Wilson cabinet plans the April 1914 U.S. Invasion of Veracruz

When looking at the question of who in the Wilson administration knew what, and when, we can follow the thread through the narrative of Benjamin R. Beede:

“No longer content to manipulate Mexican events covertly, either through political intrigues, arms embargoes, arms sales, or U.S. army maneuvers on the border, the Wilson administration began developing contingency plans for war with Mexico in November 1913.  At a cabinet meeting in early January 1914, the Wilson administration officially embraced a policy of armed intervention in Mexico.

The invasion, planned in the offices of Secretary of War Lindley M. Garrison and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, essentially recreated the 1847 war plan so successfully executed by Gen. Winfield Scott.  [..] But U.S. objectives in 1914 did not include territorial acquisition; they were limited to basic counterinsurgency; that is, the stabilization of social and political systems that protect and promote private enterprise.  Reorganization of the military force structure and the creation of a new “mobile army” was aimed to achieve these goals.  Mexico offered the first opportunity to test their effectiveness.   The plans were ready to be implemented; only a pretext to intervene was required.” —The War of 1898 and U.S. Interventions, 1898 - 1934

Contemporary readers can hardly be expected to be outraged over evidence that the Wilson administration intervened in the Mexican Revolution on a fabricated pretext, but its no good to let a jaded perspective keep you from looking into how they went about putting this one over, because it really is a very interesting affair.