Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-tn8tq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-15T06:05:16.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

From “Color” to “Rainbow”: U.S. Strategic Planning for Latin America, 1919-1945

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

John Child
John Child*
Affiliation:
Inter-American Defense College
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

A series of recently declassified documents in the National Archives provide striking evidence of the shift of United States military strategic thinking away from the nineteenth and early twentieth century unilateral interventionist approaches to the bilateral approaches taken in World War II under the multilateral framework of the Good Neighbor Policy.

It is also significant to note that, despite the multilateral thrust of this Good Neighbor Policy promulgated by President Roosevelt and the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Military Departments— War and Navy—made no provisions for multilateral strategic plans in World War II.

But even as U.S. military planners prepared for bilateral cooperation with Latin American allies in the war, they continued to draft and update unilateral plans for intervention and invasion of key Latin American countries if cooperative approaches should fail.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , May 1979 , pp. 233 - 259
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1979

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

FRUS: Foreign Relation of the United States (annual State Department document, further identified by year and volume).Google Scholar
JBUSDC: Joint Brazil-U.S. Defense Commission.Google Scholar
Documents used in the National Archives of Washington, D.C., arc identified by specific file, Entry Number, Record Group number (RG) and the designation N A for National Archives.Google Scholar
Abbazia, P. (1975) Mr. Roosevelt's Navy. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.Google Scholar
Child, J. (1976) “Latin America: Military-Strategic Concepts,” pp. 27-42 in Air University Review, XXVII, No. 6, September-October.Google Scholar
Churchill, W. S. (1944) Message 552 to President Roosevelt, File CCS 091.3 Arg 1-4-44, RG 218, 23 January, NA.Google Scholar
Conn, S., and Fairchild, B. (1960) The Framework of Hemisphere Defense. Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army.Google Scholar
JMUSDC [Joint-Mexico-U.S. Defense Commission] (1942) Memorandum a la Sección Norteamericana. File MDC 4120, JMUSDC, RG 218, 8 May, NA.Google Scholar
JMUSDC [Joint-Mexico-U.S. Defense Commission] (1941) Carta al General Embick. File MDC 4120, JMUSDC, RG 218, 16 December, NA.Google Scholar
USAAG [U.S. Army Adjutant General] (1967) Memo AGAR-S, 7100-3, Entry 365, RG 407, 4 December, NA.Google Scholar
USACDC [U.S. Army Caribbean Defense Command] (1941a) Plan for Support of Costa Rica. File AG 46, Entry 365, RG 407, 8 July, NA.Google Scholar
USACDC [U.S. Army Caribbean Defense Command] (1941b) Plan for Support of Guatemala. File AG 70, Entry 365, RG 407, August, NA.Google Scholar
USAFA [U.S. Army Fourth Army] (1942a) Joint Mexico-U.S. Pacific Coastal Frontier Defense Plan, File MDC 9010, RG 218, NA.Google Scholar
USAFA [U.S. Army Fourth Army] (1942b) Memo to the Chief of Staff, Subject: Negotiations with Mexico Concerning Defense of the West Coast. File MDC 9010, RG 218, 22 March, NA.Google Scholar
USAGH [U.S. Army General Headquarters] (1942) Operations Plan of Northeast Brazil Theater. Rio Sector (Plan Lilac-RS). Entry 365, RG 407, 20 February, NA.Google Scholar
USAGH [U.S. Army General Headquarters] (1941) Operations Plan of Northeast Brazil Theater. Entry 365, RG 407, 1 November, NA.Google Scholar
USAPCD [U.S. Army Panama Canal Department] (1941) Basic War Plan: Panama Canal Department. File AG 288, Entry 365, RG 407, 1 April, NA.Google Scholar
USAPCD [U.S. Army Panama Canal Department] (1924) Basic War Plan: Panama Canal Department, File AG 288, Entry 365, RG 407, NA.Google Scholar
USDS [U.S. Department of State] (1943) Memorandum (ARA-Halle, 12 May, Decimal File 810.20 Defense 3549, RG 59, NA.Google Scholar
USDS [U.S. Department of State] (1941) Memorandum, Marshall to Welles, 17 June, FRUS, 1941, Vol. VI, 498-501.Google Scholar
USJCS [U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff] (1952) Evolution of Global Strategy. Prepared by Tracy Kittridge, JCS Historical Division, RG 218, NA.Google Scholar
USJCS [U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff] (1944) Document JCS 652/2, Subject: Proposed Economic Sanctions with Respect to Argentina. File CCS 091.3 Arg 1-4-44, RG 218, 19 January, NA.Google Scholar
USN[U.S. Navy] (1944) Admiral Leahy Memo to Secretary of State Hull. File CCS 092 Argentina 2-29-44, RG 218, 29 February, NA.Google Scholar
USN[U.S. Navy] (1940) CNO Stark Memo for the Secretary of the Navy. File MDC 4960-3, JMUSDC, RG 218, 21 August, NA.Google Scholar
USOSS [U.S. Office of Strategic Services](1941) Research and Analysis Study#159: The Strategy of the Magellan Strait Area. File OSS R&A Study 159, RG 59, 8 December, NA.Google Scholar
USSLC [U.S. Standing Liaison Committee] (1942) Minutes for 16 November meeting. File SLC Minutes, RG 353, 16 November, NA.Google Scholar
USSLC [U.S. Standing Liaison Committee] (1939) Minutes for 21 January meeting. File SLC Minutes, RG 353, 21 January, NA.Google Scholar
USWDGS [U.S. War Department General Staff] (1942a) List of Registered Documents, Adjutant General's Office, RG 407, NA.Google Scholar
USWDGS [U.S. War Department General Staff] (1942b) Operations Plan: U.S. Troops in Chile, Peru, and Venezuela. File Reg Doc 32, RG 407, 12 February, NA.Google Scholar
USWDGS [U.S. War Department General Staff] (1941) Memo for the Chief of Staff, Subject: Admission of U.S. Forces into Northeast Brazil. File 5440, JBUSDC, RG 218, 14 June, NA.Google Scholar
USWDGS [U.S. War Department General Staff] (1940) Rainbow #1. File AG 361, Entry 365, RG 407, 11 July, NA.Google Scholar
USWDGS [U.S. War Department General Staff] (c1935) Classified Files List, Operations Branch, Adjutant General's Office. File 1920-1948 (AGO) Special Projects, War Plans Color, RG 407, NA.Google Scholar
USWDGS [U.S. War Department General Staff] (1928) Estimate of the Situation: Red-Orange Coalition. Entry 365, RG 407, 7 June, NA.Google Scholar
USWDWPD [U.S. War Department War Plans Division] (1940) Operations Plan Green. Entry 365, RG 407, NA.Google Scholar
USWDWPD [U.S. War Department War Plans Division] (1931a) Strategical Plan Gray. File AG 71, Entry 365, RG 407. NA.Google Scholar
USWDWPD [U.S. War Department War Plans Division] (1931b) Memo for the G-2, Subject: Army Strategical Plan Gray. File Gray 2877, Entry 282, RG 165, 5 May, NA.Google Scholar
USWDWPD [U.S. War Department War Plans Division] (1931c) Army Strategical Plan Gray. Entry 282, RG 165, 28 October, NA.Google Scholar
USWDWPD [U.S. War Department War Plans Division] (1930s) Comments on Army Strategical Plan Purple. File AG 355, Entry 365, RG 407, NA.Google Scholar
USWDWPD [U.S. War Department War Plans Division] (1930b) Special Plan Tan for Intervention in Cuba. Entry 365, RG 407, NA.Google Scholar
USWDWPD [U.S. War Department War Plans Division] (1928a) Memo for the Chief of Staff, Subject: Special Plan Purple. File AG 358, Entry 282, RG 165, 3 August, NA.Google Scholar
USWDWPD [U.S. War Department War Plans Division] (1928b) Army Strategical Plan Purple. File AG 356, Entry 365, RG 407,4 August, NA.Google Scholar
USWDWPD [U.S. War Department War Plans Division] (1927a) Memo for the Assistant Chief of Staff, Subject: Special Service Plan (Later Plan “Gray”). File Gray 2877, Entry 282, RG 165, 3 March, NA.Google Scholar
USWDWPD [U.S. War Department War Plans Division] (1927b) Memo for LTC Frazier, Subject: Plan for Intervention in South America. File AG 358, Entry 282, RG 165, 8 September, NA.Google Scholar
USWDWPD [U.S. War Department War Plans Division] (1919) Memo for the Chief of Staff, Subject: General Mexican War Plan, Entry 282, RG 165, 14 July, NA.Google Scholar
Washington Post (1975) “1919 plan to invade Canada is disclosed.” 28 October, Section A: 1.Google Scholar