The Wilson Era: Years of Peace

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:

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