Ohio History Journal

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HARDING ADMINISTRATION

HARDING ADMINISTRATION

AND RECOGNITION

OF MEXICO

 

 

 

 

by EUGENE P. TRANI

A long period of turmoil in Mexico temporarily came to an end in December

1920 with the assumption of the presidency by General Alvaro Obregon. It

thus seemed to be a ripe time for the reopening of diplomatic relations be-

tween Mexico and the United States and settlement of American claims

against the Mexican government. President Woodrow Wilson, however, by

this time in his lame-duck period in office, reacted as William Howard Taft

had done eight years earlier. He left the problems of recognition and claims --

which arose from policies embodied in the Mexican Constitution of 1917 -- to

his successor Warren G. Harding.

The problem of recognizing Obregon was, of course, tied to previous diffi-

culties. After the fall of General Victoriano Huerta in 1914, Venustiano

Carranza had come to power. Although recognized conditionally in 1915,

Carranza became quite a problem. Trouble became serious over application

of provisions of the 1917 Constitution, and in the United States some Repub-

lican Senators led by Albert B. Fall of New Mexico began to look carefully

into relations with Mexico. The Fall Committee in a long report of May 28,

1920, indicated that Mexico under Carranza was no safe place for American

citizens or investments. The United States, it remarked, should withdraw

recognition until a government capable of stability and willing to comply

with international obligations came to power. Obligations included responsi-

bility for American lives and property, understanding that certain provisions

of the 1917 Constitution did not apply to Americans, and immediate appoint-

ment of commissioners to decide claims and solve disputes concerning the

international boundary. Only after these stipulations were satisfied should

 

 

NOTES ARE ON PAGES 190-192