U.S. Presidents and Latin American Interventions

Lyndon Johnson invaded the Dominican Republic. Richard Nixon sponsored a coup attempt in Chile. Ronald Reagan waged covert warfare in Nicaragua. Nearly a dozen times during the Cold War, American presidents turned their attention from standoffs with the Soviet Union to intervene in Latin American affairs. In each instance, it was declared that the security of the United States was at stakebut, as Michael Grow demonstrates, these actions had more to do with flexing presidential muscle than responding to imminent danger.From Eisenhowers toppling of Arbenz in Guatemala in 1954 to Bushs overthrow of Noriega in Panama in 1989, Grow casts a close eye on eight major cases of U.S. intervention in the Western Hemisphere, offering fresh interpretations of why they occurred and what they signified. The case studies also include the Bay of Pigs fiasco, Reagans invasion of Grenada in 1983, and JFKs little-known 1963 intervention against the government of Cheddi Jagan in British Guiana.Grow argues that it was not threats to U.S. national security or endangered economic interests that were decisive in prompting presidents to launch these interventions. Rather, each intervention was part of a symbolic geopolitical chess match in which the White House sought to project an image of overpowering strength to audiences at home and abroadin order to preserve both national and presidential credibility. As Grow also reveals, that impulse was routinely reinforced by local Latin American elitessuch as Chilean businessmen or opposition Panamanian politicianswho actively promoted intervention in their own self-interest. LBJs loud lamentWhat can we do in Vietnam if we cant clean up the Dominican Republic?reflected just how preoccupied our presidents were with proving that the U.S. was no paper tiger and that they themselves were fearless and forceful leaders. Meticulously argued and provocative, Grows bold reinterpretation of Cold War history shows that this special preoccupation with credibility was at the very core of our presidents approach to foreign relations, especially those involving our Latin American neighbors.