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Neighborly Concern: John Nevin Sayre and the Mission of Peace and Goodwill to Nicaragua, 1927-28

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Charles F. Howlett*
Affiliation:
West Islip, New York

Extract

For almost two decades prior to 1927 Nicaragua had been governed by Washington “more completely than the American Federal Government rules any state in the Union.” Such governance was justified by the State Department which raised the specter of the Monroe Doctrine not only to bolster America's economic ambitions in the region but also to protect the nation's national security — a fact which took on added importance due to the recent construction of the Panama Canal. From 1912 to 1925, a Legation Guard of United States Marines reminded the country of the overwhelming American dominance. For only a brief period did America's military presence abate. In 1926, however, a civil war broke out that threatened to destroy the political and economic stability the United States had come to rely on. American military assistance was requested and quickly rendered. What events led to U.S. military action in this Central American country?

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1988

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Footnotes

*

I wish to thank the American Historical Association for a 1984 Albert J. Beveridge Research Grant. In addition, I am deeply indebted to Mrs. Wilma Mosholder of the Swarthmore College Peace Collection. She is the true Sayre scholar and I merely her assistant.

References

1 Quoted in Denny, Harold N., Dollars for Bullets: The Story of American Rule in Nicaragua (NY: Dial Press, 1929), 9.Google Scholar Representative works relating to Nicaragua are the following: Wood, Bryce, The Making of the Good Neighbor Policy (NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 1967)Google Scholar; Macaulay, Neil, The Sandino Affair (Chicago: Quadrangle, 1967)Google Scholar; Munro, Dana G., The Latin American Republics: A History (NY: Appleton-Century, 1950)Google Scholar & Intervention and Dollar Diplomacy in the Caribbean, 1900–1921 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1964); Porter, Charles O. & Alexander, Robert J., The Struggle for Democracy in Latin America (NY: Macmillan & Co., 1961)Google Scholar; Perkins, Dexter, The United States and the Caribbean (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1947)Google Scholar; Cox, Isaac J., Nicaragua and the United States (Washington, D.C.: World Peace Foundation, 1927)Google Scholar; Kamman, William, Search for Stability: Nicaragua, 1925–1933 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1968)Google Scholar; Stimson, Henry L., American Policy in Nicaragua (NY: Macmillan & Co., 1927)Google Scholar; A Brief History of the Relations between the United States and Nicaragua, 1909–1928 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1928).

2 In Latin America, Sandino was almost invariably pictured as a nationalist-patriot defying American omnipotence. According to La Nación (Buenos Aires): “Sandino represents the popular sentiments in Nicaragua…[he] is not a bandit but one of the many revolutionists found in the history of Latin America.” Quoted in The Ambassador in Argentina (Bliss) to the Secretary of State, January 13, 1928, Henry L. Stimson Papers, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

3 For a sympathetic biographical sketch of Sayre’s life see, Swomley, John M., “John Nevin Sayre: Peacemaker,” Fellowship (November 1977,Google Scholar June 1978, January-February 1979, November 1979). See also, Chatfield, Charles, For Peace and Justice: Pacifism in America, 1914–1941 (Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press, 1971)Google Scholar; Allen, Devere, ed., Adventurous Americans (NY: Farrar & Rinehart, 1932) & Pacifism in the Modern World (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1929);Google Scholar Curti, Merle, Peace or War: The American Struggle, 1636–1936 (NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 1936).Google Scholar

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8 Robert Cuba Jones, “The FOR-AFSC Joint Peace Mission to Nicaragua, 1927–28,” in John Nevin Sayre Papers, SCPC, DG 117. In 1926, Douglas took part in the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom mission to Haiti in order to survey conditions there following 11 years of marine occupation. The six member delegation, led by Emily Greene Balch, urged the Coolidge Administration to retain American-maintained health and sanitation facilities while removing military forces as a sign of its respect for the independence of the Haitian people. As Douglas observed: “Our recent experience have indicated that America may well be at a point where it must decide whether it shall be an empire or a democracy.” ( Douglas, Paul A., “The American Occupation of Haiti II,” Political Science Quarterly 42, No. 3, September 1927, 395–97)Google Scholar.

9 Russell, Elbert, Quaker-An Autobiography (Jackson.TN: Friendly Press, 1956), 253–60Google Scholar. Macaulay’s The Sandino Affair incorrectly states that Russell was the leader of the peace mission; only one paragraph is devoted to the mission. See, pp. 97–8.

10 Sayre, , “Instrument of Peace,” 120–30.Google Scholar

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12 Ibid., November 23rd.

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14 Ibid., 3–4. See also, Jones, Robert Cuba, “The Future of Nicaragua,” Friends Intelligencer (June 23, 1934), 40 Google Scholar; Millétt, Richard Leroy, Guardians of the Dynasty (NY: Orbis Books, 1977), 6580, 125–40, 265–70.Google Scholar

15 John Nevin Sayre, handwritten speech, December 11, 1927, Sayre Papers.

16 Jones, , “The FOR-AFSC Joint Mission,” 5.Google Scholar

17 Sayre Diary, December 14, 1927.

18 Ibid., December 14, 1927.

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21 W.W. Cumberland to Dorothy Detzer, December 28, 1927, Sayre Papers. For more information on Cumberland’s role in Nicaragua, consult Merle Curtis and Birr, Kendall A., Prelude to Point Four (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1954), 164–5.Google Scholar

22 Sayre, , “A Try at Peace,” 114.Google Scholar

23 Sayre Diary, December 16, 1927.

24 Ibid., December 19, 1927.

25 Sayre, , “A Try at Peace,” 115.Google Scholar Official U.S. policy always referred to the Sandinistas as “bandits” thus denying them political credibility.

26 New York Times, May 30, 1927, 6. Consult the following articles: Tierney, John J. Jr., “U.S. Intervention in Nicaragua, 1927–1933: Lessons for Today,” Orbis 14 (Winter, 1971), 1012–28Google Scholar; Baylen, Joseph O., “Sandino: Patriot or Bandit?Hispanic American Historical Review (August 1951).Google Scholar

27 Sayre Diary, December 20, 1927.

28 Ibid., December 25, 1927.

29 Sayre, , “A Try at Peace,” 115.Google Scholar

30 Ibid., 115.

31 Sayre Diary, December 27, 1927.

32 Ibid., December 27, 1927; Sayre, “A Try at Peace,” 116.

33 Sayre Diary, December 27, 1927.

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35 Ibid., 117.

36 Sayre Diary, December 29, 1927; Munro to the Secretary of State, December 30, 1927, Department of State Records, National Archives, Microfilm Reel #37.

37 Sayre Diary, January 2, 1928; “Nicaragua’s Bloody Peace,” Literary Digest (January 14, 1928, 8.

38 Quoted in Macaulay, , The Sandino Affair, 107 Google Scholar. Also see, Augusto Sandino to Sayre & Jones, January 1, 1928, Marine Corps Historical Archives, Arlington, Virginia, Box 10, Folder 2; Cummings, Lejeune, Quijote on a Burro (Mexico: Impresora Azteca, 1958), 117–18.Google Scholar

39 Bartlett, Tom, “The Banana War Machine,” Leatherneck LXVII (September, 1984), 1618 Google Scholar; Utley, Major Harold H., USMC, “An Introduction to the Tactics and Techniques of Small Wars,” The Marine Corps Gazette (May 1931), 4852 Google Scholar; Pagano, Dom A., Bluejackets (Boston: Meador Publishing Co., 1932), 124–37Google Scholar; Annual report of the Secretary of the Navy FY 1928 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1928), 60–66; United States Marine Corps, Historical Records & Research Section, Federal Records Center, Suitland, Maryland, , Records of Marine Corps Units in Nicaragua, 19271933.Google Scholar

40 Quoted in “U.S. Intervention in Nicaragua,” 1021.

41 Commander, Special Service Squadron (Sellers) to the Chief of Naval Operations, January 3, 1928, the Papers of Admiral David F. Sellers, Library of Congress.

42 Telegram, Peace Mission to President Coolidge, January 4, 1928, Sayre Papers.

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46 Paul Jones to Sayre, January 6, 1928, Sayre Papers.

47 New York Times, January 18, 1928; U.S. Congress, Senate 70th Congress, 1st Session, January 20, 1928, Congressional Record, Volume 69, Part 2, 1785.

48 Sayre, “A Try at Peace,” 117.

49 Memorandum on Nicaraguan Situation, Department of State, January 1927, located in Sayre Papers; Sayre Diary, January 17, 1928.

50 George Norris to John Nevin Sayre, 1928 (exact date not determined), Sayre Papers.

51 John Nevin Sayre, “The Position of the United States in Nicaragua,” February 24, 1928, Unpublished paper, Sayre Papers.

52 John Nevin Sayre, Unpublished Report on Nicaragua, 1928, Sayre Papers. Also consult, Charles DeBenedetti, , Origins of the Modern American Peace Movement, 1915–1929 (Millwood, NY: KTO Press, 1978), 174–80.Google Scholar

53 New York Times, January 25, 1928; Washington Daily News, January 25, 1928; St. Louis Daily Globe Democrat, March 3, 1928; Des Moines Tribune Capital, March 20, 1928.

54 Quoted in “Nicaragua’s Bloody Peace,” 8.

55 John Nevin Sayre, “Nicaragua: Test of the U.S.A.,” 1928, Unpublished Paper, Sayre Papers.

56 FOR in Latin America Newsletter #3, Charles A. Thomson, February 14, 1930.

57 John Nevin Sayre to President Hoover, July 8, 1930, Sayre Papers.

58 Walter C. Thurston to John Nevin Sayre, July 17, 1930, Sayre Papers; Langley, , The Banana Wars, 217–20.Google Scholar

59 The Minister in Nicaragua (Hanna) to the Secretary of State, November 4, 1932, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1932, Vol. V (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1943), 878.

60 Gregorio Sandino to John Nevin Sayre, May 12, 1928, Sayre Papers.

61 E. Lara to John Nevin Sayre, January 25, 1928, Sayre Papers.

62 “Objectives of the First Trip Through Central America of the Latin American Secretary of the F.O.R.,” October 21, 1929-January 20, 1930, Sayre Papers.

63 Jones, , “The FOR-AFSC Joint Mission,” 78.Google Scholar

64 “Objectives of the First Trip,” Sayre Papers.

65 DeBenedetti, Charles, “The American Peace Movement and the State Department in the Era of Locarno” in Wank, Solomon, ed., Doves and Diplomats (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1978), 203–4.Google Scholar

66 On the belief structure of the State Department careermen consult, Schulzinger, Robert D., The Making of the Diplomatic Mind: The Training, Outlook, and Style of United States Foreign Service Officers, 1908–1931 (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1975).Google Scholar

67 DeBenedetti, , “The American Peace Movement and the State Department,” 210.Google Scholar

68 Braeman, John, “Power and Diplomacy: The 1920s Reappraised,” Review of Politics 44, No. 3 (July, 1982), 357–60.Google Scholar

69 Bemis, Samuel F. noteworthy The Latin American Policy of the United States (NY: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1943)Google Scholar is decidedly biased in its account. According to Bemis, the United States “Enforced” fair-and-free elections which brought back peace and prosperity. “All this took place with general satisfaction in Nicaragua,” Bemis wrote. But who really prospered? See pages 212–13.

70 The Assistant Secretary of State (White) to the Minister in Honduras (Summerlin) July 11, 1928, White Papers, National Archives.

71 Memorandum of a State Department Conference, April 18, 1931, Department of State Records, National Archives, File Box #5530.

72 Robert E. Olds, Memorandum on Nicaraguan Situation, January 1927, 1–4.

73 Smith, Gaddis, “The Legacy of Monroe’s Doctrine,” New York Times Magazine (September 9, 1984), 46, 124–8Google Scholar; Perkins, Dexter, Hands Off: A History of the Monroe Doctrine (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1948)Google Scholar passim; Gutman, Roy, “Invasion of Nicaragua Discouraged,” Newsday, September 2, 1984 Google Scholar, 9, 15; Thompson, Morris S., “Nicaragua Views U.S. With Eye of Distrust,” Newsday, September 18, 1984, 4, 24–5.Google Scholar

74 An excellent scholarly analysis of the current dilemma facing U.S. foreign policy in Central America is LaFeber, Walter, “The Reagan Administration and Revolutions in Central America” in Caraley, Demetrios, ed., The President’s War Powers from the Federalists to Reagan (NY: The Academy of Political Science, 1984)Google Scholar. According the LaFeber, U.S. officials have not been able to “square their policies with Thomas Jefferson’s theory of self-determination. The contradiction between Jefferson’s ideals and North American actions in Central America appeared in his lifetime; by the time of Theodore Roosevelt the United States explicitly defined such self-determination unilaterally and in its own interests…As poverty accelerated, revolution erupted.” See pages 202–4.