Strategy, Security, and Spies
Mexico and the U.S. as Allies in World War II
276 pages | 10 illustrations | 6 x 9 | 1997
Cloth edition is not available
ISBN 978-0-271-01666-5 | paper: $29.00 sh
"This is an important addition to a significant emerging scholarly literature that portrays Latin American governments as actors rather than victims in international politics. Specialists in the history of intelligence, World War II, and inter-American relations will find the book useful and interesting."-American Historical Review
"This is a carefully crafted work that exploits newly available materials from the files of the CIA, FBI, NSA, and U.S. Army and Navy intelligence. It is an insightful analysis of the factors that hampered effective cooperation between Mexico and the United States during the Second World War. The story that Dr. Paz relates is eye-opening and will inform even specialists in the field."-Charles Ameringer, Penn State University
"Maria Emilia Paz has written a compelling, informative, and scholarly assessment of a crucial period in Mexican-American relations. Her eloquent and meticulous analysis opens the door for further research on general and specialized topics. . . . The volume is recommended not only to political scientists and students of popular culture, but also to scholars of diplomatic and military history as well as Latin American studies."-Charles Kolb, H-Net Latin American History List (H-LATAM)
Faced with the possibility of being drawn into a war on several fronts, the United States sought to win Mexican support for a new strategy of Hemispheric Security, based on defense collaboration by governments throughout the Americas. U.S. leaders were concerned that Mexico might become a base for enemy operations, a scenario that, given the presence of pro-Axis lobbies in Mexico and the rumored fraternization between Mexico and Germany in World War I, seemed far from implausible in 1939-41.
Strategy, Security, and Spies tells the fascinating story of U.S. relations with Mexico during the war years, involving everything from spies and internal bureaucratic struggles in both countries to all sorts of diplomatic maneuverings. Although its focus is on the interactions of the two countries, relative to the threat posed by the Axis powers, a valuable feature of the study is to show how Mexico itself evolved politically in crucial ways during this period, always trying to maintain the delicate balance between the divisive force of Mexican nationalism and the countervailing force of economic dependency and security self-interest.
María Emilia Paz, who has a doctoral degree from the London School of Economics, is an independent scholar who prepared this book with the aid of a grant from the MacArthur Foundation.