s statement to the press, Apr. 24, 1917, 711.12/44, RDS.

43 Foreign Relations, 1917, 1060–1061, 1065–1067.

44 Fletcher to Lansing, Apr. 23, 1917, 712.41/1, box 6708, State Decimal File; Lansing to Fletcher, Apr. 21, 1917, 812.63/451, Fletcher to Lansing, Apr. 26, 1917, 812.63/460, RDS.

45 Foreign Relations, The Lansing Papers, II, 567.

46 Anderson to Polk, Apr. 9, 1917, 812.011/55, Memorandum by Anderson, n.d. (the middle of Apr. 1917), 711.12/47½, RDS; Anderson Diary, Mar. 29, Apr. 6, 16, May 7, 16, 1917, Anderson Papers.

47 Anderson Diary, June 4, 1917, Anderson Papers; Lansing to Fletcher, June 6, 1917, 812.011/48A, RDS.

48 Ibid.

49 Foreign Relations, 1917, 1068–1069.

50 Fletcher to Lansing, June 5, 1917, 711.12/50, RDS.

51 Anderson Diary, June 13, July II, 1917, Anderson Papers.

52 Fletcher’s position toward Article Twenty-Seven much distressed Anderson, who feared that the ambassador did not understand how adversely the provision affected American property. See Anderson Diary, July 7, 17, 23, 1917, Anderson Papers.

53 Foreign Relations, 1917, 1082–1083, 1085-1086; Polk to George T. Summerlin, July 19, 1917, 812.113/8386, RDS.

54 Fletcher to Lansing, Aug. 2, 1917, 812.63/481, Aug. 2, 1917, 812.51/312, RDS; Fletcher to Lansing, Aug. 8, 1917, box 8, Fletcher Papers.

55 Fletcher to Lansing, Sept. 5, 1917, 812.6363/301, Sept. 18, 1917, 812.6363/310, RDS. In the years after 1917, the Mexican Congress considered a number of petroleum bills, but differences over the purpose and scope of the legislation postponed enactment of a law until 1925; see Meyer, , México y Estados Unidos, 91–94.Google Scholar

56 Foreign Relations, 1917, 943; Fletcher to Lansing, Sept. 26, 1917, 812.001C23/6, RDS.

57 Kemmerer, Edwin W., Inflation and Revolution, Mexico’s Experience of 1912–1917 (Princeton, N.J., 1940), 266–275,Google Scholar examines Carranza’s financial distress and the question of a loan in a different context.

58 See Boaz Long’s Memorandum to Lansing, Aug. 10, 1918, 711.12/130, RDS, for a summary of the State Department’s position; see Gilderhus, “ The United States and the Mexican Revolution, 1915–1920,” passim, for discussion of United States efforts to frustrate Carranza and his attempts to implement Article Twenty-Seven during the remainder of the Wilson administration.