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An Affair of Honor: Woodrow Wilson and the Occupation of Veracruz
In April 1914 three minor incidents occurred in Mexico: the arrest of several American sailors, the detention of a mail courier, and the delay of an official Department of State dispatch. Less than two weeks later, United States military forces landed at Veracruz and remained to occupy it for more than six months. What were the causes underlying this action, and what was the United States trying to achieve? Robert Quirk examines the motives which led Woodrow Wilson to this decision, the reasons for its failure, and its consequences for the United States' relations with Latin America.
- GenresHistoryAmerican History
196 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1962
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About the author
Robert E. Quirk
11 books2 followersRobert E. Quirk was professor emeritus at Indiana University.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 4, 2024
At 11:12 a.m. on April 21, 1914, a boat containing a party of Marines was lowered from the deck of the U.S.S. Prairie into the inner harbor of Veracruz, Mexico. Eight minutes later, the boat reached the landing platform and the Marines jumped out, weapons at the ready. Close behind them were dozens of other boats from the Prairie and the other United States warships anchored in the harbor, all of which were similarly loaded with Marines and armed sailors. Storming ashore, the men fanned out from the dock to seize the town’s railroad terminal, the cable station, and other key areas in town. As a column marched down Independencia Avenue towards the Hotel Diligencias, they encountered a group of Mexican soldiers lying prone on the cobblestone street, who began shooting at the advancing Americans.
The exchange of gunfire that followed signaled the beginning of the battle of Veracruz. In the 24 hours that followed, what was intended as a temporary occupation of the waterfront became a conquest of the entire city. Though the occupation of Veracruz did not even last through the year, as Robert Quirk demonstrates in his short account of it, it was an event that had an outsized significance in the ongoing Mexican Revolution, and one that he credits for setting the stage for a more coequal relationship between the United States and its neighbors in Latin America in the decades that followed.
Quirk begins by setting the occupation within the context of the larger conflict taking place in Mexico at that time. At the start of the year, the federal regime of General Victoriano Huerta was struggling against a coalition of forces led by the Constitutionalist Venustiano Carranza. Having gained power via a coup just the year before, Huerta had also earned the ire of the recently-elected American president, Woodrow Wilson, for whom Huerta embodied everything he despised about Latin American politics. His displeasure with the Mexican dictator was reflected in the presence of American naval vessels anchored in Mexican ports, which not only were dispatched there to protect American nationals but to maintain an embargo of weapons that Huerta needed desperately.
One of the ports where these warships were stationed was Tampico. With the Constitutionalists threatening an attack on the town, the U.S. Navy squadron offshore was busy shuttling refugees aboard their vessels, which depleted their fuel supplies. When a party was sent into town on April 9 to pick up the fuel purchased for the boats, the sailors were briefly detained by a squad of nervous federal soldiers before being released by the commander of the troops in the region. This was not the first time American personnel had been detained, and such incidents had passed by without much notice. Yet the admiral commanding the squadron off Tampico, Henry T. Mayo, demanded reparation for what he regarded as an insult to his country.
The crisis soon escalated. One factor in this were the communications difficulties, both linguistic and technical. Poorly translated words created misconceptions, while the limited telegraphic access and limited effectiveness of early radios gave Mayo effective autonomy. Though the American consul in Tampico and the charge d’affaires in Mexico City tried to de-escalate the crisis, both Wilson and Huerta saw an opportunity to leverage the confrontation to their own benefit. It was in this atmosphere that two separate detentions of American sailors in Veracruz escalated matters. Though the gestures proposed were minor, that neither side would give way led to a breakdown in negotiations, while a report in the early morning hours of April 21 of the imminent arrival in Veracruz of a German liner carrying arms and ammunition for Huerta’s forces led Wilson to order Frank F. Fletcher, the admiral commanding the squadron outside the port, to occupy the waterfront.
The seizure of Veracruz soon proved the easy part. Unprepared to run the entire city, the Americans’ hope that local officials could be persuaded to remain in place was frustrated by the locals’ fears of retribution for cooperating with the occupying forces. With Wilson’s partisan objection to the civilian governor selected by Fletcher, the United States military was forced to run Veracruz themselves, which they did with notable efficiency. Quirk is highly laudatory of the Americans’ administration of the town, declaring that the military provided “the best government the people of Veracruz ever had.” Once the federalists were defeated and Huerta departed in June for exile, however, the reason for the occupation evaporated. Now the head of Mexico’s government, Carranza wanted to secure control of the port, but on his terms rather than those of the Americans. While the Americans agreed in September to withdraw, another two months passed before his deteriorating political position left Carranza with little choice but to provide the guarantees that the Americans demanded.
Quirk argues that Carranza’s possession of Veracruz was vital to his eventual victory over the forces of Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa. It is a statement that he supports with explanation rather than evidence, which reflects the limitations of his book. While Quirk does a good job of recounting the immediate events that led up to the occupation, the larger context of the Mexican Revolution or U.S.-Mexican relations is left mostly unaddressed. Even more problematic is Quirk’s focus on just the politics and diplomacy of the occupation, with almost no attention to the experiences of the residents of Veracruz themselves. This is especially regrettable given a footnote near the end of the book, in which Quirk hints at the personal conversations he had with townspeople who experienced the occupation firsthand. That the author failed to incorporate their lost voices into his account means that our understanding of the occupation is limited permanently to the confines of his book, which despite its age remains the best English-language history of the Veracruz occupation available.
The exchange of gunfire that followed signaled the beginning of the battle of Veracruz. In the 24 hours that followed, what was intended as a temporary occupation of the waterfront became a conquest of the entire city. Though the occupation of Veracruz did not even last through the year, as Robert Quirk demonstrates in his short account of it, it was an event that had an outsized significance in the ongoing Mexican Revolution, and one that he credits for setting the stage for a more coequal relationship between the United States and its neighbors in Latin America in the decades that followed.
Quirk begins by setting the occupation within the context of the larger conflict taking place in Mexico at that time. At the start of the year, the federal regime of General Victoriano Huerta was struggling against a coalition of forces led by the Constitutionalist Venustiano Carranza. Having gained power via a coup just the year before, Huerta had also earned the ire of the recently-elected American president, Woodrow Wilson, for whom Huerta embodied everything he despised about Latin American politics. His displeasure with the Mexican dictator was reflected in the presence of American naval vessels anchored in Mexican ports, which not only were dispatched there to protect American nationals but to maintain an embargo of weapons that Huerta needed desperately.
One of the ports where these warships were stationed was Tampico. With the Constitutionalists threatening an attack on the town, the U.S. Navy squadron offshore was busy shuttling refugees aboard their vessels, which depleted their fuel supplies. When a party was sent into town on April 9 to pick up the fuel purchased for the boats, the sailors were briefly detained by a squad of nervous federal soldiers before being released by the commander of the troops in the region. This was not the first time American personnel had been detained, and such incidents had passed by without much notice. Yet the admiral commanding the squadron off Tampico, Henry T. Mayo, demanded reparation for what he regarded as an insult to his country.
The crisis soon escalated. One factor in this were the communications difficulties, both linguistic and technical. Poorly translated words created misconceptions, while the limited telegraphic access and limited effectiveness of early radios gave Mayo effective autonomy. Though the American consul in Tampico and the charge d’affaires in Mexico City tried to de-escalate the crisis, both Wilson and Huerta saw an opportunity to leverage the confrontation to their own benefit. It was in this atmosphere that two separate detentions of American sailors in Veracruz escalated matters. Though the gestures proposed were minor, that neither side would give way led to a breakdown in negotiations, while a report in the early morning hours of April 21 of the imminent arrival in Veracruz of a German liner carrying arms and ammunition for Huerta’s forces led Wilson to order Frank F. Fletcher, the admiral commanding the squadron outside the port, to occupy the waterfront.
The seizure of Veracruz soon proved the easy part. Unprepared to run the entire city, the Americans’ hope that local officials could be persuaded to remain in place was frustrated by the locals’ fears of retribution for cooperating with the occupying forces. With Wilson’s partisan objection to the civilian governor selected by Fletcher, the United States military was forced to run Veracruz themselves, which they did with notable efficiency. Quirk is highly laudatory of the Americans’ administration of the town, declaring that the military provided “the best government the people of Veracruz ever had.” Once the federalists were defeated and Huerta departed in June for exile, however, the reason for the occupation evaporated. Now the head of Mexico’s government, Carranza wanted to secure control of the port, but on his terms rather than those of the Americans. While the Americans agreed in September to withdraw, another two months passed before his deteriorating political position left Carranza with little choice but to provide the guarantees that the Americans demanded.
Quirk argues that Carranza’s possession of Veracruz was vital to his eventual victory over the forces of Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa. It is a statement that he supports with explanation rather than evidence, which reflects the limitations of his book. While Quirk does a good job of recounting the immediate events that led up to the occupation, the larger context of the Mexican Revolution or U.S.-Mexican relations is left mostly unaddressed. Even more problematic is Quirk’s focus on just the politics and diplomacy of the occupation, with almost no attention to the experiences of the residents of Veracruz themselves. This is especially regrettable given a footnote near the end of the book, in which Quirk hints at the personal conversations he had with townspeople who experienced the occupation firsthand. That the author failed to incorporate their lost voices into his account means that our understanding of the occupation is limited permanently to the confines of his book, which despite its age remains the best English-language history of the Veracruz occupation available.
August 4, 2024
This is a perfect example of how two or three sentences can ruin an entire book. I found Quirk's account of the events that led to the invasion of Veracruz exciting. He has a good eye to tie things together and the ability to bring the times and places alive with his narrative. However, he arrives at conclusions that to me seem contradictory to the arguments he presents. In the back cover and the book's preface he says that the motivations behind the occupation of Veracruz were driven by "genuine idealism", but he exhaustively details how the chain of decisions Wilson took were caused by a misunderstanding of Mexico's affairs and a stubborn desire to punish a negligible incident. He mentions that he does not understand how this event arouses more anti-american sentiment than the war of 47', after he points out how the American government utilised every little technicism to rationalize the fairness of an invasion.
I love the chapter where he described how the American troops and the people from Veracruz coexisted during those months and how the city benefitted from the improvements brought by the invaders. However, I cannot digest the fact that he declared that 1914 Veracruz was "the cleanest, most efficient, most honestly and justly governed city in all of Mexican history". Oh, well you killed hundreds of people because your president felt insulted, but I guess that you cleaned the city's streets :) Thank you, gringos' invasions are always a blessing.
Overall, I enjoyed reading the book, but estas dos o tres pinches gringadas hacen que no pueda terminarlo de aprobar.
I love the chapter where he described how the American troops and the people from Veracruz coexisted during those months and how the city benefitted from the improvements brought by the invaders. However, I cannot digest the fact that he declared that 1914 Veracruz was "the cleanest, most efficient, most honestly and justly governed city in all of Mexican history". Oh, well you killed hundreds of people because your president felt insulted, but I guess that you cleaned the city's streets :) Thank you, gringos' invasions are always a blessing.
Overall, I enjoyed reading the book, but estas dos o tres pinches gringadas hacen que no pueda terminarlo de aprobar.
January 29, 2011
The Occupation of Veracruz makes scant appearances in United States History books. The military landing on the coastal town happened in 1914 and was ordered by President Woodrow Wilson. Despite deaths on both sides, little came of the incursion, which may be the reason the topic seldom comes up, especially when one considers the notoriety Wilson achieves with his handling of the first World War and its aftermath. An Affair with Honor: Woodrow Wilson and the Occupation of Vera Cruz showcases the event as an American act of aggression, lightly disguised as an attempt to promote an American style democracy on a Mexico run by the dictator Victoriano Huerta. Throughout the book, Quirk flavors the incident with a tinge of American antagonism and is quick to point out the impulsivity and arrogance of President Woodrow Wilson, the diplomatic blunders and military hot-headedness of the US military, and the lasting impact that this smudge had on Mexican memory.
The president that Quirk reveals in Wilson is quite opposite the capable leader known for his Fourteen Points in textbooks. Wilson, the key figure in the decision to demand a formal apology for the mistaken arrest of a couple of US sailors in Tampico, Mexico, comes off as brash throughout An Affair with Honor . As the incident causes a conflagration, Wilson first stands aloof as Quirk relays the president’s vacationing with his ailing wife in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia and frequent golfing trips with his favorite golfing partner Dr. Cary Grayson. If Wilson appears to be a failure in answering the call to assist a worsening situation here, Quirk demeans his character even further by introducing him as painting him unreasonable, stubborn, over-confident and willfully neglectful. Quirk’s bold handling of the president would lead one to question his objectivity in the subject.
Quirk particularly shines when he deals with the diplomatic nightmare that O’Shaughnessy must endure as the American diplomat navigating troubled waters between the obstinate, if available, Wilson and dictator Huerta. O’Shaughnessy has his opportunity to save the United States and Mexico from certain conflict, while redeeming himself from past personal excesses. Quirk’s hero was always one step behind the missteps of military hot heads, giving Wilson his occupation.
The major theme in the book is honor. Quirk relays that whether or not Huerta was ruthless or had the legal right to be president of Mexico; America had soiled the honor and sovereignty of the nation by its occupation. It is at this violation that the Mexican Constitutionalists and Huerta’s forces find a common enemy. It is this idea of honor that precipitated the occupation to begin with as Wilson and his generals insisted on ceremonial submission to the US flag. The irony that this simple demand was to cause the death of both Mexicans and Americans and was to cause later blatant and much more shocking disrespect such as the burning of American flags in Mexico, attacks on the American consulate in Tampico, along with destruction of property of American expatriates in Mexico is not to be ignored.
Quirk includes a section on his sources in the end. It is here that he explains the reliability of the sources he combed through, most of which were American, such as government reports. The author points out that his over used source, A Diplomat’s Wife , by Edith O’Shaughnessy is a definitive source for Mexican historians. American magazines that took up a lot of interest in the happenings also find a way in his book. A couple of more questionable sources could be found in use of Terry’s Guide to Mexico and the author’s citation of his own Mexican Revolution. He uses the guide to describe the landscape of Vera Cruz. Yet Quirk claimed to have been to Vera Cruz many times. This negates the use of this non-academic source.
Written in 1961, An Affair of Honor’s incidents have modern applications that Quirk could not have foreseen. From the patriotic support given to an aggressive US president to the presumption of a “backward” nation’s hostile intentions to utilize illicit weapons, and the opportunity for a prolonged occupation of a territory in the name of forcing an American style democracy on a nation run by a dictator, the Vera Cruz debacle has reverberations of the recent American interferences in Iraq. For this reason, among many others, the book is thought provoking and as relevant today as it was when it was written.
The president that Quirk reveals in Wilson is quite opposite the capable leader known for his Fourteen Points in textbooks. Wilson, the key figure in the decision to demand a formal apology for the mistaken arrest of a couple of US sailors in Tampico, Mexico, comes off as brash throughout An Affair with Honor . As the incident causes a conflagration, Wilson first stands aloof as Quirk relays the president’s vacationing with his ailing wife in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia and frequent golfing trips with his favorite golfing partner Dr. Cary Grayson. If Wilson appears to be a failure in answering the call to assist a worsening situation here, Quirk demeans his character even further by introducing him as painting him unreasonable, stubborn, over-confident and willfully neglectful. Quirk’s bold handling of the president would lead one to question his objectivity in the subject.
Quirk particularly shines when he deals with the diplomatic nightmare that O’Shaughnessy must endure as the American diplomat navigating troubled waters between the obstinate, if available, Wilson and dictator Huerta. O’Shaughnessy has his opportunity to save the United States and Mexico from certain conflict, while redeeming himself from past personal excesses. Quirk’s hero was always one step behind the missteps of military hot heads, giving Wilson his occupation.
The major theme in the book is honor. Quirk relays that whether or not Huerta was ruthless or had the legal right to be president of Mexico; America had soiled the honor and sovereignty of the nation by its occupation. It is at this violation that the Mexican Constitutionalists and Huerta’s forces find a common enemy. It is this idea of honor that precipitated the occupation to begin with as Wilson and his generals insisted on ceremonial submission to the US flag. The irony that this simple demand was to cause the death of both Mexicans and Americans and was to cause later blatant and much more shocking disrespect such as the burning of American flags in Mexico, attacks on the American consulate in Tampico, along with destruction of property of American expatriates in Mexico is not to be ignored.
Quirk includes a section on his sources in the end. It is here that he explains the reliability of the sources he combed through, most of which were American, such as government reports. The author points out that his over used source, A Diplomat’s Wife , by Edith O’Shaughnessy is a definitive source for Mexican historians. American magazines that took up a lot of interest in the happenings also find a way in his book. A couple of more questionable sources could be found in use of Terry’s Guide to Mexico and the author’s citation of his own Mexican Revolution. He uses the guide to describe the landscape of Vera Cruz. Yet Quirk claimed to have been to Vera Cruz many times. This negates the use of this non-academic source.
Written in 1961, An Affair of Honor’s incidents have modern applications that Quirk could not have foreseen. From the patriotic support given to an aggressive US president to the presumption of a “backward” nation’s hostile intentions to utilize illicit weapons, and the opportunity for a prolonged occupation of a territory in the name of forcing an American style democracy on a nation run by a dictator, the Vera Cruz debacle has reverberations of the recent American interferences in Iraq. For this reason, among many others, the book is thought provoking and as relevant today as it was when it was written.
April 24, 2010
Excellent, quick read. Two great lessons for politicians: trivial things can get blown totally out of proportion and morality without knowledge can get a lot of people killed.
December 22, 2019
Written in 1961 it is a little dated, but still a concise account of the American invasion of Veracruz, Mexico in 1914. The author is not a fan of Woodrow Wilson, for sure, whom he depicts as disinterested, impulsive, and blinded by hostility towards Mexico and its president. The invasion led to a pointless loss of life, destabilized Mexico, and left a lasting legacy of bitterness towards the United States. I found it interesting how the Germans and British cooperated in Mexico just months before World War I broke out. In the preface (written in 1962) Quirk ties together the 1914 Veracruz invasion and the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion as emanating from the same domineering and imperialist attitudes and assumptions.
August 20, 2018
You don’t often hear about how Veracruz was occupied for 7 months by the US because Woodrow Wilson was pretty much an asshole. This was a really good analysis and recounting of events in a very detailed, but not very long book. Definitely worth reading if you like history. It’s also out of print so you’ll have to find it in a library (maybe) or just buy it on eBay - that’s what I did.
January 29, 2011
Very readable and interesting account of the American occupation of Veracruz, Mexico. Quirk takes the reader through the political climate between these neighboring nations in 1913 through the Tampico Incident, and finally through the occupation of and withdrawal from Veracruz by the United States. All they while, he continues to explain the unfolding civil unrest and fragmentation in Mexico. A great read of an often overlooked historical incident and very relevant to today's political-military climate of occupation.”
September 5, 2010
Eerily familiar to the propaganda buildup to the occupation of Iraq.
Immortalized in Warren Zevon's song Veracruz.
We must never forget that not everyone in the world wants to live like Americans and as much as we have the right to live like we please they too have the right to live like they please without our interference.
Immortalized in Warren Zevon's song Veracruz.
We must never forget that not everyone in the world wants to live like Americans and as much as we have the right to live like we please they too have the right to live like they please without our interference.
March 6, 2009
The US has a long history of invading foreign countries, esp. Latin American, this is about one 'minor' incident.
September 5, 2010
Read while at the University of Southern Mississippi. Part of a Central\South American history course.
January 24, 2014
Found this book to be a very interesting read about a little know part of U.S. History.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews