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Becoming a Good Neighbor among Dictators pp 93–128Cite as

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Continuismo: The Good Neighbor and Non-interference, 1934–1936

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Abstract

This chapter reviews the Foreign Service’s efforts to come to terms with the new Good Neighbor policy, especially its non-interference principle, against the background of Presidents Ubico’s and Carías’s efforts to continue themselves in office beyond their legal terms. Most U.S. diplomats regretted that they could not play their traditional roles as guardians of good government in Central America, as they thought they had done in the past. Minister Francis Corrigan pleaded for a “responsible Good Neighbor” that would leave some room for U.S. interference to prevent the establishment of military dictatorships. The State Department was nonresponsive and General Martínez of El Salvador managed to manipulate Corrigan’s disappointment to convince the diplomat that he, Martínez, was the standard bearer of constitutionalism and honesty in Central America.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Lane to Corrigan, July 22, 1936, Arthur Bliss Lane papers, Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library, Yale University at New Haven, Connecticut (henceforth Lane Papers), box 63, folder 1126.

  2. 2.

    This Departmental report is discussed more elaborately in Chap. 3, section “Elections”. The report also shows that Ubico and Carías were considered part of the same trend in their countries. Araujo had been removed from office by this time and the Martínez government was regarded as an exception to the trend toward electoral politics in Central America.

  3. 3.

    This general overview is based on Crawley, Somoza and Roosevelt, Clark, The United States and Somoza, and Knut Walter, The Regime of Anastasio Somoza, 1939–1956 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1993).

  4. 4.

    Lane to Beaulac, July 27, 1925, Lane Papers, box 61, folder 1102.

  5. 5.

    Crawley, Somoza and Roosevelt, Chap. 2. LaFeber, Schoultz, Schmitz, and McPherson all make special mention of Somoza in their arguments about the Good Neighbor and dictatorship. See Chap. 1, n. 5 and n. 8.

  6. 6.

    Wood, The Making, 123–135; Gilderhus, Second Century, Chap. 3, especially page 73; Schoultz, Beneath the United States, 293–296; Gellman, Good Neighbor Diplomacy, 3–29; McPherson, “Herbert Hoover”.

  7. 7.

    Gilderhus, Second Century, 78; Schoultz, Beneath the United States, 304–305.

  8. 8.

    Wood states that it “should not be surprising that a certain sense of the normality, and even propriety of calling on the Marines, should have persisted beyond 1920, independently of the nature of the formal justification for such action; it was a habitual, nearly automatic response to ‘disturbed conditions’ or ‘utter chaos’ in a Caribbean country.” Wood, The Making, 5. Gordon Connell-Smith argues that “the Marines had been used so frequently as to seem, to the United States, part of the natural order of things”. Gordon Connell-Smith, The United States and Latin America: A Historical Analysis of inter-American Relations (London: Heinemann Educational, 1974), 146–147.

  9. 9.

    Russel H. Fitzgibbon, “Continuismo: The search for political longevity”, in Hugh M. Hamill ed., Caudillos: Dictators in Spanish America (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 210–217, there 211.

  10. 10.

    Edward P. Lawton (U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to Guatemala) to the Acting Secretary of State, January 19, 1934, FRUS 1934, volume V: The American Republics, 241–243.

  11. 11.

    A good discussion on Hanna’s portrayal in the historiography is in Crawley, Somoza and Roosevelt, 19–22.

  12. 12.

    Crawley, Somoza and Roosevelt, 19–22.

  13. 13.

    Hanna to Department, October 30, 1934, M1280, roll 1, Political Affairs 1174; Hanna to Ubico, February 13, 1934, PRGU, volume 311, class 800.1; Hanna to Department, February 15, 1935, PRGU, volume 311, class 800.1.

  14. 14.

    Department of State, August 3, 1935, M1280, roll1, Political Affairs 1240.

  15. 15.

    Grieb, Guatemalan Caudillo, 117–118.

  16. 16.

    Hanna to Department, September 14, 1934, M1280, roll 1, 1151.

  17. 17.

    Hanna to Department, February 28, 1935, M1280, roll 1, 1185.

  18. 18.

    Leo Sack (U.S. Minister to Costa Rica) to Hanna, August 8, 1933, M1280, roll1, 1122; Eberhardt to Department, August 8, 1933, M1280, roll 1, 1122; Lawton to Department, n.d. (March, 1933), M1280, roll 1, 1134; Edward G. Trueblood (U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to Costa Rica), April 26, 1934, M1280, roll 1, 1139; Hanna to Department, May 17, 1934, M1280, roll 1, 1141.

  19. 19.

    Grieb, “Jorge Ubico’s Retention of Power”.

  20. 20.

    Hanna to Department, April 6, 1935, M1280, roll 1, 1191; Hanna to Department, April 10, 1935, M1280, roll 1, 1192; Hanna to Department, April 16, 1935, M1280, roll 1, 1197.

  21. 21.

    Hanna to Department, April 30, 1935, M1280, roll 1, 1202; Hanna to Department, May 3, 1935, M1280, roll 1, 1204; Hanna to Department, April 13, 1935, M1280, roll 1, 1195; Hanna to Department, May 3, 1935, M1280, roll 1, 1204; Hanna to Department, April 30, 1935, M1280, roll 1, 1202.

  22. 22.

    Ibid.

  23. 23.

    Hanna to Wilson, May 18, 1935, PRGU, volume 311, class 801.1.

  24. 24.

    Hanna to Department, 607, April 16, 1935, M1280, roll 1, 1197.

  25. 25.

    Division of Latin American Affairs to Wilson, April 16, 1935, M1280, roll 1, 1193.

  26. 26.

    Hull to Hanna, telegram 15, May 7, 1935, M1280, roll 1, 1201.

  27. 27.

    Hull to Hanna, telegram 11, April 30, 1935, M1280, roll 1, 1197.

  28. 28.

    Hanna to Department, May 2, 1935, M1280, roll 1, 1199; Hanna to Department, May 3, 1935, M1280, roll 1, 1203.

  29. 29.

    Hanna, untitled memorandum, May 10, 1935, PRGU, volume 311, class 801.1.

  30. 30.

    Ibid.; Hanna to Wilson, May 18, 1935, PRGU, volume 311, class 801.1; Hanna, untitled memorandum, May 13, 1935, PRGU, volume 311, class 801.1.

  31. 31.

    Grieb, “Jorge Ubico’s Retention of Power”.

  32. 32.

    Welles to Hanna, May 24, 1935, M1280, roll 1, 1197.

  33. 33.

    Hanna to Department, June 3, 1935, M1280, roll 1, 814.00/1223. Emphasis in the original. Leave of Absence Card for 1935, January 1, 1936, PRGU, box 1, class 123. After a very brief return to his post, Hanna died suddenly in February 1936.

  34. 34.

    Beaulac to Wilson, October 1, 1935, M1280, roll 2, 814.00/1254; Phillips to Lane, July 17, 1935, M1280, roll 2, 814.00/1255; Lane to Department, September 20, 1935, M1280, roll 2, 814.00/1256; Lane to Department, September 27, 1935, M1280, roll 2, 814.00/1257.

  35. 35.

    Hull to Hanna, September 10, 1935, M1280, roll 2, 1250.

  36. 36.

    Aside from the work of Mario Argueta and Thomas Dodd, which has already been cited several times, valuable studies on this topic that are based on Honduran sources include: Sergio Suazo Rubí, Auge y Crisis Ideológica del Partido Liberal (Tegucigalpa, 1994), 215–235 and 279–297; Inestroza, Policía Nacional, 181–242; Ibid., Documentos Clasificados.

  37. 37.

    O’Donoghue to Keena, September 30, 1935, PRHO, volume 212, class 800; Keena to Department, November 23, 1935, PRHO, volume 212, class 800.

  38. 38.

    Keena to Department, August 22, 1935, PRHO, volume 212, class 800.

  39. 39.

    Vinancio Callejas (Honduran Opposition Leader) to Keena, December 11, 1936, PRHO, box 8, class 800; Dodd, Carías, 192; Keena to Department, August 17, 1936, PRHO, box 8, class 800.

  40. 40.

    Suazo Rubí, Auge y Crisis, 221–2 and 279–283.

  41. 41.

    Keena to Department, November 9, 1936, PRHO, box 8, class 800.

  42. 42.

    Keena to Department, January 1, 1936, PRHO, box 8, class 800; Hull to Keena, January 22, 1936, PRHO, box 8, class 800.

  43. 43.

    Keena to Department, January 8, 1937, PRHO, box 23, class 800. On the procedures of Carías’s continuismo, as well as his expanding powers, consult: Argueta, Carías, Chap. 7 and Dodd, Carías, Chap. 6. Inestroza also notes the expanded power of the security forces that the 1936 constitution gave to Carías: Inestroza Policía Nacional, 185 and 189.

  44. 44.

    Keena to the North Coast consulates, January 13, 1936, PRHO, box 8, class 800; Keena to Department, January 17, 1936, PRHO, box 8, class 800.

  45. 45.

    Keena to Department, January 31, 1936, PRHO, box 8, class 800; Stewart to Keena, January 8 1936, PRHO, box 8, class 800.

  46. 46.

    Keena to Department, February 20, 1936, PRHO, box 8, class 800; Keena to Department, March 6, 1936, PRHO, box 8, class 800.

  47. 47.

    Keena to Department, April 17, 1936, PRHO, box 8, class 800; Keena to Department, September 2, 1936, PRHO, box 8, class 800.

  48. 48.

    Hoffman to Department, February 9, 1937, PRHO, box 23, class 800. See previous notes for studies on Carías’s repression.

  49. 49.

    See Chap. 2, section “The Roosevelt Appointees”.

  50. 50.

    Corrigan to Department, January 12, 1935, PRES, volume 128, class 800.

  51. 51.

    Corrigan to Department, July 9, 1934, PRES, volume 128, class 800; Corrigan to Department, May 9, 1934, PRES, volume 128, class 800; Corrigan to Department, July 31, 1934, PRES, volume 128, class 800.

  52. 52.

    Corrigan to Department, July 9, 1934, PRES, volume 128, class 800; Corrigan to Department, July 31, 1934, PRES, volume 128, class 800; Corrigan to Department, September 4, 1934, PRES, volume 128, class 800; Corrigan to Department, June 6, 1934, PRES, volume 130, class 800.S: Corrigan to Department, December 5, 1934, PRES, volume 130, class 800.S; Corrigan to Department, February 15, 1935, PRES, Volume 135, class 800; Corrigan to Department, April 12, 1935, PRES, Volume 135, class 800.

  53. 53.

    Beaulac to Wilson, June 29, 1934, Lot Files, Individual Countries, box 45, folder marked El Salvador, 1933–1940.

  54. 54.

    Corrigan to Department, March 9, 1935, PRES, volume 136, class 800; Corrigan to Department, April 2, 1935, PRES, volume 135, class 800; Corrigan to Department, March 13, 1935, PRES, volume 135, class 800.

  55. 55.

    Ching, Authoritarian El Salvador, introduction and Chap. 7, section 4, paragraph 1.

  56. 56.

    Corrigan to Department, February 20, 1936, PRES, box 2, class 500.

  57. 57.

    Corrigan to Department, May 10, 1935, PRES, volume 135, class 800; Corrigan to Department, April 30, 1935, PRES, volume 136, class 800.1.

  58. 58.

    Corrigan to Department, August 19, 1935, PRES, volume 136, class 800; Corrigan to Department, October 1, 1935, PRES, volume 136, class 800; Corrigan to Department, January 21, 1936, PRES, box 4, 800.

  59. 59.

    Corrigan to Department, August 19, 1935, PRES, volume 135, class 800; Corrigan to Department, September 18, 1936, PRES, box 4, class 800; Corrigan to Department, March 2, 1936, PRES, box 4, class 800; Corrigan to Department, August 19, 1936, PRES, box 4, class 800.

  60. 60.

    Corrigan to Department, October 16, 1935, PRES, volume 135, class 710.

  61. 61.

    Fisher, Memorandum for the Files, n.d., PRES, volume 136, class 800; Lane to Department, May 4, 1934, PRES, volume 136, class 800; Welles to lane, May 21, 1934, PRES, volume 136, class 800.

  62. 62.

    Corrigan to Department, January 21, 1936, PRES, box 4, class 800.

  63. 63.

    Corrigan to Department, May 14, 1946, PRES, box 4, class 800.

  64. 64.

    Wood, The Making, 150.

  65. 65.

    Hull to the U.S. Legations in Central America, April 30, 1936, PRES, box 4, class 800.

  66. 66.

    “Recommendation that American Policy in Central America no longer be affected by any Provision of the Central American General Treaty of Peace and Amity of 1923”, February 18, 1936, PRES, box 4, class 800.

  67. 67.

    Ibid.

  68. 68.

    Corrigan to Beaulac, May 20, 1936, Corrigan Papers, box 1, folder marked Beaulac, Willard; Corrigan to Beaulac, April 15, 1936, Corrigan Papers, box 1, folder marked Beaulac, Willard.

  69. 69.

    Arthur Bliss Lane, I Saw Poland Betrayed. An American Ambassador Reports to the American People (Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill, 1948).

  70. 70.

    Corrigan to Bulkley, February 20, 1937, Corrigan Papers, box 2, folder marked Bulkley, Senator Robert J.; Bulkley to Corrigan, May 29, 1937, Corrigan Papers, box 2, folder marked Bulkley, Senator Robert J.; Bulkley to Corrigan, June 3, 1937, Corrigan Papers, box 2, folder marked Bulkley, Senator Robert J.; Bulkley to Corrigan, July 24, 1937, Corrigan Papers, box 2, folder marked Bulkley, Senator Robert J.; Corrigan to Hull, March 20, 1937, Corrigan Papers, box 4, folder marked Hull, Cordell; Corrigan to Moore, December 19, 1936, Corrigan Papers, box 7, folder marked Moore, R. Walton; Corrigan to Franklin Roosevelt, March 17, 1937, Corrigan Papers, box 9, folder marked Roosevelt, F.D. and Eleanor; Corrigan to Welles, June 4, 1937, Corrigan Papers, box 10, folder marked Welles, Sumner.

  71. 71.

    Corrigan to Department, February 6, 1936, PRES, box 4, class 800; Corrigan to Department, July 17, 1936, PRES, box 4, class 800; Corrigan to Department, June 10, 1936, PRES, box 6, class 891; Fisher to Department, November 3, 1936, PRES, box 4, class 800.

  72. 72.

    Corrigan to Department, March 13, 1937, PRES, box 9, volume VI, class 800. Emphasis added.

  73. 73.

    Corrigan to Department, June 2, 1937, PRES, box 9, volume VI, class 800.

  74. 74.

    Ching, Authoritarian El Salvador, Chap. 7, section 6.

  75. 75.

    Salvador Hoffmann to Department, September 27, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800; Hoffmann to Department, October 22, 1937, PRES, box 9, volume VI, class 800.1; Hoffmann to Department, September 29, 1937, PRES, box 9, volume VI, class 800; Hoffmann to Department, October 30, 1937, PRES, box 9, volume VI, class 800; Frazer to Department, January 25, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800; Frazer to Department, April 22, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800; Frazer to Department, June 22, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800; Frazer to Department, July 11, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800; Hoffmann to Department, August 18, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800; Hoffmann to Department, September 2, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800; Hoffmann to Department, September 14, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800; Hoffman to Department, October 7, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800. On domestic opposition to continuismo, see Ching, Authoritarian El Salvador, Chap. 7, section 6.

  76. 76.

    Frazer to Department, January 19, 1939, PRES, box 21, volume VII, class 800; Frazer to Department, January 25, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800; Frazer to Department, April 22, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800.

  77. 77.

    Hoffman to Department, September 2, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800; Hoffman to Department, September 27, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800.

  78. 78.

    Hoffman to Department, October 7, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800.

  79. 79.

    Welles to Hoffman, September 29, 1938, PRES, CF, box 1; Hoffman to Department, October 7, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800.

  80. 80.

    Frazer to Department, July 23, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800; Hoffman to Department, August 18, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800; Hoffman to Department, September 2, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800.

  81. 81.

    Frazer to Department, January 6, 1939, PRES, box 21, volume VII, class 800; Frazer to Department, January 24, 1939, PRES, box 21, volume VII, class 800; Frazer to Department, October 29, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800; Frazer to Department, November 15, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 800; Frazer to Department, November 28, 1938, PRES, box 13, volume VI, class 801.1.

  82. 82.

    Lamson-Scribner to Frazer, January 13, 1938, PRES, CF, box 1.

  83. 83.

    Des Portes to Department, July 3, 1936, M1280, roll 2, 1288. On Martínez’s bases of power, consult Ching, Authoritarian El Salvador, Chaps. 7 and 8.

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    Jorrit van den Berk

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van den Berk, J. (2018). Continuismo: The Good Neighbor and Non-interference, 1934–1936. In: Becoming a Good Neighbor among Dictators. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69986-8_4

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