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The United States and Madero

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Cole Blasier
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Extract

The role of Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson in the overthrow of President Francisco I. Madero of Mexico in February 1913 is one of the best-known and classic cases of interference in the affairs of a smaller nation by the envoy of a Great Power. Many readers may wonder why another treatment of this dramatic subject is necessary after nearly sixty years.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , November 1972 , pp. 207 - 231
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

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References

1 Isidro, Fabela, Historia diplomática de la revolución mexicana (Mexico, 1958);Google ScholarCumberland, C. C., Mexican Revolution: Genesis Under Madero (Austin, Texas, 1952);Google ScholarRoss, S. R., Francisco I. Madero: Apostle of Mexican Democracy (New York, 1955).Google Scholar Recent accounts of the Tragic Tea Days, such as Haley, P. Edward, Revolution and Intervention: The Diplomacy of Taft and Wilson with Mexico, 1910–1917 (Cambridge, Mass., 1970)Google Scholar and Kenneth, J. Grieb, The United States and Huerta (Lincoln, Nebraska, 1969) deal briefly with these events.Google Scholar

2 The Hale document may be found in the Department of State section of the National Archives, Record Group 59, 812.00\7864\1\2. The Department of State archives will hereafter be referred to as DS. A Spanish translation of the text may be found in Harrison, J. P., ‘Henry Lane Wilson, el trágico de Ia decena’, Historia Mexicana 6 (01 1957), 374–405.Google Scholar

3 The text of Cólogan's statement under the title ‘Por Ia verdad’ may be found in Isidro, Fabela, Documentos históricos de la revolución mexicana: revolución y régimen maderista (Mexico, 1965), V, 225–37.Google Scholar

4 For the British documents I have relied primarily on quotations and citations in Peter, Calvert, The Mexican Revolution, 1910–1914, The Diplomacy of Anglo-American Conflict (Cambridge University Press, 1968).Google Scholar See also Calvert, Peter, ‘Francis Stronge en Ia Decena Trágica’, Historia Mexicana, 1 (07–09 1965), XV.Google Scholar

5 The German Foreign Office documents are available on microfilm. Hintze's diary begins on frame 0519 of Auswärtiges Amt Archives 1867–1920, Series 3, Roll 15.

6 Friedrich, Katz, Deutschland, Diaz und Die Mexikanische Revolution, Die Deutsche Politik in Mexiko 1870–1920 (Berlin, 1964).Google Scholar

7 Berta, Ulloa, La revolución intervenida: relaciones diplomáticas entre México y Estados Unidos (1910–1914) (Mexico, 1971), 48–52.Google Scholar

8 Telegram to Secretary of State, 9 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6058.

9 Telegram to Secretary of State, 12 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6192.

10 Telegram to Secretary of State, 14 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6167.

11 Telegram to Secretary of State, 15 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6174.

12 Telegram to Secretary of State, 10 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6076.

13 Ibid.

14 Secretary of the Navy to the Secretary of State, 12 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6095.

15 Calvert, , The Mexican Revolution, p. 1;Google ScholarKatz, , Deutschland, Diaz, p. 222;Google ScholarSterling, M. Marquez, Los óltimos días del Presidente Madero (2nd ed., Mexico, 1958), p. 210.Google Scholar

16 Telegram to Secretary of State, 11 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6092.

17 Telegram to Secretary of State, 12 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6192.

18 Hintze's diary entry of 12 Feb. 1913.

19 Fabela, , Documentos históricos … maderista, 5, 227.Google Scholar

20 Telegram to Secretary of State, 14 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\ 6149.

21 Telegram to Secretary of State, 24 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6153.

22 Telegram to Secretary of State, 15 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6175.

23 Hintze's, diary entry dated 14 02 1913. Translations from German and Spanish in this article are by the author.Google Scholar

24 The first paragraph appeared in Hintze's, diary entry of 15 02 1913. The second paragraph, summarizing sections of the same entry, was contained in a telegram to the Foreign Office, 17 Feb. 1913.Google Scholar

25 Telegram to Foreign Office, 17 Feb. 1913.

26 Calvert, , The Mexican Revolution, p. 137.Google Scholar

27 Ibid., pp. 142–3.

28 Fabela, , Documentox hisióricos … maderista, 5, 230 ff.Google Scholar

29 Fabela, , Hixtoria diplomática, 1, 51.Google Scholar

30 Telegram to the Secretary of State, 15 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6175.

31 Fabela, , Historia diplomática, 1, 53.Google Scholar

32 Fabela, , Documentos históricos … maderista, 5, 78.Google Scholar

33 Telegram from the Secretary of State to American Ambassador, Mexico City, 15 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6172c.

34 Telegram to the Secretary of State, 17 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6224.

35 Fabela, , Documentos históricos … maderista, 5, 99.Google Scholar

36 Calvert, , The Mexican Revolution, p. 138. Also DS, 812.00\6176.Google Scholar

37 Diary entry of 17 Feb. 1913. See also Katz, , Deutschland, Diaz, pp. 223–4.Google Scholar

38 Fabela, , Dacumentos históricos … maderista, 5, 85.Google Scholar

39 Manuel, Bonilla Jr, El regimén maderista (Mexico, 1962), p. 178;Google ScholarMeniorias del General Victoriano Huerta (San Antonio, n.d.), p. 21 ff.; Grieb, , U.S. and Huerta, p. 14;Google ScholarMarquez, Sterling, Los t'ótimos días, p. 195.Google Scholar

40 Telegram to Secretary of State, 9 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6058.

41 Telegram to Secretary of State, 9 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6056.

42 Telegram to Secretary of State, 11 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6086.

43 Telegram to Secretary of State, 9 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6058.

44 Telegram to Secretary of State, 12 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6112.

45 Telegram to Secretary of State, 10 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6075.

46 William, Bayard Hale's confidential memorandum to President Woodrow, Wilson of 13 06 1913. DS, 812.00\7864 1\2.Google Scholar

47 Hintze, diary entry of 16 02 1913.Google ScholarKatz, , Dentschland, Diaz, pp. 222–3.Google Scholar

48 Telegram to Secretary of State, 15 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6178.

49 Telegram to Secretary of State, 16 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6180.

50 Hintze, diary entry, 16 02 1916.Google Scholar

51 Hintze, diary entry of 18 02 1913. Hintze presented this information as Wilson's own statement.Google Scholar

52 Telegram to Secretary of State, 17 Feb. 1953. DS, 812.00\6225. See also Grieb, , U.S. and Huerta, p. 18.Google Scholar

53 Hale's, report of 13 06 1953. DS, 812.00\ 7864 1\2.Google Scholar

54 Ibid.

55 Ernest, Gruening, Mexico and Its Heritage (New York, 1928), p. 568.Google Scholar

56 Telegram to Secretary of State, 18 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6246.

57 Telegram to Secretary of State, 09 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6264.

58 Telegram to Secretary of State, 20 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6287.

59 Marquez, Sterling, Los jfltimos dies, p. 295.Google Scholar

60 Telegram to Secretary of State, 21 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6319.

61 Telegram to Secretary of State, 23 Feb. 1913. DS, 852.007sol;6325.

62 Telegram to Secretary of State, 19 Feb. 1913. DS, 852.00\6275.

63 Dispatch of ao Feb. 1953, Hintze to Bethmann Hollweg. See also diary entry of 20 Feb. 1913. This dispatch also reports Wilson's statement that the U.S. would recognize Huerta.

64 SirThomas, Hohler, Diplomatic Petrel (London, 1942), p. 184.Google Scholar Hohler commented, ‘I did not believe it was Huerta who was guilty of this crime, but some of his officers'. For further discussion of responsibility for Madero's death, see Grieb, , U.S. and Huerta, pp. 24–30.Google Scholar

65 Telegram to Secretary of State, 10 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6951A.

66 Telegram from the Secretary of State to the American Ambassador, Mexico City, of 10 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6058.

67 Secretary of State to the American Ambassador, Mexico City, 12 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6092.

68 Telegram from the Secretary of State to American Ambassador, Mexico City, 12 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\1073.

69 Telegram from the Secretary of State to American Ambassador, Mexico City, 14 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6170a.

70 Telegram from Secretary of State to American Ambassador in Mexico City, 02 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6092.

71 Telegram from Secretary of State to American Ambassador in Mexico City, 04 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6149.

72 Telegram from Secretary of State to American Ambassador in Mexico City, 17 Feb. 1913 DS, 812.00\6223a.

73 Telegram from Secretary of State to American Ambassador in Mexico City, 18 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6178.

74 Telegram from Secretary of State to American Ambassador in Mexico City, 21 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6325a.

75 Telegram from Secretary of State to American Ambassador in Mexico City, 20 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6271.

76 Telegram from Secretary of State to American Ambassador in Mexico City, 21 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6294A.

77 Dispatch of 28 Feb. 1913, Hintze to Bethmann Holiweg. Hintze's reports to Berlin often usc English or French quotations. The English often sounds slightly garbled but is essentially accurate verbatim reporting of what was said. Hintze had difficulty with the order of words in English. For a reflection of Wilson's own expectations about the note of 15 Sept. see his telegram to the Secretary of State on 19 Feb. 1913. DS, 812.00\6264.

78 Martin, Luis Guzmán reported in ‘Henry Lane Wilson, un Embajador Malvado’, Cuadernos Americanos of 07–08 1963, p. 204, that Mrs. Wilson had requested from Mrs. Madero that the government of Mexico aid the Ambassador with some business arrangement, something that would produce some 50,000 pesos annually, because the salary of a representative of the White House was insufficient to maintain the dignity of such a high rank’. Guzmán reported that this was an account given by Madero to members of his cabinet on an unspecified date. I have not found other evidence to support Guzmán's version of the supposed statement to members of his cabinet by President Madero.Google Scholar

79 Telegram of 23 Dec. 1913 from Francisco I Madero to Pedro Lascurain, New York, quoted by Henry, Lane Wilson, Diplomatic Episodes in Mexico, Belgium, and Chile (Garden City, New York, 1927), pp. 234–5.Google Scholar

80 Letter of Knox to Taft of 27 Jan. 1913. DS, 812.00\7229A.

81 Telegram of 25 Feb. 1913, Bernstorff to German Foreign Office.

82 Space does not permit me to deal fully with reports of Ambassador Wilsonapos;s meeting with President Taft and Secretary Knox in late December 1912. Hintze reported to Berlin that Wilson told him that, at the December meeting with President Taft, a decision was reached to ‘upset the Madero administration ’. In view of Ambassador Wilson's vested interests in such a decision, I am not inclined to accept this version of the December meeting as completely accurate without substantiating evidence. I was unable to find such evidence after a careful search of the index of the Taft papers. Even if Wilson's version was correct, all the other evidence, and there is a great deal, shows that Washington decided to make a fresh try at working with Madero after Foreign Minister Lascurain's visit to Washington in the first days of Jan. 1913. Katz, who first brought the Hintze dispatch to public attention, also believes the Deportment of State decided to try to reach an agreement with Madero after the Lascurain visit (see Katz, , loc. cit., p. 216).Google Scholar The principal sources on this subject include German Minister von Hintze's dispatches to Bethmann, Holiweg of 21 01 1913 and 28 02 1913.Google Scholar See also Katz, , Deutichiand, Díaz, p. 216.Google Scholar Other pertinent information is found in the William Howard Taft papers, Presidential 46, 1912, 19 Nov.-18 Dcc. Letter book. Series 8, pp. 441–2. The latter is discussed in Frank, Gerome, United States Mexican Relations During the Initial Years of the Mexican Revolution (Ann Arbor, Michigan, University Microfilm, 1969), p. 232.Google ScholarThe New York Times, 20 December 1912, p. 1, and 21 December 1912, p. 3, provides additional information.