Capturing the Revolution: The United States, Central America, and Nicaragua, 1961-1972

by Michael D. Gambone

Overview

At the start of the 1960s, revolution challenged the established world order. In every corner of the underdeveloped world, discontent with the status quo fueled attempts to revoke colonialism and the strangleholds on power maintained by entrenched local oligarchies. This book examines the causes of revolution in the sixties and the various responses crafted to stop it, in particular, the Alliance for Progress, a program which represented the best products of American developmental and counterinsurgency theory. Equally important, however, is an examination of the independent policies implemented by Latin Americans themselves, often in direct opposition to those pursued by the U.S.

For the United States the period represented a challenge to both its sovereignty and its leadership in the so-called Free World. Perhaps more importantly, the disruptions blanketing the globe also pointed out the dramatic weaknesses of an American policy dominated by preparations for thermonuclear war with the Soviet Union. For Latin America, revolution challenged national stability and, in the cases of the regimes it was directed against, their very survival.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275965945
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/30/2001
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d)
Lexile:	1620L (what's this?)

About the Author

MICHAEL D. GAMBONE is Assistant Professor of History at Kutztown University. Dr. Gambone entered the active duty Army in 1985 where he served as an officer in the 82nd Airborne Division at Ft. Bragg, N.C. In 1997, he published his first book, Eisenhower, Somoza, and the Cold War in Nicaragua, 1953-1961 (Praeger Publishers). In 1999, he received a Fulbright to serve as Lecturer in American History at the Japan Woman's University.

Table of Contents

Introduction
The Revolution Arrives, 1961-1963
Revolution and Democracy in Latin Ameica
The Challenge of Guerrilla War
The Economic Revolution in Central America
The Revolution Contained, 1963-1968
Revolution and Lyndon Johnson
Influence and Internal Security at Mid-Decade
Recapturing Economic Reform
The System Crumbles, 1969-1972
Nixon Doctrine and Latin America
The New Balance of Military Power
The Approaching Economic Crisis
Conclusions
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

Every serious student of modern Latin America and of US foreign policy in the region should consult this work. All academic collections.” —Choice

“[A] classical study in diplomatic history… a valuable contribution to a better understanding of a crucial period of US-Latin American relations.” —Iberoamericana

“Gambone's work is exhaustively documented, cogently argued, effectively written, and fills a significant void in the current literature. Anyone interested in placing the Central America crisis of the 1970s and 1980s in its immediate historical perspective would be well advised to consult this study.” —The Jourbanal of Military History

From the Publisher

After World War II, explains Gambone (history, Kutztown U.), governments of rich countries combined monetary aid with military threats and action to head off the revolutionary zeal that accompanied the end of overt colonialism. He describes how the US government, beginning with the Kennedy administration, applied that two-pronged approach, which had worked well in Europe, to Latin America. The complexity of tradition interacting with the Cold War, he says, blurred the distinctions between disagreement and rebellion, and reform and repression. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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