World War II Along the United States-Mexico Border Winifred Baumer Dowling University of Texas at El Paso, [email protected]
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University of Texas at El Paso DigitalCommons@UTEP Open Access Theses & Dissertations 2010-01-01 The Border at War: World War II Along the United States-Mexico Border Winifred Baumer Dowling University of Texas at El Paso, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/open_etd Part of the Latin American History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Dowling, Winifred Baumer, "The Border at War: World War II Along the United States-Mexico Border" (2010). Open Access Theses & Dissertations. 2473. https://digitalcommons.utep.edu/open_etd/2473 This is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UTEP. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UTEP. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE BORDER AT WAR: WORLD WAR II ALONG THE UNITED STATES-MEXICO BORDER WINIFRED B. DOWLING Department of History APPROVAL: ________________________ Charles Martin, Ph.D., Chair ________________________ Paul Edison, Ph.D. ________________________ Ernesto Chavez, Ph.D. ________________________ Josiah Heyman, Ph.D. ______________________________ Patricia D. Witherspoon, Ph.D. Dean of the Graduate School Copyright © By Winifred B. Dowling 2010 THE BORDER AT WAR: WORLD WAR II ALONG THE UNITED STATES-MEXICO BORDER by WINIFRED B. DOWLING DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at El Paso in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSPHY Department of History THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO December 2010 Acknowledgments My experience as a doctoral student at the University of Texas at El Paso was one of unending pleasure. I was fortunate to have so many inspiring professors, including Charles Ambler, Sam Brunk, Ernesto Chavez, Paul Edison, David Hackett, Carl Jackson, Charles Martin, Cheryl Martin, Sandra McGee-Deutsch, Michael Topp, and Ron Weber. I am grateful for all the help from my dissertation committee. I am particularly thankful to Charles Martin as chair of the committee, who was always willing to work with me to improve each chapter. Paul Edison, as both committee member and chair of the History Department, was always available to comment on my chapters. Ernest Chavez was a resource for the chapter on Mexican Americans during World War II. My outside reader, Josiah Heyman, is the chair of the UTEP Sociology and Anthropology department, has written about World War II in the Southwest, and was a special help on the dissertation conclusion. I was fortunate to share ideas and plans with other doctor candidates, especially Gladys Hodges, Ann Gabbert, Nancy Nemeth-Jesusrun, Gary Kieffner, Jeffrey Lucas, and Julia Schiavone-Camacho. I had the happy circumstance of spending joyful hours at many libraries across the country, especially the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, and our own UTEP library. Many thanks to Claudia Rivers, head of the C.L. Sonnichsen Special Collection Department, and her wonderful staff. And a special thanks to Minerva Santiago and David Burns for sharing their computer skills. I appreciate all my family support and interest over the years, including my sisters Natalie, Marjorie and Carol, and my brother Ken. Many thanks to my dear daughter Valerie for her support, especially as we were both in school at the same time. Most of all, I am grateful to my husband Tom who never ceased to urge me on and has been beside me every step of the way. iv Abstract The U.S.-Mexico border, especially the shared border of El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, was in many ways transformed by the effects of World War II. This study examines change or continuity brought about by the war. The border region reflected many similarities to the national reaction to the upheaval of World War II. Yet there were dramatic differences as well. Examples of continuity and change are examined through the lens of border relations, labor and the economy, Mexican Americans, border women, and health on the border. Wartime relations between El Paso and Juarez reached a zenith of good will and joint support. But most of the rest of Mexico exhibited continuing attitudes of indifference or sometimes hostility toward the United States. Organized labor reflected national efforts to better union workers‘ lives. Yet otherwise, most El Paso workers, including salaried workers like teachers and nurses, earned wages that were significantly lower than national averages. The reputation of El Paso as a cheap labor city remained intact. Mexican Americans across the Southwest were victims of some degree of segregation and discrimination. Texas was the home of segregation on all fronts, except along the border. In El Paso, there was some upward mobility; for example, as much as 14 percent of the local College of Mines student body was Mexican American, compared to only 1.6 percent at the University of Texas at Austin. Nonetheless, most openings to social, economic and political power were unattainable by Mexican Americans in the 1940s. Significant change did not begin to come about until the end of the 1950s. Job opportunities for women were not as widespread as elsewhere in the country. There v were no large defense industry plants to hire women workers, and El Paso remained classified as ―sufficient work force‖ throughout the war. There were new opportunities for local women in ―male jobs,‖ but most of these jobs were ―for the duration‖ and reverted to the men as they came marching home. Both on the border and across the country continuity was very much a part of postwar life for women. Health in El Paso improved during the war years, as it did across the country. But the city‘s mortality and morbidity rates remained abysmally high compared to national or even Texas averages. This social history discusses a period of significant change for the border region and, at the same time, points up both the similarities and differences along the U.S.-Mexican border and patterns nationwide. Today, as well as during World War II, El Paso and Juarez experience both change and continuity that reflect national trends; yet both cities can be significantly different than the two nations they border. vi Table of Contents Page Acknowledgement………..……………………………………………………………………..iii Abstract…...…………………………………………………………………………………......iv Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………. vi Introduction: The Border at War, the Transformative Power of World War II…........................1 Home Front Studies Community Studies I. U.S.-Mexico Border Relations ………………………………………………………… 19 U.S.-Mexico in the 1930s The Sexenio of President Manuel Avila Camacho Sinarquismo Sinarquismo in the United States Ciudad Juarez Mayors Shared National Holidays Mexico‘s Reaction to the War The Axis in Mexico Border Crossings - He‘s in the Army Now Rationing and the ―Benefits of Location‖ Rationing for Mexicans Conclusion II. Labor and the Economy on the Wartime Border………………………………………..71 Braceros Traqueros Prisoners of War Farm Labor on the Border Organized Labor in Wartime Wage Conditions in El Paso Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Connections with Mexican Labor Conclusion vii III. Mexican Americans during World War II………………………………………………..114 Federal Government View of Mexican Americans State Government and Mexican Americans Discrimination League of Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Discrimination in Public Accommodations Real Estate Restrictions School Segregation and Discrimination Employment The Poll Tax and Voters Conflict and Violence, the Zoot Suiters Conclusion IV. Border Women during World War II……………………………………………………158 Changes in Political Participation, Education, and Marriage Woman at Work – General Trends Upscale Jobs Women in ―Men‘s Jobs‖ Women in the Military Prostitutes and Victory Girls Khaki Wackies and Cuddle Bunnies El Paso Rapid Treatment Center Home Front Volunteers Traditional Women Conclusion V. Health on the Border…………………………………………………………………199 Before the War Wartime Health Statistics Health and Money Hospitals Public Health Children‘s Health Water, Sewage, and Garbage Problems Health Care on Both Sides of the Border Venereal Disease Conclusion Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………. 231 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………...237 Biographical Sketch………………………………………………………………… ……..268 viii Introduction: The Border at War: the Transformative Power of World War II This dissertation examines the major issues that confronted people on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border during World War II, with special attention to the city of El Paso, Texas. My overall thesis is that in four short years World War II transformed social and economic relations along the border and began important trends that influenced border life long after the war was over. In particular, I focus on the fundamental changes that took place concerning border relations between Mexico and the United States, labor and the economy, Mexican Americans, border women, and health. I will examine events during the 1930s and the 1940s, especially the wartime period, to sketch out how trends in the border region were differed from or was similar to national events. El Paso, Texas, and its twin city of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, are the focus of my research. El Paso/Juarez was the largest of eight paired cities along the border in 1940, with the possible exception of San Diego, California, and Tijuana, Baja California.