American Imperialism?: the United States Interventions in Nicaragua

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM?: THE UNITED STATES INTERVENTIONS IN NICARAGUA, 1909 TO 1933 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE TEXAS WOMAN'S UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES BY KRISTIN DANELL BINYON, B.A. DENTON, TEXAS AUGUST 2013 TEXAS WOMAN'S UNIVERSITY LIBRAR\' ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are several people that I would like to thank and recognize for their help and assistance throughout my last two years at Texas Woman's University. This thesis is merely a glance at the growth I have experienced in these years. Firstly, I would like to recognize the three members of my committee. Dr. Sarah Fanning, I would like to say thank you for helping me find my way in the early months of my research. I thoroughly enjoyed our many talks and "oh yeah" moments. I would also like to thank Dr. Valentine Belfiglio for helping me to find my passion in international relations all those years ago. No one can bring political and military history alive like you can. I would also like to thank Dr. Mark Kessler for encouraging me as a scholar from day one. I cannot even begin to thank you for inspiring me as a student and for creating in me confidence in my own abilities. The ways you influenced my scholarly research have immensely helped me develop my thesis. I would also like to thank Dr. Paul Travis for looking at me during Professional Practices my first semester in the program and asking "Who hasn't called the U.S. interventions in Nicaragua failures?" Now, two years later, I can say I am that person. I would also like to thank the library and the wonderful faculty and staff that helped me in my search for resources and data. I cannot begin to describe the amount of thanks I owe to my fellow students for all those times each of you has iii acted as a mentor for me in this journey. I would also like to thank my family, especially my mother, for all their help and most importantly for supporting me in my academic pursuits. I would also like to thank Dr. Victoria Cummins of Austin College, if it were not for you I would not be where I am today. You inspired within me an inextinguishable passion for Latin American studies. Lastly, to my friends and loved ones, thank you all for always encouraging my work and for being there throughout my academic pursuits. iv ABSTRACT KRISTIN DANELL BINYON AMERICAN IMPERIALISM?: THE UNITED STATES INTERVENTIONS IN NICARAGUA, 1909TO1933 AUGUST 2013 This thesis is an examination of the active policies of the United States in the early twentieth century and the effects of the interventions these policies influenced. This essay reveals that U.S. presence in Nicaragua from 1909 to 1933 acted as a catalyst for positive changes and developments in the political, economic and social sectors of Nicaraguan society. The interventions and military occupations from 1909 until 1933 are classified as failures by much of the existing scholarship because the U.S. failed to meet its objectives in accordance with the Tipitapa Agreement. However, the interventions positive by-products examined in this essay efficiently prove these interventions were not complete failures. Utilizing primary sources including conference proceedings, archived photographs, journals, personal papers, letters, newspaper articles as well as a multitude of secondary sources, this essay examines in detail the political, economic and social developments and advancements brought on by the 1909 to 1933 interventions in Nicaragua to add to the existing scholarship in this subject area. V TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................... V LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................................. viii Chapter I. THE ACTIVE POLICIES OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT REGARDING LATIN AMERICAN RELATIONS ............................................................................................................ 1 II. AN EXAMINATION OF RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND A LITERATURE REVIEW OF CURRENT SCHOLARSHIP ............................................................................... 13 Research Methodology ............................................................................................................ 14 Literature Review of Current Scholarship ....................................................................... 19 III. NICARAGUAN HISTORY AND THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN AND NICARAGUAN RELATIONS ..................................................................................................... 26 The History of the Nicaraguan Economy.......................................................................... 28 Nicaraguan Political History and the History of the U.S. Interventions from 1909 to 1933 .................................................................................................................... 36 IV. THE POSITIVE BY-PRODUCTS OF AMERICA'S FAILINGS AND THE EFFECTS OF AMERICAN INFLUENCE IN THE COUNTRY ........................................... 63 The Intentional and Unintentional Positive By-Products of the U.S. Inte~ventions on the Nicaraguan Political Sector ......................................................... 66 The Intentional and Unintentional Positive By-Products of the U.S. Interventions on the Nicaraguan Economic Sector .................................................................................. 69 vi The History of Nicaraguan Social Standards and the Intentional and Unintentional Positive By-Products of the U.S. Interventions on the Nicaraguan Social Sector ........................................................................................................ 73 V. CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................... 85 WORKS CITED .................................................................................................................................... 93 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. AUGUSTO C. SANDINO, DEFENDER OF THE SOVEREIGNTY OF CENTRAL AMERICA . ................................................................................................................................................. 50 2. PHOTO USNAl-4.11. LT. ORVILLE PENNINGTON WITH HEAD OF SILVINO HERRERA, AUGUST 1930) . ......................................................................................................... 51 3. PHOTO USNA2-5.9. THE NATIONAL BOARD OF ELECTIONS, MANAGUA, NICARAGUA . ........................................................................................................................................... 67 4. AUGUSTO CALDERON SANDINO AND BLANCA ARAUZ, DAY OF THEIR WEDDING, MAY 19, 1927.................................................................................................................. 79 5. PHOTO USNAl-2.3. SANDIN/STAS ALONG THE BANKS OF THE RfO COCO, CA.1928. ........................................................................................................................................... 80 viii CHAPTERI THE ACTIVE POLICIES OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT REGARDING LATIN AMERICAN RELATIONS Throughout history, the United States remained true to its active policies regarding international relations and foreign affairs. Since the early days of the American republic, the U.S. utilized several different approaches to U.S. foreign relations, ranging from complete isolationism to direct interventionism. The articulation of policies like the Monroe Doctrine, formulated under the James Monroe administration in 1823, the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, formulated under the Theodore Roosevelt administration in 1904, Dollar Diplomacy, formulated under the William Taft administration in 1909, and the Good Neighbor policy, formulated under the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration in 1933, forever changed the face of U.S. foreign relations. Under these policies, the United States entered into the era of American imperialism. For the scope of this thesis, imperialism is defined as the direct and active influence of the United States on the political, economic, military and cultural sectors of a foreign nation, in this case Nicaragua, through direct intervention.1 1 This is derived from the definition of "imperialism as embodied in concessions, protectorates and spheres of influence" in accordance with the work of John M. Mathews, "Roosevelt's Latin-American Policy," The American Political Science Review 29.5 (October 1935), 808. 1 In this chapter, I will present the policies of the U.S. government that directly affected U.S. relations with Latin American countries. More specifically, it will address the Monroe Doctrine, the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, Dollar Diplomacy, the Bryan-Chamorro Treaty as well as the Good Neighbor Policy. This chapter will go on to address the effects of these policies on U.S. and Nicaraguan relations throughout the first half of the twentieth century. The intention of this chapter is to provide clarity on the purpose and effects of each of these policies, and to allow a proper understanding of the motives for the interventions in Nicaragua occurring from 1909 to 1933. During the early twentieth century, the United States

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