The foreign policy of the Roosevelt administration in Latin America, 1933-1941

414 Pages·016.313 MB·English

by  Guerrant, E. O

THE FOREIGN POLICY OF THE ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION
IN LATIN AMERICA 1933-1941
A Dissertation
Presented to
the Faculty of the Department of History
The University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
hy
Edward Owings Guerrant
June 1942
UMI Number: DP28657
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This dissertation, written by
.........
under the guidance of h..X$ Faculty Committee
on Studies, and approved by all its members, has
been presented to and accepted by the Council f Y ^ * *
on Graduate Study and Research, in partial ful-
fillment of requirements for the degree of (j^\ ^
D O C TO H -Q R P H IL O S O P H Y -f~ Q
Dean
Secretary
Date....^.\xn^y---'L9-4:2-.......
Committee on Studies
Chairman
H .jf]
PREFACE
The purpose of this study has been to trace the de­
velopment of the foreign policy of the United States in the
various Latin American nations from 1933 to 19^1* As this
study is of such a recent period of history, obviously many
documents have not been made public. The Foreign Relations
of the United States covering this period will not be available
for many years. However, there have been many publications
by the Department of State, such as the Press Releases, Bulle-
tins, Latin American Series, Executive Agreement Series, and
Treaty Series, which furnish present-day students. with an
abundance of material. While no definitive work can be done
until all the documents are available, enough materials can
be obtained to draw an accurate picture of the foreign policy
of the United States toward Latin America.
As this work has been concerned chiefly with the
United States attitude and policy, the method used has been
to examine the speeches of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Cordell Hull,
Sumner Welles and other prominent officials. Executive agree­
ments and treaties were analyzed, the various inter-American
conferences were studied, and the numerous scientific and
technical conferences and congresses were noted in an attempt
to draw an accurate picture of the foreign policy of this
nat ion.
The writer used the International Relations Library
of the Los Angeles University of International Relations,
the Doheny Memorial Library, the Pasadena Public Library,
and the Los Angeles Public Library.
The subject of this dissertation was decided upon when
the candidate was under the guidance of Dr. E. M. Eriksson.
At the time of his death, however, no actual work had been
done. The writer would like to acknowledge the excellent
advice of Dr. Donald V. Rowland, Chairman of the Committee,
under whom this work was actually done. His critical yet
friendly guidance has been of inestimable value. The writer
would also like to acknowledge the advice of the other
members of the Committee: Dr. Frank H. Garver, Dr. T.
Walter Wallbank, Dr. J. Eugene Harley, and Dr. Leon H. Ellis.
Acknowledgment is also given to Miss Margaret Cressaty of
the International Relations Library for her aid in the use
of the numerous governmental documents in that institution.
Edward 0. Guerrant
University of Southern California
June 19^2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I Introduction ■ . . 1
Monroe Doctrine in 1823 2
Roosevelt Corollary of the Monroe Doctrine ....... 6
Wilson Corollary of the Monroe Doctrine... ....... 7
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s opinion of Pan Americanism
in 1928 9
Background of Good Neighbor Policy under Hoover . . 10
II POLITICAL ASPECT OF THE UNITED STATES FOREIGN
POLICY, 1933 -1937........... 12
Inaugural address of March 4, 1933........... 12
Cuban Revolution of 1933 s-nd 1934 15
Roosevelt-Arias statement as to Unitdd States -
Panamanian Relations ......................... 24
United States-Haitian relations .......... 28
United States recognition of El Salvador ....... 31
United States adherence to Argentine Anti-War Pact . 32
Chaco controversy.......................... 39
Religious controversy in Mexico ................ 49
United States-Panama treaty .................. . 52
III FOREIGN POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES IN LA TIN-AMERICA
POLITICAL ASPECT 1937-1941 .............. 64
Abrogation of Mexican treaty of 1853 ............. 66
Oil controversy between the United States and Mexico 66
iv
CHAPTER PAGE
Pinal settlement of Chaco dispute............. 87
Graf Spee incident......................... 91
IV POLITICAL ASPECT OF THE FOREIGN POLICY OF THE
UNITED STATES AS REVEALED IN INTER-AMERICAN
CONFERENCES 1932-1941........................ '99
Montevideo Conference 1 9 3 3 .................. 101
Buenos Aires Conference 1 9 3 6 ................ 109
Lima conference 1936 117
Panama conference 1939 125
Havana Conference 1940 132
V THE POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES IN FURTHERING
LEGAL COOPERATION AMONG THE AMERICAN REPUBLICS . 140
Argentine Anti-War Pact...................... 141
Work of the Montevideo conference............. 142
Various methods of legal cooperation ......... 146
United States-Mexican salvage treaty of 1935 • • 148
Legal cooperation as a result of Buenos Aires . .
conference............................... 150
Legal cooperation as a result of the Lima
conference............................... 154
Legal cooperation as a result of the Panama
conference.................... 162
Legal cooperation as a result of the Havana
conference............................... 163
V
CHAPTER PAGE
VI ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES
IN LATIN AMERICA/1933-1941 . . . . . 1 . . . . . . I69
United States Tariff policy under Franklin P.
Roosevelt................................... 171
General Claims Commission of the United States and
Panama . ................................. 173
United States-Haitian Financial relations ....... 174
Multilateral silver agreement .................. 182
Passage of Trade Agreements Act ................ 183
Creation of Export-Import B a n k ................ 184
Mexican claims commission....................... 187
United States-Cuban silver agreement ............. 194
Pan American Commercial Conference ............. 195
United States-Dominican Republic financial
relations...................................197
International whaling agreement 1937 .............200
Sugar agreement............................... 201
First meeting of the Finance Ministers of the
American republics ........................... 215
Inter-American Coffee Marketing agreement ....... 221
VII THE RECIPROCAL TRADE AGREEMENT POLICY OF THE UNITED
STATES IN LATIN AMERICA............. 225
Agreement with C u b a ........................... 228
Agreement with Haiti........................... 237
vi
CHAPTER PAGE
Agreement with Honduras...................... 245
Agreement with Colombia...................... 246
Agreement with Guatemala.................... 2^9
Agreement with Nicaragua.................... 255
Agreement with El Salvador................ . . 257
Agreement with Costa Rica.................... 259
Agreement with Ecuador...................... 262
Agreement with Venezuela.................... 264
VIII ECONOMIC ASPECT OF THE FOREIGN POLICY AS REVEALED
IN THE INTER-AMERICAN CONFERENCES 1955-1941 . . . 271
Montevideo Conference 1955 271
Buenos Aires Conference 1956.................. 277
Lima Conference 1958 280
Panama Conference 1959 288
Havana Conference 1940 292
IX SOCIAL AND CULTURAL POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES
IN LATIN AMERICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Inter-American Conference on Education........ 299
Montevideo Conference........................ 500
Buenos Aires Conference...................... 505
Columbus Memorial 515
Lima Conference ........................... 522
Panama Conference........................... 527
Inter-American Conference ofI ndian Life . . . . 529
Office for Coordination of Commercial Relations
Between the American Republics............. 550
CHAPTER PAGE
X INTER-AMERICAN TECHNICAL COOPERATION ............ 336
North American Radio Conference........... 337
Inter-American Highway.................... 3 44
ppan American Sanitation Aviation Conference . . . 352
Pan American Child Congress .................. 356
o
Pan American Housing Conference . . . . . . . . . 367
XI CONCLUSION................................. 372
BIBLIOGRAPHY...................................... 389