America's Splendid Little Wars

by Jack Ragsdale © 1986

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CHAPTER THREE

THE PHILIPPINES: MCKINLEY'S GIFT FROM THE GODS

Conquest under the banner of imperialism openly flaunted or covertly organized is certain to have a high cost in blood.


CHAPTER FOUR

REVOLUTION ON THE CHEAP: IRAN, 1953

In 1979, at the time of the fall of Iran, Kermit Roosevelt, President Theodore Roosevelt’s grandson, wrote of the CIA's 1953 "countercoup," or covert revolution in Iran: "We were all heroes. Now I must say sadly, that it is no longer true."


CHAPTER FIVE

MORE REVOLUTION ON THE CHEAP: GUATEMALA 1954

In 1523, under orders from Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, Pedro de Alvarado took a force of one hundred twenty horsemen and two hundred soldiers with several pieces of artillery to conquer Guatemala for God and the Spanish king, and to acquire gold and silver. The natives of that country, however, had little gold, and offenses against them by the Spanish caused them to rebel, so that Cortes called them warlike and brave.

America's Splendid Little Wars - Chapter Three

CHAPTER THREE
THE PHILIPPINES: MCKINLEY'S GIFT FROM THE GODS

Conquest under the banner of imperialism openly flaunted or covertly organized is certain to have a high cost in blood. Columbus came to the New World with a great preponderance of military power over the natives and in about fifty years the Arawak Indian population he found on the island of Santo Domingo was reduced from 250,000 to 500. His men cut off the hands of the Indians who failed to produce the gold they desired or used their bodies to feed their dogs. His conquests did, however, gain territory for Spain and new communicants for the church.

Three hundred years later Thomas Jefferson frankly coveted Cuba[1] and the territories of Spain and France on the North American continent. "Our confederacy must be viewed as the nest," he said, "from which all America, North and South, is to be peopled[2]." Thomas Jefferson and his two disciples, James Madison and James Monroe "practiced [the] use of covert manipulation to wrest territory from the crumbling Spanish Empire[3]." Manifest Destiny was in operation in the young American nation long before that term was coined. Charles and Mary Beard say of the third President: "Jefferson retained his keen interest in the advancing frontier..." long after he left the State Department [4].

"Feeble" Spanish ownership of New Orleans was tolerable to the Americans, but the prospect of France in control of New Orleans was an American nightmare. When President Jefferson gained knowledge that Spain had retro-ceded Louisiana to France, he wrote Robert R Livingston, his minister to that nation, protesting his own deep affection for France, which he described as our natural friend. However, he said: "There is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans, through which the produce of three-eighths of our territory must pass to market...." This area, Jefferson said, soon would yield half of the entire produce of the nation and contain half its population. France's impetuosity, energy and restlessness would soon break our friendship[5].

The prospect that France might close off the Mississippi River at New Orleans to the shipping of the Midwest, or that Florida might fall into the hands of some other stronger European nation would have been a disaster and brought on certain war to protect the commerce and security of the United States. The fortunate happenstance for the newly founded United States was that France's ardor for colonies had cooled with her bloody loss of Haiti. Possible conflict with Great Britain loomed ahead for France, making faraway colonies in the new world of little importance. Further intrigue by the United States at that time was superfluous gesturing in view of France's need for hard cash.

The purchase by the United States of the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803 and Florida from Spain in 1819 were two happy alternatives to war that eventually would have been fought over those lands at far greater cost. "As soon as Napoleon indicated he would sell all of Louisiana, they [Jefferson, Madison and Monroe] quickly made sure the eastern boundaries of that territory were left unclear. Their aim was to create a claim to Florida out of the mist of vague language[6]." That ploy did not work, and the further machinations of these three present and future presidents of the United States had to wait until 1819 for fulfillment of their desire to own Florida.

North of Florida, displacement of native Americans proceeded apace as their former lands were occupied by settlers pressing west into virgin land.

The presidencies of Washington and Adams were occupied with domestic problems, but the presidents who followed them were able to devote more effort to the acquisition of territory. Jefferson, a highly expansionist president, and those who followed him, looked at the possible annexation of Cuba, that island being especially attractive to them due to its strategic location and stormy history with its Spanish masters.

In the years approaching mid century, America's population grew rapidly and commercial activity intensified. The cotton trade, America's need for manufactured goods from Europe, and the slave trade occupied the ocean fleets serving the country. Texas and California, both Mexican territory, were being settled by Americans who in time rebelled and set up republics which in turn were absorbed into the United States. These penetrations brought about a two-year war with Mexico in mid century, invasion of that country by American troops and the capture and occupation of many of its principal cities. In a treaty of peace signed in 1848, Mexico ceded two-fifths of its territory to the United States and was paid $15 million.

Thus, in two treaties--in 1846 with Great Britain and 1848 with Mexico--essentially the present borders of the contiguous forty-eight states were established as they are today. Settlement of the West and internal development pressed hard upon the country, but the established habit of expansion was not to be easily broken.

MANIFEST DESTINY
Territorial expansion had been a principal item on the agenda of Americans from earliest colonial days, but it was not until 1845 that the phrase to exactly fit the concept was created. In the July-August, 1845 issue of the United States Magazine and Democratic Review John L O'Sullivan justified our annexation of Texas as the fulfillment of a God-given mission, "our manifest destiny." That ingenious phrase, self-serving but claiming benevolence in conquest, was quickly taken up in our claims on California and Oregon both of which were being settled then by Americans. In 1859, on the eve of the Civil War, Darwin's Origin of the Species was published and his phrase Struggle for Existence, came into popular use, as did Spencer's Survival of the Fittest in 1865. Prevailing aggressors were happy to apply those catchwords to themselves in support of the notion of Manifest Destiny.

In 1853 Commodore Perry began his assault on Japanese isolation, which resulted in opening up that country for trade with the United States.

William Walker, an American of supposed high ideals, a filibuster and advocate of manifest destiny, led an attempt to conquer a part of Sonora, Mexico, a state with a history of insurrection against the Mexican national government. Sonora contained a substantial portion of the mineral deposits of Mexico, resources which were coveted by American interests.

Failing in that mission, Walker invaded Nicaragua, after a time became its president, and "reigned" there for two years before being deposed. His claim was that he wanted to bring the blessings of American democracy to that Central American country. Others saw him only as a would-be slaver.

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America's Splendid Little Wars - Chapter Four

AMERICA’S SPLENDID LITTLE WARS
by Jack Ragsdale © 1986
Chapter Four
REVOLUTION ON THE CHEAP: IRAN, 1953

In 1979, at the time of the fall of Iran, Kermit Roosevelt, President Theodore Roosevelt’s grandson, wrote of the CIA's 1953 "countercoup," or covert revolution in Iran: "We were all heroes. Now I must say sadly, that it is no longer true."

He praised the great economic advances Iran had made under the Shah. Loyal to the ideals of the CIA of which he was once a major secret operative in the Middle East, he excused the CIA's client monarch for having failed to take into account "the growth of political ambitions" in his country, which, he implied, had caused his downfall. Such a simple, self-serving explanation of the American role in recent Iranian history does not begin to address the implications of the event.
***
The oil reserves of Iran are among the greatest in the world, and millions of tons have been taken out since early in the twentieth century, but to little benefit of the Iranian people. Most of them have remained impoverished while the Shah, his family and his friends amassed vast fortunes, squandering even more on arms and personal indulgences.

FOREIGN INFLUENCE IN IRAN
Foreign domination of Iran was not a new occurrence in 1953; it was indeed an ancient problem against which many of its governments had struggled. In 1907 Russia and Great Britain settled the antagonisms between them in Iran by dividing the country into two spheres of influence. When the czarist government collapsed in 1919, Britain took advantage of the opportunity to beat out the Russians and dominate the entire country. Lord Curzon's Anglo-Persian Agreement then made Iran virtually a protectorate of Great Britain. "To bring the agreement to a conclusion the British had to resort to bribery on a large scale[1]." The Shah, the prime minister, and two cabinet ministers were paid an amount popularly thought to be 131,000 British pounds. This agreement was immensely unpopular in Iran. In spite of the government’s disposition to deal harshly with dissenters, most newspapers and private individuals loudly voiced their opposition.

World War I heralded the end of the era of coal-fueled ships, and Great Britain, without its own oil, determined to secure Iran's great reserves for itself. The British sought to accomplish that feat by the agreement aforementioned, but for it to become valid it had to be approved by the Iranian parliament.

REZA SHAH
Patriots opposed to the pact planned a coup and called on Reza Khan, commander of a Cossack brigade north of the capital, to take over the city. He undertook that mission with great enthusiasm, and having consulted a popular influential young journalist, members of the gendarmerie, and the British military mission, he marched his three thousand men into Teheran, where he arrested the major government officials. At his request the Shah then named the young journalist, Sayyid Ziya Tabatabai, prime minister. In its first act, the new government canceled the oil agreement with the British.

A year later Reza Khan deposed Sayyid Ziya, and from his position as army commander he became, in succession, war minister and prime minister. In several year’s fighting to consolidate his power, Reza Khan overcame rebellions of the gendarmerie, defeated religious guerrillas and tribal fighters. In 1925 as Reza Pahlavi, he established himself as the head of a new dynasty. The new Shah was a man of great energy: nationalistic, forceful and violent. His aim was to bring the country into the modern age and his methods for doing so were often brutal.

In January, 1925, he addressed the Majles [lower house of parliament]:
“Before I took office, not only were all questions settled in principle by foreigners but even the minor details of internal affairs were dealt with by them according to their inclinations. Even minor clerks in ministries and departments could only be employed on their recommendation and intervention[2]."

His military victories, however, illustrate only one of the new Shah's many talents. According to historian Ervand Abrahamian, Reza skillfully arranged alliances with a broad spectrum of political organizations while maintaining substantial civilian support.

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America's Splendid Little Wars - Chapter Five

© 1986 Chapter Five
MORE REVOLUTION ON THE CHEAP: GUATEMALA 1954
In 1523, under orders from Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, Pedro de Alvarado took a force of one hundred twenty horsemen and two hundred soldiers with several pieces of artillery to conquer Guatemala for God and the Spanish king, and to acquire gold and silver. The natives of that country, however, had little gold, and offenses against them by the Spanish caused them to rebel, so that Cortes called them warlike and brave.

Alvarado was a handsome, brave, avaricious and cruel man with a reputation for faithlessness to his friends. The history of his time in Guatemala is one of rebellions and massacres[1]. Many thousands of Indians were killed resisting the invaders.

Gradually the country was pacified and the Spaniards and the mixed race they sired held the power and received its benefits in the wealth of the country. Indians were forced off the best land and into settlements where they could be better controlled.

Four hundred years later in the nineteenth century, land-holding was little different in Central America. Indians had few rights as the land was given over to the production of coffee, cotton and bananas for export. The best land was in the hands of very few. Largely illiterate peasants were still the victim of legalized forced labor, and on the great plantations they were paid only a few pennies a day. Most Central American countries were governed by dictators.

SMEDLEY DARLINGTON BUTLER
In 1902 a body of United States Marines was stationed on Culebra Island, Puerto Rico, convenient to respond to anticipated trouble in Panama. One of the junior officers was Smedley Darlington Butler, later major general. In February, 1903 Butler and his Marines were rushed to Honduras "to protect American interests" during a revolution. Two other revolutions occurred there that year, and others later.

Butler had enlisted in 1898 during the Spanish-American War and saw service in Cuba, the Philippines and China. In the next twenty years he participated in many incursions by American Marines into Central American and Caribbean countries. They were sent in ostensibly to "protect American lives and property" but the real reason invariably proved to be political and economic. Youthfully exuberant, and without any thought but to follow orders, Butler and the Marines bulldozed their way about those countries, replacing presidents with men Wall Street approved, and stifling any tendency toward independence.

In November, 1903, in order to aid a United States sponsored and orchestrated "revolution" to separate the isthmus of Panama from Colombia, Theodore Roosevelt dispatched eight warships to Panama. Thereafter the American government became much more active in the internal affairs of the countries of Central America. Some may credit others than Roosevelt with the Panamanian revolution but the Secretary of War put it bluntly. "Have I defended myself?" Roosevelt asked Secretary Elihu Root. "You certainly have, Mr President," Root replied, "You were accused of seduction and you have conclusively proved that you were guilty of rape[2]." Charles and Mary Beard stated it this way: Roosevelt "confessed that he simply `took’ Panama to stop endless talk and get the work done[3]."

GUATEMALA VS NICARAGUA
At the turn of the century two Central American dictators vied for control over the area: Manuel Estrada Cabrera in Guatemala and Jose Santos Zelaya in Nicaragua. Each had visions of ruling the region. The first cunningly flattered the United States and welcomed its businesses while Zelaya preferred doing business with Europeans from whom he received his loans.

In this period Honduras particularly suffered a series of devastating revolutions in which the U S Marines were involved. In 1906 that nation was drawn into a Guatemala/Nicaragua war as an ally of the former. When Theodore Roosevelt attempted to mediate, Guatemala and its allies Honduras and El Salvador ceased fighting while Zelaya (Nicaragua) continued to prosecute the war vigorously. Eventually, combined pressure from Mexico and the United State forced an end to hostilities and a conference in Washington in 1907 established a court to settle their differences. However, any notion that disinterested idealism had inspired the United States in this matter was soon dispelled as she exerted her military and economic might on all parties. Establishment of the court turned out to be a hollow exercise, for in the next few years the United States refused to abide by "decisions that went against its interests in Nicaragua." After the agreement of 1907 "Honduras and Nicaragua endured the most severe upheavals in their history....[4]"

In 1909 President Taft and his Secretary of State Philander Knox decided that the Nicaraguan strong man Zelaya and his liberal party could no longer be tolerated. In December, when that fact became clear to him, Zelaya resigned and went into exile, hoping to assuage American hostility. He left the presidency to another Liberal. The Americans, however, would have none of that; Washington decided that only the Conservatives would be allowed to govern Nicaragua. It fell to Smedley Butler and the Marines to force the government army into passivity while they allowed the Conservative armed rebellion freedom to fight. Butler explained: The American Consul painted a bleak picture of the predicament of the Conservative revolutionary army. It was hemmed in at Bluefields, vastly outnumbered by approaching [Liberal] government forces. The situation was desperate; the revolution might fail. It was clear that the American consul did not want to see this happen[5].

Using the excuse that he was protecting American lives, Butler prohibited the government's troops from firing on the rebels in the town, but allowed the (Conservative) rebels to fire out. Government forces would be allowed to capture the city, Butler told them, but it must be done without shooting!

Juan Estrada and Adolfo Diaz, respectively an executive and a clerk of an American mining company in Bluefields, led the "revolution," and after being allowed to win "several important military victories[6]" by the American Marines, the "Conservatives climbed into the vacant seats of power[7]." Juan Estrada and Adolfo Diaz, of the mining company, became president and vice-president of Nicaragua. Historian Walter LaFeber marveled at the fact that Diaz, whose annual salary was $1,000, had been able to acquire $600,000 for the "revolution."

American commercial interests were now turned loose in Nicaragua and quickly had control of the national bank and the country's customs house.

One of the points of contention the United States used against Zelaya was that he had executed two American mercenary soldiers of fortune, Lee Roy Cannon and Leonard Croce[8]. The (Liberal) government claimed to have caught them laying mines in the San Juan River[9]. Later, other American mercenaries became a big problem for Butler.

The United States-supported Conservative government which replaced the Liberals had little or no popular support. LaFeber quotes the U S Minister in 1911: "The natural sentiment of the overwhelming majority of Nicaraguans is antagonistic to the United States". Conscripts, captured and tied with rope to prevent their escape, American adventurous riff-raff collected in New Orleans, and other mercenaries formed the new Nicaraguan (Conservative) army. A spontaneous revolt in 1912 made it necessary to send an American military force of 2,500 to insure continuation of the Conservatives in power. Arrival of American forces made the troublesome mercenaries superfluous so Butler forced them aboard a steamer and shipped them off to Panama to be rid of these expensive and dangerous rowdies.

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