Agrarian Dispute

John J. Dwyer is Associate Professor of History at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

• List of Illustrations ixAcknowledgments xiIntroduction: The Interplay between Domestic Affairs and Foreign Relations 1Part I. Domestic Origins of an International Conflict 1. The Roots of the Agrarian Dispute 172. El asalto a las tierras y la huelga de los sentados: How Local Agency Shaped Agrarian Reform in the Mexicali Valley 443. The Expropriation of American-Owned Land in Baja California: Political, Economic, Social, and Cultural Factors 774. Domestic Politics and the Expropriation of American-Owned Land in the Yaqui Valley 1035. The Sonoran Reparto: Where Domestic and International Forces Meet 138Part II. Diplomatic Resolution of an International Conflict 6. The End of U.S. Intervention in Mexico: The Roosevelt Administration Accommodates Mexico City 1597. Diplomatic Weapons of the Weak: CÁrdenas's Administration Outmaneuvers Washington 1948. The 1941 Global Settlement: The End of the Agrarian Dispute and the Start of a New Era in U.S.-Mexican Relations 232Conclusion: Moving away from Balkanized History 267Notes 85Bibliography 343Index 371

“The Agrarian Dispute is a tour de force. John J. Dwyer ties international relations and domestic politics in Mexico together in an exciting new way, demonstrating that the expropriation of United States–owned land by the CÁrdenas regime was of crucial importance for the relationship between the two countries, Mexico’s overall economic development, and agrarian reform. Few scholars cover both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border as well as Dwyer does.”-Ben Fallaw, author of CÁrdenas Compromised: The Failure of Reform in Postrevolutionary YucatÁn “The Agrarian Dispute will force scholars to reconsider U.S.-Mexican relations during the CÁrdenas years. John J. Dwyer shows how powerful domestic and international events were affected by the actions of ‘subalterns’ and how Mexico, a relatively weak power, deftly bested the United States with creative diplomatic tactics. He also makes a convincing case that the U.S. response to Mexico’s oil expropriation in 1938 was largely determined by the earlier controversy over the land confiscations.”-Timothy J. Henderson, author of The Worm in the Wheat: Rosalie Evans and Agrarian Struggle in the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley of Mexico, 1906–1927