Coercion and Diplomacy: Relations Between the United States & Nicaragua, 1920-1927

This paper was completed in 1994 as my “Option B” paper for my MA in History at the University of Akron. The History Department offered a traditional approach (“Option A”), a thesis and an approach which allowed the student to focus on two area, rather than one, “Option B.” I began my work under the direction of the late Dr. Sheldon Liss and completed it under the direction of Dr. Philip Howard.

Contents:

Part I: Preface
Sets the paper into historical context

Part II: Historical Background
Briefly outlines the status and history of relations between the US and Nicragua in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Part III: The 1920s
Analyzes the political upheavals in Nicaragua, their effects on relations with the US, and subsequent US military interventions.

Part IV: Chaos
Describes the US withdrawal from Nicaragua and the resurgence of violence that followed.

Part V: Enter Stimson
Investigates the motives, policies, and actions of veteran US diplomat Henry Lewis Stimson, whose special mission to Nicaragua set the stage for the insurgence of Augusto Sandino, the creation of the Guardia Nacíonal, and the rise to power of the Somoza family.

Part VI: Epilogue
Recounts the fates of the key players in the aftermath of the Stimson mission in the years immediately following his intervention.

Part VII: Bibliography
Notes are available from the author, Cathleen White, upon request

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