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Admiral William B. Caperton and United States Naval Diplomacy in South America, 1917–1919

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

David Healy
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Extract

In May 1917, the United States Navy dispatched a South Atlantic patrol squadron to Brazil under the command of Admiral William B. Caperton, Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet. Caperton, who soon saw his mission as more diplomatic than military, became the United States' best-known representative in South America and worked closely with civilian diplomats to maximize United States influence in the area. His two-year tour of duty from 1917 to 1919, therefore, constitutes a little-known case study in the attempted use of naval forces for diplomatic purposes, and in the development of some aspects of United States policy in South America.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , May 1976 , pp. 297 - 323
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

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References

1 A first-hand account of these events is contained in William B. Caperton, ‘History of U.S.Naval Operations Under Command of Rear Admiral W. B. Caperton, USN Commencing January 5, 1915 Ending April 30, 1919’. This 400-page typescript can be found in the National Archives of the United States (NAUS), Washington, D.C., in Record Group 45, Naval Records Collection of the Office of Naval Records and Library, Subject File ZN (Personnel) 1911–1927. Cited hereafter as Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’. All documentary citations hereafter will be from RG 45, NAUS, unless otherwise indicated.

2 Operations to Pittsburgh Flag, 28 April 1917, in Subject File ZOX, Pacific Fleet (1911–1927); Sec. of Navy to C-in-C Pacific Fleet, 9 May 1917, ‘Subject: Patrol of South American Waters’, and ‘Subject: Letter of Instructions’, Area File, South Atlantic. See also Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’, pp. 296, 302.Google Scholar

3 See Martin, Percy A., Latin America and the War (Baltimore, 1925). pp. 33–6, 52–63, for a fuller account of these events. Quotations are from Martin, pp. 48–59 and 63, translations Martin's.Google Scholar

4 See Ibid., p. 64.

5 See Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’, pp. 305–6. The exchange of messages is in Caperton, Report of Operations dated 21 June 1917, in Subject File ZOX.

6 See Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’, pp. 306–7. Basic data and photographs of the armored cruisers may be found in Alden, John D., The American Steel Navy (Annapolis, 1972), pp. 156–61; for later modifications, see successive editions of Jane's Fighting Ships.Google Scholar

7 Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’, pp. 398–9, 313, and 307–8.

8 Caperton to Sec. of Navy, 28 June 1917, in Area File, South Atlantic; Captain F. K. Hill, U.S. Naval Attaché at Rio, to Office of Naval Intelligence, 6 July 1917, in Subject File WA-7, Brazil (1951–1927); Morgan to Sec. of State, 11 July 1917, in Subject File ZOX. Sec also Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’, pp. 311–12.

9 Caperton to Benson, 6 July 1917, in William B. Caperton Papers, Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

10 Hill to Office of Naval Intelligence, 6 and 19 July 1917, in Subject File WA-7.

11 Morgan to Sec. of State, 11 July 1917, in Subject File ZOX; Capcrton, ‘ History of Flag Career ’, pp. 307–11.

12 See Caperton's Reports of Operations dated 21 June and 5 July 1917, in Subject File ZOX.

13 See Burns, E. Bradford, The Unwritten Alliance: Rio-Branco and Brazilian-American Relations (New York and London, 1966), especially pp. 199–209;Google Scholar and Martin, Latin America and the War, pp. 36–49.Google Scholar

14 Caperton, Report of Operations dated 5 July 1917, in Subject File ZOX; Hill to Office of Naval Intelligence, 6 July 1917, in Subject File WA-7.

15 Martin, Latin America and the War, pp. 351–66;Google Scholar Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’, pp. 307–9.

16 William Dawson, U.S. Consul at Montevideo, to Sec. of State, 5 Nov. 1917; Caperton, Report of Operations dated 22 July 1917; both in Subject File ZOX. See also Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’, pp. 313–14.

17 Caperton, Report of Operations dated 22 July 1917, in Subject File ZOX; Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’, pp. 315–16.

18 Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’, pp. 317–18; Jeffery to Sec. of State, 16 July 1917, and Dawson to Sec. of State, 5 Nov. 1917, both in Subject File ZOX.

19 Acting Sec. of State to Sec. of Navy, 20 July 1917, in Subject File ZOX; Caperton, Report of Operations dated 5 July 1917, in ibid.. Barclay, Glen, Struggle for a Continent (New York, 1972), pp. 16–17, exaggerates the initial disagreement over the terms of the Argen. tine invitation in suggesting that it foredoomed Caperton's visit to failure.Google Scholar

20 C-in-C Pacific to Commanding Officers, U.S.S. Pittsburgh, Frederick, Pueblo, South Dakota, 23 July 1917, in Subject File ZOX.Google Scholar

21 Caperton, Report of Operations dated 5 Aug. 1917, in Subject File ZOX; Caperton to Sec. of Navy, 28 July 1917, in Area File, South Atlantic. See also Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’, pp. 319–21.

22 Caperton, Report of Operations dated 5 Aug. 1917, in Subject File ZOX; Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’, pp. 321–4.

23 Ibid., pp. 309–10; 325; Caperton, Report of Operations dated 18 Sept. 1917, in Subject File ZOX.

24 Ibid.; Sec. of State to Sec. of Navy, 16 Aug. 1917, transmitting telegram from American Ambassador at Rio de Janeiro dated 14 Aug. 1917, in Subject File ZOX.

25 For a detailed narration of these events see Martin, Latin America and the War, especially pp. 215–24, 237–50, 367–72, and 67–8.Google Scholar The full text of some of the deciphered Luxburg messages is in U.S. Department of State, Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1917, Supplement 1 (Washington, D.C., 1931), pp. 322–3.Google Scholar

26 Dawson to Sec. of State, 5 Nov. 1917, in Subject File ZOX.

27 O. A. R. Murray, Secretary to the Admiralty, to Admiral William S. Sims, 8 Nov. 1917; Pacific Fleet Flag, Fleet Order No. 4, dated 19 Dec. 1917; both in Area File, South Atlantic. See also Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’, pp. 334–6, 340, 343–6.

28 For Morgan's background see House, Lewis, ‘Edwin V. Morgan and Brazilian-American Diplomatic Relations, 1912–1933’, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1969, pp. 3–6.Google Scholar

29 Caperton, Report of Operations dated 31 May 1918, in Subject File ZOX; Caperton to Benson, 29 Jan. 1918, in Caperton Papers, L.C.

30 Caperton, Report of Operations dated 31 May 1918, in Subject File ZOX; Caperton to Sec. of Navy, 14 Jan. 1918, in CNO File, Records of the Office of the Secretary of the Navy, Record Group 80 (General Records of the Navy), NAUS; Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’ pp. 352–3, 358.

31 Hill to Director of Naval Intelligence, 10 June 1918, in Area File, South Atlantic. For the Hill-Capcrton conflict see Caperton to Benson, 17 Aug. 1918, irs Caperton Papers, L.C.

32 Morgan to Sec. of State, 13 Nov. 1917, in Record Group 59, Records of the Department of State relating to Internal Affairs of Brazil, 1910–29, NAUS. See also Martin, Latin America and the War, pp. 87–9.Google Scholar

33 Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’, pp. 344–5; see also Caperton's Informational Memo to Cincinnati, dated 1 Feb. 1918, in Subject File ZOX.

34 Morgan to Sec. of State, 31 May 1918, and Sec. of State to American Embassy, Rio, 24 June 1918, both in State Department Records Relating to Internal Affairs of Brazil, 1910–29.

35 Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’, pp. 349, 351, 354, 374–5; see also Martin, Latin America and the War, pp. 88–9.Google Scholar

36 Lt. Crndr. W. O. Spears to Chief of Naval Operations, ‘Subject: Duty with the Brazilian Navy’, dated 30 July 1918, in Area File, South Atlantic. See also Caperton to Benson, 29 Jan. 1918, in Caperton Papers, L.C.

37 Spears to CNO, ‘Duty with the Brazilian Navy’.

38 Caperton to Benson, 12 Nov. 1958, in Caperton Papers, L.C.; see also Circular Letter from Chief of Naval Operations, 15 Nov. 1922, in Area File, South Atlantic, and House, ‘Edwin V. Morgan’, pp. 97–8.

39 Caperton to Chief of Naval Operations, 10 Nov. 1918, ‘Subject: Naval Policy in Soutit Atlantic’, in CNO File, RG 80, NAUS. See also Caperton to Benson, 12 Nov. 1918, in Caperton Papers, L.C.

40 Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’, pp. 383–8; Caperton to Senior Officer Present Afloat, Rio de Janciro, 17 Dec. 1918, in Area File, South Atlantic. See also Hill, Lawrence F., Diplomatic Relations Between the United States and Brazil (Durham, N.C., 1932), pp. 297–8;Google ScholarManchester, Alan K., British Pre-eminence in Brazil: Its Rise and Decline (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1933), pp. 332–3;Google Scholar and Roskill, Stephen, Naval Policy Between the Wars: I. The Period of Anglo-American Antagonism, 1919–1929 (New York, 1968), pp. 22–3.Google Scholar

41 See Tuichin, Joseph S., The Aftermath of War: World War I and United States Policy Toward Latin America (New York, 1971), especially pp. 23–61.Google Scholar For the activities of the Commerce and Treasury Departments before the United States became a belligerent, see Kaufman, Burton I., ‘United States Trade and Latin America: the Wilson Years’, Journal of American History, 58 (06 1971), 342–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

42 Benson to Hurley and Hoover, 1 Jan. 1919, transmitting contents of Caperton message itceived by Office of Naval Operations on 4 Dec. 1918, in Area File, South Atlantic.

43 Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’, pp. 387–96. For complaints from American businessmen in thc area, see the collective letter from the American colony in Rio signed by Louis R. Gray, President of the American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil, F. A. Huntress, President of the American Patriotic Society of Rio de Janeiro, and G. K. Stark, First vice. president of the Liberty Club, to Captain Frank K. Hill, U.S. Naval Attaché, 7 April 1919, the letter from Thomas S. Shepperd to Captain F. L. Pinney, Commanding U.S.S. Cleveland, Montevideo, 23 March 1919, and many similar messages gathered together in CNO File, RG 80, NAUS.Google Scholar

44 See Benson to Op. Nay., 8 April 1919; McKean to Benson, 30 April 1919; and Benson to McKean, 24 May 1919; all in CNO File, RG 80, NAUS.

45 Caperton to Chief Naval Operations, 12 May 1919, in ibid.

46 Planning Committee to Chief of Naval Operations, 28 May 1919, in ibid. The committee's-report is signed by Rear Admirals James H. Oliver and A. P. Niblack, Captain H. E. Yarnell, and Commander J. C. Hilton.

47 Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’, p. 397.

48 A copy of the editorial, taken from the Montevideo Times, 8 March. 1919, is appended to Caperton, ‘History of Flag Career’, p. 484.Google Scholar

49 See Manchester, British Pre-eminence in Brazil, pp. 334–6.Google Scholar