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Abstract:
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When Woodrow Wilson came into office on March 4th, 1913, he inherited from the outgoing president, William Taft, a potential conflict with Mexico. A revolution in Mexico had eventually led to the election in 1911 of Francisco Madero and the hope that the country would establish a democratic government. However, General Victoriano Huerta usurped the presidency, had Madero killed, and eventually became a dictator. In an effort to speed the overthrow of Huerta, whom he refused to acknowledge as the president of Mexico, Wilson lifted an embargo forbidding the sale of weapons to Mexico but otherwise maintained a policy of "watchful waiting." He believed that the Mexican people would bring about their own revolution and that U.S. interference was unnecessary. However, following a series of incidents in which Huerta's forces seized several commercial U.S. ships attempting to land in Mexican ports, Wilson pressured Huerta to make a formal apology. Huerta's refusal to comply combined with his decision to import weapons from Europe to outfit his own forces led to Wilson's requesting that Congress authorize the use of the military force in Mexico. In an effort to intercept a ship carrying munitions to Huerta's forces, U.S. military forces led by Admiral Fletcher landed in Vera Cruz and quickly seized the city. Shortly thereafter, on July 15th, 1914, Huerta fled the country, and Wilson's actions had proven successful. In November of that year, U.S. forces withdrew from Vera Cruz. Wilson wrote the letter that appears here to his Secretary of War, Lindley M. Garrison. Dated Novermber 13th, 1914, it informs Garrison that Secretary of State William J. Bryan was going to make an official announcement of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vera Cruz on November 23rd, 1914. |