Modern Latin American History

Carlos Enrique Alemáncarlos.e.aleman@gmail.com

Latin American-U.S. Relations Books

Shoultz, Lars. Beneath the United States: A History of U.S. Policy toward Latin America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998.

Holden, Robert H. and Eric Zolov, eds. Latin America and the United States: A Documentary History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Latin America and U.S. Relations

• Latin America and U.S. Empire• Cold War• Immigration/Latinos in the U.S.

Latin America and U.S. Empire

• Manifest Destiny• Mexican-American War• William Walker • Central American Canal• Spanish-American War• U.S. Occupations (Cuba, Puerto Rico,

Nicaragua)

Background

• Latin American independence• Manifest Destiny

Mexican-American War• U.S. immigrants encouraged by Spain and later

newly independent republic of Mexico to settle northern lands (Texas)

• Settler requirements• Republic of Texas (1836)• Texas annexed to United States (1845)• Mexican-American War (1846)• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

William Walker (1855-1860)

• Mercenary William Walker invited to settle political war between two majot parties in Nicaragua

• Takes advantage of unrest and declares himself president of Nicaragua

• Declares English official language and legalizes slavery in Nicaragua

Central American Canal

• Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850)• Both the United States and the United

Kingdom renounce the right to build a canal under the exclusive control of either nation.

• Hay-Pauncefote Treaty (1901)• Hay-Herrán Treaty (1903)• Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty (1903)

Spanish-American War: “A Splendid Little War”• Cuban Struggle for Independence• Sinking of U.S.S. Maine (1898)• Teller Amendment (1898)• Treaty of Paris (1898)

U.S. Occupation (Cuba and Puerto Rico)

• The Platt Amendment (1901)• The Jones Act (1917)

Nicaraguan Occupation

• Political unrest in Nicaragua• US sends in Marines• Bryan-Chamorro Treaty• Sandino• Somoza

Good Neighbor Policy

• FDR• Non-Intervention

The Cold War

• Guatemala 1954• Cuba 1959• Chile 1972• Nicaragua 1979

Guatemala 1954

• Ten Years of Spring• Juan Jose Arevalo• Jacobo Arbenz• Operation PBSuccess

Cuba 1959

• 26th of July Movement• Cuban Revolution overthrows Fulgencio

Bautista• Bay of Pigs Invasion• Missile Crisis

Chile 1972

• Salvador Allende• Augusto Pinochet

Nicaragua 1979

• Somoza Dynasty • FSLN• 1979 Revolution• Contra War

Latino Immigration

• Mexican Repatriation (1930s)• Bracero Program (1942-1964)• Operation Wetback (1954)

Latino Immigration

• Immigration Act (1965)• Cuban Adjustment Act (1966)• IRCA (1986)• Cuban Migration Agreement “Wet Foot/Dry

Foot Policy” (1995)• NACARA (1996)

Latino Immigration

• California Proposition 187 (1994)• Arizona SB 1070 (2010)• Georgia HB 87 (2011)