Becoming a Good Neighbor among Dictators: The U.S. Foreign Service in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras

344 Pages·2018·2.6 MB·English

by  Jorrit van den Berk (auth.)

JJOORRRRIITT VVAANN DDEENN BBEERRKK
B E C O M I N G
A G O O D
N E I G H B O R
A M O N G
D I C TAT O R S
The U.S. Foreign Service in
Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras
Becoming a Good Neighbor among Dictators
Jorrit van den Berk
Becoming a Good
Neighbor among
Dictators
The U.S. Foreign Service in Guatemala,
El Salvador, and Honduras
Jorrit van den Berk
Radboud University
Nijmegen, The Netherlands
ISBN 978-3-319-69985-1 ISBN 978-3-319-69986-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69986-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017961110
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U.S. C M C a
hiefS of iSSion in entral MeriCa
Dates refer to presentation of credentials and termination of mission.
Guatemala
Sheldon Whitehouse – March 21, 1930 to July 23, 1933
Matthew Elting Hanna – October 28, 1933 to February 9, 1936
Fay Allen Des Portes – May 22, 1936 to May 14, 1943
Boaz Walton Long – May 19, 1943 to April 11, 1945
Edwin Jackson Kyle – May 8, 1945 to August 22, 1948
Richard Cunningham Patterson – November 24, 1948 to March 28,
1950
Rudolf Emil Schoenfeld – April 24, 1951 to October 19, 1953
El Salvador
Warren Delano Robbins – February 27, 1929 to April 30, 1931
Charles Boyd Curtis – November 6, 1931 [to January, 1932]
Francis Patrick Corrigan – April 30, 1934 to August 28, 1937
Robert Frazer – December 6, 1937 to October 31, 1942
Walter Clarence Thurston – January 14, 1942 to October 14, 1944
John Farr Simmons – February 21, 1945 to July 1, 1947
Albert Frank Nufer – August 13, 1947 to July 16, 1949
George Price Shaw – August 23, 1949 to April 25, 1952
Angier Biddle Duke – June 5, 1952 to May 21, 1953
v
vi U.S. CHIEFS OF MISSION IN CENTRAL AMERICA
Honduras
Julius Gareche Lay – May 31, 1930 to March 17, 1935
Leo John Keena – July 19, 1935 to May 1, 1937
John Draper Erwin – September 8, 1937 to April 16, 1947
Paul Clement Daniels – June 23, 1947 to October 30, 1947
Herbert S. Bursley – May 15, 1948 to December 12, 1950
John Draper Erwin – March 14, 1951 to February 28, 1954
a
CknowledgeMentS
I am indebted to many people and institutions for their support as I was
writing this book. Firstly, it would have been impossible to complete my
research without the financial aid of the Leiden University Fund, the
Institute for History at the University of Leiden, and the Department of
English Language and Culture / American Studies at Radboud University,
Nijmegen.
I am also grateful for the expert advice and friendly encouragement of
my colleagues. At the University of Leiden, Professor Wim van den Doel
and Professor Giles Scott-Smith, despite their innumerable duties and
responsibilities, were always generous with their time and insights. Outside
Leiden, the close-knit community of American Studies scholars at the
Universities of Utrecht and Nijmegen counseled and supported me in this
and many other endeavors. My gratitude also goes out to the (academic)
staff, past and present of the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies in
Middelburg.
The willingness of librarians and archivists in the United States to go
beyond the call of duty in helping me never ceased to amaze me. I would
like to thank the staff of the National Archives Records Administration at
College Park, MD; the Library of Congress at Washington, DC; the
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum at Hyde Park,
NY; the Harry S.  Truman Presidential Library and Museum at
Independence, MO; the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript
Library of Duke University at Durham, NC; the Yale University Library
Manuscripts and Archives division at New Haven, CT; the New Mexico
State Records Center and Archives at Santa Fe, NM; and the Edith Garland
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Dupré Library Special Collection and Archives of the University of
Louisiana at Lafayette, LA, for their patience and helpfulness.
Lastly, this book, such as it is, would have never been written without
the patience and support of my dear friends; my mother, Ellie van den
Berk-Versteegen; and my partner, Liesbeth van de Vijver.
Had I been a better writer, I might have found the right words to
express the depth of my gratefulness to all the people mentioned here and
many, many more whom I could not mention by name in this short fore-
word. I can only hope that they will accept these wholly inadequate words
of gratitude.
Jorrit van den Berk
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT S ix
“Central America, 1944”. Source: Alamy Stock Photo/The Citizen’s Atlas of
the World (London: John Bartholomew & Son Limited, 8th Edition, 1944)
C
ontentS
1 Coping with the Caudillos 1
2 The Envoys: The Foreign Service in Central America,
1930–1952 15
3 Origins: The Rise of the Caudillos and the Defeat of 
Non- Recognition, 1930–1934 47
4 Continuismo: The Good Neighbor and Non-interference,
1934–1936 93
5 Becoming Benign Dictators: The Good Neighbor
and Fascism, 1936–1939 129
6 T he Best of Neighbors: The Alliance Against Fascism,
1939–1944 165
7 T he Casualties of War: The Central American Upheavals
of 1944 199
xi