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W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 2008 The shadow of the revolution: South Texas, the Mexican Revolution, and the evolution of modern American labor relations John William Weber College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the Labor Relations Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Weber, John William, "The shadow of the revolution: South Texas, the Mexican Revolution, and the evolution of modern American labor relations" (2008). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539623535. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-3p1m-z736 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Shadow of the Revolution: South Texas, the Mexican Revolution, and the Evolution of Modern American Labor Relations John William Weber Ill San Antonio, Texas Master of Arts, College of William and Mary, 2002 Bachelor of Arts, Vanderbilt University, 2000 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the College of William and Mary in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History The College of William and Mary August 2008 © Copyright by John William Weber III 2008 APPROVAL PAGE This Dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy :!6~,ba/ mittee Chair indy Hahamovitch, History College of William and Mary Judith Ewell, History College of William and Mary A rew F1sher, H1story College of William and Mary Benjamin Johnson, History Southern Methodist University ABSTRACT PAGE This dissertation examines the creation and evolution of the agricultural economy and labor relations of South Texas from the late Nineteenth Century to the Nineteen Sixties. The changing demographic reality of Mexico, with massive population shifts northward during the last quarter of the Nineteenth Century, caused massive emigration to the United States once the violence of the Mexican Revolution erupted after 1910. Hundreds of thousands fled north of the border, most of them traveling to South Texas. This migration wave out of Mexico met another group of migrants traveling from the Southeast and Midwest who sought to purchase farm land in South Texas as the region underwent a transition from ranching to agriculture. A new regime of labor and racial relations emerged from these simultaneous migrations, built on a system of social and residential segregation, continued migration from Mexico, and seasonal immobilization of workers. While this system never stopped the mobility of the Mexican and Mexican American populations of South Texas, it did allow the region to continue paying the lowest wages in the nation even as production and profits soared. Agricultural interests in the rest of the COl;Jntry were not long in taking notice, and began recruiting workers from South Texas by the thousands during the Nineteen Twenties after immigration from Europe had slowed down following the passage of restrictive immigration legislation in 1917, 1921, and 1924. The South Texas model of labor relations then went national during the era of the Bracero Program from 1942-1964. Originally meant to be an emergency contract labor program between the United and Mexico during World War II, it morphed into a method by which growers could replicate the labor market conditions of South Texas, with basic rights of choice, mobility, and citizenship disregarded in favor of cheap and easily exploitable foreign labor. Throughout the Twentieth Century, in other words, South Texas has not been a peripheral, backward region with little importance for the rest of the nation. Instead, the rest of the nation has followed in the footsteps of South Texas. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements v1 Introduction 2 Chapter l. Porfirian South Texas 14 Chapter 2. Revoluci6n en la Frontera 46 Chapter 3. The Revolution in Texas: International Migration, Capitalist Agriculture, and the Growth of the Tejano Diaspora 96 Chapter 4. Securing the Revolution: Political Restructuring and the Attempted Immobilization of Labor in South Texas 141 Chapter 5. Nativism, Nationalism, and the Evolution of Immigration/ Emigration Policy on Both Sides of the Rio Grande 179 Chapter 6. The Politics of Depression in South Texas 220 Chapter 7. Deportation and Repatriation from South Texas 247 Chapter 8. Organization and Rebellion in Depression-Era South Texas 270 Chapter 9. Texas is Everywhere South of the Canadian Border: The Bracero Program and the Nationalization of South Texas Labor Relations 322 Epilogue 382 Bibliography 392 Vita 425 Vl ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS How can I possibly sum up all of the debts that I have accumulated over the last several years in my often-bumbling efforts to finish graduate school? Throughout my years in Williamsburg I have been remarkably lucky to be a part of a vibrant group of graduate students. Through coursework, teaching, research, and dissertation writing there have been a circle of people who have helped me maintain a few shreds of sanity. Josh Beatty, Sean Harvey, Amanda McVety, Buddy Paulett, Dave McCarthy, Dave Brown, Catharine Dann, Liam Paskvan, and, most importantly, Emily Moore, have helped divert me from work as often as they aided it. I certainly did the same to each of them. But that camaraderie has made the last few years far more enriching than they otherwise would have been. While the faculty at William and Mary have not been quite so proficient at sidetracking me from my work as my fellow graduate students, they have been indispensable in my intellectual maturation (such as it is) over the last several years. During coursework, Scott Nelson, Cindy Hahamovitch, Judy Ewell, Kim Phillips, and Cam Walker all forced me to examine my own preconceptions and to strive for clarity in my writing. Whether or not I have accomplished those goals is a discussion for another time and place. Throughout my time researching and writing the dissertation, my advisor Cindy Hahamovitch has been unceasingly helpful. Over the last several years she has been indispensable in helping me tum a vague idea about the history of South Texas into a coherent examination of immigration and labor relations. I shudder to think what this dissertation would look like without her help. Further, she has served as a model of what a committed historian and advisor should be that I can only hope to emulate. Likewise, Judy Ewell read through a few drafts of this dissertation and has been unfailing in her encouragement throughout my graduate school career. Andy Fisher provided very helpful comments on this study, and was a never­ ending source of much-needed sarcasm. Ben Johnson of Southern Methodist University has provided invaluable advice as I begin the process of developing a book manuscript. During the research for this project I was aided by a number of knowledgeable and friendly archivists, a few of whom deserve special mention: Tom Shelton at the Institute of Texan Cultures, George Gause at the University of Texas-Pan American, Cecilia Aros Hunter at Texas A&M-Kingsville, Thomas Kreneck at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and Gary Spurr at the University of Texas-Arlington. Financial assistance from the Immigration and Ethnic History Society through the George Pozzetta Award and the Texas State Historical Association through the John H. Jenkins Research Fellowship helped defray some research costs. At the College of William and Mary, the History Department, the Tyler Fund, the Provost's Office, the Dean of Graduate Studies, the Student Activities Fund, the Charles Center, the Reves Center for International Studies, and the Graduate Student Association have all offered invaluable research and conference funding over the years. Vll I would also like to thank the Rodriguezffaylor family for taking a few days to talk to me about the Rio Grande Valley back in 2003. Eduardo Rodriguez, Bryce and Diana Taylor, and Joe and Emma Rodriguez all went out of their way to speak to me as I tried to figure out what exactly this dissertation would be. Finally, and most importantly, I have to thank my parents, John and Connie Weber. I cannot even begin to thank you for your unending support. I just wish I had more to offer each of you as a token of my appreciation than a four-hundred page dissertation. 1. The Shadow of the Revolution 2 Introduction "Texas history is a mixture of selected fact and generalized myth." Rodolfo Acuiia 1 The year 1968 produced what many believed was a worldwide crisis of order. Protesters, rioters, soldiers, and tanks filled the streets of Washington DC, Chicago, Paris, Prague, Mexico City, and dozens of other cities around the world. In response to this situation the leaders of the city of San Antonio, Texas, did what they do best. They threw a party. Envisioned as a celebration of the commonalities of the nations of the Western Hemisphere, San Antonio's World's Fair, dubbed HemisFair, opened on April 6, 1968. Ninety acres of previously residential land on the southern edge of downtown were used to construct the ultra-modern fairgrounds in a celebration of both the "confluence of civilizations in the Americas" (the fair's official slogan) and the economic possibilities of San Antonio and South Texas. The year 1968 was chosen for the fair because it was the 250th anniversary of the founding of San Antonio by the Spanish. More than just a birthday party, however, HemisFair was a "vivid recognition of the growth potential of a particular region and its peoples."2 Moreover, fair organizers claimed that "San Antonio lays claim to a lustrous heritage spun from the colorful threads of many cultures.

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