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Carrancista Propaganda and the Print Media in the United States: An Overview of Institutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Michael M. Smith
Michael M. Smith*
Affiliation:
Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
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Extract

Despite the voluminous body of historical literature devoted to the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920) and U.S.-Mexican diplomatic relations, few works address the subject of revolutionary propaganda. During this tumultuous era, however, factional leaders recognized the importance of justifying their movement, publicizing their activities, and cultivating favorable public opinion for their cause, particularly in the United States. In this regard, Venustiano Carranza was especially energetic. From the inception of his Constitutionalist revolution, Carranza and his adherents persistently attempted to exploit the press to generate support among Mexican expatriates, protect Mexican sovereignty, secure recognition from the administration of Woodrow Wilson, gain the acquiescence–if not the blessing–of key sectors of the North American public for his Constitutionalist program, enhance his personal image, and defend his movement against the criticism and intrigues of his enemies–both Mexican and North American.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , October 1995 , pp. 155 - 174
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1995

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References

* The author wishes to express his gratitude to the Oklahoma Foundation for the Humanities and to the Department of History and College of Arts and Sciences, Oklahoma State University, for their generous financial assistance.

1 One of the few monographic studies of the revolutionary era offering more than passing reference to propaganda activities is Richmond’s, Douglas W. Venustiano Carranza’s Nationalist Struggle, 1893–1920 (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1983), pp. 190–192.Google Scholar Other works discussing the topic include Gómez-Quiñones, Juan, “Piedras contra la Luna, México en Aztlán y Aztlán en México: Chicano-Mexican Relations and the Mexican Consulates, 1900–1920,” in Wilkie, James W., et al., eds., Contemporary Mexico, Papers of the IV International Conference of Mexican Historians (Berkeley and Mexico City: University of California Press and El Colegio de México, 1976), 494–527;Google Scholar del Castillo, Richard Griswold, “The Mexican Revolution and the Spanish-Language Press in the Borderlands,” Journalism History, 4:2 (Summer 1977): 42–47;Google Scholar Smith, Michael M., “The Mexican Immigrant Press Beyond the Borderlands: The Case of El Cosmopolita, 1914–1919,” Great Plains Quarterly 10:2, 71–85;Google Scholar and Smith, Michael M., “The Mexican Revolution in Kansas City: Jack Danciger vs. the Colonia Elite,” Kansas History 14:3 (Autumn 1991): 206–218.Google Scholar

2 The number of general and monographic works dealing with the Revolution, factional strife, and U.S.-Mexican relations during the period under consideration is vast and varied. The following selection is offered merely as a sampling of the standard works in English: Ross, Stanley R., Francisco I. Madero, Apostle of Mexican Democracy (New York: Columbia University Press, 1955);Google Scholar Cumberland, Charles C., Mexican Revolution: The Constitutionalist Years (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1972);Google Scholar Meyer, Michael C., Huerta: A Political Portrait (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1972)Google Scholar and Mexican Rebel: Pascual Orozco and the Mexican Revolution, 1910–1915 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967); Womack, John Jr., Zapata and the Mexican Revolution (New York: Knopf, Alfred A., 1968);Google Scholar Henderson, Peter V.N., Félix Díaz, the Porfirians and the Mexican Revolution (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1981)Google Scholar and Mexican Exiles in the Borderlands, 1910–1913 (El Paso: Texas Western Press, 1979); Grieb, Kenneth J., The United States and Huerta (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1969);Google Scholar Quirk, Robert E., An Affair of Honor: Woodrow Wilson and the Occupation of Veracruz, (New York: Norton and Company, 1962)Google Scholar and his The Mexican Revolution, 1914–1915: The Convention of Aguascalientes (New York: Citadel Press, 1963); Clendenen, Clarence C., The United States and Pancho Villa (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1961);Google Scholar Gilderhus, Mark T., Diplomacy and Revolution: U.S.-Mexican Relations under Wilson and Carranza (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1977);Google Scholar Haley, P. Edward, Revolution and Intervention: The Diplomacy of Taft and Wilson with Mexico: 1910–1917 (Cambridge and London: The MIT Press, 1970);Google Scholar Hall, Linda B., Alvaro Obregón: Power and Revolution in Mexico, 1911–1920 (College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1981);Google Scholar Katz, Friedrich, The Secret War in Mexico (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981);Google Scholar Niemeyer, E.V. Jr., Revolution at Querétaro: The Mexican Constitutional Convention of 1916–1917 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1974);Google Scholar and Richmond, Venustiano Carranza’s Nationalist Struggle.

3 Katz, Friedrich, “El Espionaje Mexicano en Estados Unidos durante la Revolución,” Eslabones: Revista Semestral de Estudios Regionales 2(Julio-Diciembre, 1991): 15.Google Scholar This issue of Eslabones contains several good articles on the subject for the period under consideration. In January 1917, a Mexican secret agent attached to the El Paso consulate intercepted a compromising letter from Charles P. Hunt to Villa. Mexican Ambassador Bonillas forwarded a copy to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noting that Secretary of State Robert Lansing said that Fall denied any involvement and declared that Hunt was “crazy.” Ignacio Bonillas to Ernesto Garza Pérez, Washington, D.C., 9 April 1917, L-E-838, Archivo Histórico de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, México, D.F. (hereafter cited as AHSRE), pp. 1–4; Gilderhus, , Diplomacy and Revolution, p. 73;Google Scholar Richmond, Douglas W., “Intentos Externos para Derrocar al Régimen de Carranza (1915–1920),” Historia Mexicana 32:l(Julio-Septiembre, 1981): 117.Google Scholar

4 For a recent study of one of the leading Catholic critics of Revolution and a man who apparently plotted with major American investors and anti-Carranza Mexican reactionaries, see Unruh, Sandra Kay, “Francis Clement Kelley and the Mexican Revolution,” (M.A. thesis, Oklahoma State University, 1993), particularly pp. 58–111.Google Scholar

5 Gómez-Quiñones, , “Piedras contra la Luna,” p. 516;Google Scholar Castillo, Griswold del, “The Mexican Revolution and the Spanish-Language Press in the Borderlands,” pp. 42–47;Google Scholar Sax, Antimanco, Los Mexicanos en el Destierro (San Antonio: n.p., 1916), pp. 54–59;Google Scholar Adolfo Carrillo to Venustiano Carranza, Los Angeles, California, 29 Julio 1915, Manuscritos de don Venustiano Carranza. Fondo XX-I, Centro de Estudios de Historia de México, Fundación Cultural de Condumex, México, D.F. (hereafter cited as VC), doc. 5102; Carlos Meade Fierro to Venustiano Carranza, 1 Julio 1915, VC, doc. 4771; Teódulo R. Beltrán to Venustiano Carranza, 6 Mayo 1915, VC, doc. 4163; see a copy of the Revista Mexicana, III:56 in L-E-798, AHSRE.

6 “Sobre Subvención de Dlls. 10.000 al Gerente de ‘El Paso Morning,’ por Francisco Villa,” L-E-799(ll), AHSRE, pp. 1–3.

7 A controversial recent study of the magonista movement and the impact of Regeneración is Sandos, James A., Rebellion in the Borderlands (Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992);Google Scholar del Castillo, Griswold, “The Mexican Revolution and the Spanish-Language Press in the Borderlands,” pp. 42–43;Google Scholar Chacón, Ramón D., “The Chicano Immigrant Press in Los Angeles: The Case of ‘El Heraldo de Mexico,’ 1916–1920,” Journalism History 4:2(Summer 1977): pp. 48–50, 62–64.Google Scholar

8 For a representative sample of complaints, see Adolfo Carrillo to Venustiano Carranza, Los Angeles, California, 22 Septiembre 1914, VC, doc. 1583; Heriberto Barrón to Félix F. Palavicini, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2 Mayo 1915, VC, doc. 4105; W.F. Valderrama to Venustiano Carranza, Chicago, Illinois, 15 Junio 1915, VC, doc. 4632; Ernesto Meade Fierro [?] to Venustiano Carranza, San Antonio, Texas, 1 Julio 1915, VC, doc. 4771; Manuel Carpio to Venustiano Carranza, Chicago, Illinois, 2 Noviembre 1915, VC, doc. 6543; and Venustiano Carranza to Virginia Garza, México, D.F., 29 Marzo 1917, VC, doc. 12752.

9 See, for example, Willebaldo Izaguirre to Rafaél Zubarán Capmany, San Francisco, California, 14 Enero 1914, VC, doc. 754; Eliseo Arredondo to Robert Lansing, Washington, D.C., 12 April 1916, Expediente 17–9–160, AHSRE, p. 1; Cándido Aguilar to Ignacio Bonillas, México, D.F., 18 Junio 1918, Expediente 18–1–58, AHSRE, p. 2.

10 In addition to the works regarding the Spanish-language press already cited, see also Park, Robert E., The Immigrant Press and Its Control (New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1922), pp. 309–324;Google Scholar and Gamio, Manuel, Mexican Immigration to the United States (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1930), pp. 136–139.Google Scholar

11 Gilderhus, , Revolution and Diplomacy, p. 6;Google Scholar “Sherburne G. Hopkins. Su expediente,” 3–16–2, AHSRE, p. 49f: Testimony of Hopkins, Sherburne G., Investigation of Mexican Affairs, U.S. Congress, Senate, 66th Cong., 2nd sess. (Washington: GPO, 1919–1920),Google Scholar (hereafter cited as IMA), 2:2411–2419.

12 Alberto L. Godoy to Arturo M. Elías, Washington, D.C., 17 Junio 1914, L-E-813, AHSRE, 186–187.

13 See, for example, P. Castello to Visitador General de Consulados, Del Río, Texas, 17 Junio 1914, pp. 150; Arturo M. Elías to Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, El Paso, Texas, 22 Junio 1914, pp. 13–17; G. Ramonet to Arturo M. Elías, Douglas, Arizona, 14 Junio 1914, pp. 169–172; José Salas Díaz to Visitador General de Consulados, Tucson, Arizona, 16 Junio 1914, pp. 130–131 ; Francisco B. Barrón to Arturo M. Elías, San Diego, California, 16 Junio 1914, pp. 161–164; Juan C. Orci to Arturo M. Elías, Los Angeles, California, 13 Junio 1914, pp. 118–119; and A. León Grajeda to Arturo M. Elías, San Francisco, California, 15 Junio 1914, pp. 212–214; all in L-E-813, AHSRE.

14 Testimony of Sherburne G. Hopkins, IMA, 2:2411.

15 Gilderhus, , Revolution and Diplomacy, p. 19;Google Scholar Richmond, , Venustiano Carranza’s Nationalist Struggle, p. 189;Google Scholar Gómez-Quiñones, “Piedras contra la Luna,” passim.

16 Modesto C. Rolland to Venustiano Carranza, New York, 19 Agosto 1914, VC, doc. 1282; Modesto Rolland to Jesús Urueta, Veracruz, 23 enero 1915, in “Modesto C. Rolland. Su expediente.” 5–7–19, AHSRE, p. 12; for examples of the “Mexican Letter,” see VC, docs. 1558, 2246, 2295, 3662, 4233; Enríquez to Venustiano Carranza, New York, 11 Diciembre 1914, VC, doc. 2200.

17 There are literally thousands of telegrams and other documents scattered throughout the AHSRE related to the Pan American News Service. One gets a fairly good idea of its activities from the telegrams and correspondence found in L-E-836, AHSRE, passim.

18 Modesto Rolland to Venustiano Carranza, New York, 3 Agosto 1916, VC, doc. 10118.

19 Urueta to [?], Veracruz, 18 March 1915, L-E-730(2), AHSRE, p. 12; Manuel Garza M. to Ismaél Palafox, 12 Enero 1915, New Orleans, Louisiana; Expediente 17-20-98, AHSRE, pp. 1-2; Nicéforo Zambrano to Consul del Ejército Constitutionalista en NY, USA, Veracruz, 19 Abril 1915; Expediente 17-6-110, AHSRE, p. 12.

20 Smith, , “The Mexican Immigrant Press Beyond the Borderlands,” p. 80.Google Scholar

21 Gómez-Quiñones, , “Piedras Contra la Luna,” p. 516;Google Scholar Adolfo Carrillo to Venustiano Carranza, Los Angeles, California, 12 Mayo 1915, VC, doc. 4262; Cándido Aguilar to Rafaél Nieto, México, 25 Septiembre 1916, “Andrés G. García. Su expediente.” 3–6–12, AHSRE, p. 365.

22 Director de “El Progreso” to Venustiano Carranza, Laredo, Texas, 16 February 1915, VC, doc. 2893; Juan B. Vega to Rafaél E. Múzquiz, Querétaro, 10 Marzo 1916, L-E-801(27), AHSRE, pp. 3–5; Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores to Juan T. Burns, México, D.F., 10 Marzo 1916, Expediente 11–18–222, AHSRE, pp. 1–3. Another important pro-Carranza paper was El Cosmopolita (Kansas City, Missouri), owned and published by local Anglo businessman and Honorary Mexican Consul, Jack Danciger. Danciger had close commercial ties to important Constitutionalist officials as well as to Mexican colonias throughout the Central Plains area. Although it is not known if Danciger received a subvention from the Mexican government, his paper staunchly defended the Carranza regime. See Smith, , “The Mexican Immigrant Press Beyond the Borderlands,” 73–74, 80–81;Google Scholar and Smith, , “The Mexican Revolution in Kansas City,” pp. 209–212, 214–218.Google Scholar

23 Alfredo Breceda to Venustiano Carranza, New York, 22 Julio 1915, VC, doc. 5009; see Turner’s autobiography, Turner, Timothy G., Bullets, Bottles, and Gardenias (Dallas, Texas: South-West Press, 1935), pp. 87–166.Google Scholar

24 Turner, Timothy, “Prospectus for the Organization of an Official Bureau of Information of the Constitutionalist Government …,” New York, 21 July 1915,Google Scholar Expediente L-E-811(1), AHSRE, . 15–17; for a Spanish version of the plan, see VC, doc. 5009.

25 Andrés G. García to Eliseo Arredondo, El Paso, Texas, 10 Enero 1916, L-E-810(2), AHSRE, 161.

26 V. Carranza to Juan T. Burns, México, D.F., 30 Junio 1916, Telegramas de Venustiano Carranza, Fondo XXI-4, Centro de Estudios de Historia de México, Fundación Cultural de Condumex, México, D.F. (hereafter cited as TVC).

27 Cándido Aguilar to Eliseo Arredondo, Querétaro, 25 Marzo 1916, Expediente 1–17–35, AHSRE, p. 1.

28 M. Dávalos to Gerzayn Ugarte, Veracruz, 18 Junio 1915, VC, doc. 4622; Acuerdo del Primer Jefe, Querétaro, 31 Marzo 1916, Expediente 3–8–48, AHSRE, p. 4.

29 Luis Bossero to Cándido Aguilar, New York, 1 Mayo 1916, VC, doc. 8280; Luis Bossero to Cándido Aguilar, Washington, D.C., 2 Junio 1916, VC, doc. 8993; Luis Bossero to Cándido Aguilar, 7 Junio 1916, VC, doc. 9127; Luis Bossero to Cándido Aguilar, Washington, D.C., 25 Junio 1916, VC, doc. 9593.

30 Luis Bossero to Cándido Aguilar, New York, 8 Noviembre 1916, VC, doc. 11663; Eliseo Arredondo to Cándido Aguilar, 9 Noviembre 1916, VC, doc. 11883.

31 Acuerdo del Primer Jefe, México, D.F., 8 Junio 1916, Expediente 9–4–114, AHSRE, p. 1; Daniel G. Lamadrid to Cándido Aguilar, México, D.F., 10 Julio 1916, Expediente 9–4–114, AHSRE, p. 4.

32 Modesto Rolland to Venustiano Carranza, New York, 3 Agosto 1916, VC, doc. 10118; Juan T. Burns to Venustiano Carranza, New York, 3 Noviembre 1916, Expediente 1–17–35, AHSRE, 62.

33 Philadelphia Evening Telegram, 26 May 1916; Baltimore Sun, 28 May 1916; Luis Bossero to Cándido Aguilar, Washington, D.C., 2 Junio 1916, VC, doc. 8993; Luis Bossero to Cándido Aguilar, Washington, D.C., 25 Junio 1916, VC, doc. 9593; Cándido Aguilar to Eliseo Arredondo, 29 Junio 1916, VC, doc. 9651; New York Evening Post, 7 Julio 1916; Luis Bossero to Cándido Aguilar, New York, 11 Agosto 1916, VC, doc. 10210; Luis Bossero to Cándido Aguilar, 22 Septiembre 1916, VC, doc. 10867; Luis Bossero to Cándido Aguilar, New York, 25 Octubre 1916, VC, doc. 11404. For an overview of carrancista propaganda efforts outside the United States and their relative success, see Richmond, Douglas W., Venustiano Carranza’s Nationalist Struggle, pp. 190–192, and 212–217.Google Scholar

34 Eliseo Arredondo to Cándido Aguilar, Washington, D.C., 10 Julio 1916, VC, doc. 9794.

35 Miguel E. Diebold to Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, El Paso, Texas, 12 Noviembre 1913, L-E-760, AHSRE, p. 1; Turner, , Bullets, Bottles, and Gardenias, p. 93;Google Scholar George F. Weeks to Venustiano Carranza, Washington, D.C., 16 Noviembre 1916, VC, doc. 11807; George F. Weeks to Venustiano Carranza, Veracruz, 2 Diciembre 1914, VC, doc. 2176; George F. Weeks to Ramón P. De Negri, Washington, D.C., 31 Junio 1917, Expediente 17–6–299, AHSRE, p. 4; Secretario de Estado del Exterior to Ignacio Bonillas, México, D.F., 22 Mayo 1917, “George T.[sic] Weeks. Su Expediente personal,” 1–19–61, AHSRE, p. 1.

36 Mexican Review, 1:6, p. 1. A nearly complete set of the Mexican Review may be found in the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas at Austin.

37 Mexican Review, I:6, p. 1.

38 Testimony of George L. Edmunds, IMA, 1:423–426.

39 The banned publications included the New York Evening Journal, New York American, Deutches Journal (New York), Boston American, Chicago Examiner, San Francisco Examiner, Los Angeles Examiner, Los Angeles Herald, Atlanta American, Atlanta Georgian, Orchard and Farm, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s, Hearst’s, Good Housekeeping, Motor, and Motor Boating; Cándido Aguilar to Cosme Hinojosa, México, D.F., 11 Mayo 1918, Expediente 18–1–58, AHSRE, p. 6.

40 “George F. Weeks. Su solicitud con motivo de los gastos que eroga en la propaganda de la Revista Mexicana que se edita en Washington.” 1922. Expediente 17–6–290, AHSRE, p. 1.

41 Mock, James R. and Larson, Cedric, Words That Won The War: The Story of the Committee on Public Information, 1917–1919 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1939), pp. 245, 329.Google Scholar

42 Mexican Review/Revista Mexicana, III:1 (April 1919): 1; “George F. Weeks. Su solicitud con motivo de los gastos que eroga en la propaganda de la Revista Mexicana que se edita en Washington.” 1922. Expediente 17–6–290, AHSRE, p. 1.

43 For an introduction to the role of propaganda during the era of World War 1, see Mock, and Larson, , Words That Won The War; Harold D. Lasswell, Propaganda Technique in the World War (New York: Peter Smith, 1933);Google Scholar and Creel, George, How We Advertised America (New York and London: Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1920).Google Scholar

44 Lasswell, , Propaganda Technique in the World War, pp. 14–46.Google Scholar

45 Mock, and Larson, , Words That Won The War, pp. 235–247, 321–331.Google Scholar

46 For a study of Villa’s use of the mass media in the United States, see Anderson, Mark, “Revolution by Headlines; Mass Media in the Foreign Policy of Francisco ‘Pancho’ Villa” (Ph.D. diss., University of California, Riverside, in progress).Google Scholar Personal correspondence with the author, 16 February 1995.