Josephus Danials on the April 1914 U.S. Invasion of Veracruz

"Washington, D.C.
April 21, 1914

Fletcher
Vera Cruz, Mexico
Seize custom house.  Do not permit war supplies to be delivered to Huerta government or to any other party.

Danials”

This terse Communiqué from Secretary of Navy Josephus Danials to Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher brought an end to the lives of over 200 Mexican Naval Cadets and an undetermined number of Veracruz citizens, although it failed to prevent the war supplies aboard the S.S. Ypiranga from being eventually delivered to the Huerta government.

The actual objective of protecting American control over strategic resources in Mexico, and of influencing the outcome of the Mexican Revolution, was revealed in a round-about way by Josephus Danials, some thirty years later, in his memoir:

                                     NAVAL FORCE AT VERA CRUZ
"While the flag incident was being discussed, there flared up a situation at Vera Cruz, much more serious, that put the Tampico salute issue in the background.  Soon Vera Curz was the centre of interest.  On the night before the Navy ships were ordered to Vera Cruz, there was a conference at the White House of the President, the secretary of State, the Secretary of War, and the Secretary of the Navy.  News had poured in of the activity of the various revolutionary forces;  under Pancho Villa in the north, Zapata around Cuernavaca to the Pacific Ocean, and Carranza in the east and northeast and near the Gulf.  All of the revolutionary leaders were against Huerta but were not united.   The threat of the destruction of the oil wells in the vicinity of Tampico gave concern to Garrison, and the military advisers saw no solution except in a declaration of war against Mexico.   I think some wanted later to annex all the country to Panama to the domain of the United States.  John Lind throught a serious show of force was the only thing that would bring Huerta to his senses.   Once he advised taking all the sea-coast places on the Gulf.   Wilson, Bryan and I wished to get rid of Huerta without war, so that Mexicans, freed from the old feudalism, could work out the destiny of their country with their chosen leaders.   There was agreement that a strong Naval force should guard the eastern coast of Mexico, ready for any emergency.  That was why Badger was ordered to move the fleet south." —The Wilson Era: Years of Peace, 1910-1917

It is hard to know what to make of Danials inconsistent, somewhat rambling account of the decision of invade Mexico.    It is hardly credible that the implication that the U.S. Fleet was ordered to Veracruz because the news that had poured in of the well known activities of revolutionaries.   The only thing that was pouring in were demands for protection from American property owners and investors.  Effectively, Danials was implying that the Wilson administration had moved from a policy of isolating Huerta, to one on actively supporting a successor regime, one that would guarantee continued American access to strategic resources in Mexico.   

Secretary of War Lindley Garrison more directly represented the sentiments of the American financier community, carrying into the cabinet the talking points developed earlier by Texas Company council, William F. Buckley Sr.  

John Lind was a different case.   Danials was referencing Lind’s earlier reports, as he was in Mexico at the time of the meeting.  The context of Lind’s comment about a show of force to Huerta was a manner of expression to communicate his frustration of his diplomatic mission to induce Huerta to resign.   The context of Lind’s recommendation for occupying the Gulf coast was to communicate to President Wilson his alarm over the possibility of Mexican oil resources falling into the hands of the British.   John Lind became convinced that American intervention into Mexico was required to forestall the British.

It’s possible that the old idealists actually convinced themselves that the American invasion was to free the Mexicans  from their old feudalism, and so long as that it didn’t interfere with continued American control of their resources, then it would be good for everybody.     And that, as Danials said, was “why Badger was ordered to move the fleet south”.