The Potential of Flight: U.S. Aviation and Pan-Americanism During the Early Twentieth Century

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-76
Author(s):  
Alex Bryne
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Latin America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
The First World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
Pan American ◽  
Pan Americanism ◽  
First World

AbstractThis article examines the formative years of flight in the United States and argues that Pan-Americanism served as a guiding ideology in the development of the nation's early aeronautic endeavors. With the advent of the airplane at the turn of the twentieth century, U.S. Pan-Americanists believed that aviation would provide a solution to the sociological and practical problems that hindered the development of international unity among the American republics. By physically transporting individuals, products, and cultural media rapidly across the hemisphere via the sky, aircraft would unite the peoples of Latin America and the United States and promote inter-American cooperation. To see the Pan-American potential of aircraft fulfilled, Pan-Americanists cooperated with private U.S. aviation organizations to expound the value of flight and to generate interest in aviation across the Western Hemisphere. Although a variety of Pan-American initiatives were successfully undertaken during the 1910s, the outbreak of the First World War hindered the movement and ultimately led to the transformation of aviation into a tool of U.S. imperialism in Latin America. By examining the origins of U.S. aviation through the lens of Pan-Americanism, this article seeks to reevaluate the pervading imperial narrative of the history of U.S. aviation in the Western Hemisphere.

International Aviation Rivalry in Latin America, 1919-1927

1965 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wesley Phillips Newton
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
World War I ◽  
Transportation Problem ◽  
The United States ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
Panama Canal ◽  
World War ◽  
Early Form ◽  
Pan American

In Latin America, international rivalry over aviation followed World War I. In its early form, it consisted of a commercial scramble among several Western European nations and the United States to sell airplanes and aviation products and to establish airlines in Latin America. Somewhat later, expanding European aviation activities posed an implicit threat to the Panama Canal.Before World War I, certain aerophiles had sought to advance the airplane as the panacea for the transportation problem in Latin America. The aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont of Brazil and the Aero Club of America, an influential private United States association, were in the van. In 1916, efforts by these enthusiasts led to the formation of the Pan American Aviation Federation, which they envisioned as the means of promoting and publicizing aviation throughout the Western Hemisphere.

scholarly journals Carrying their native land and their new home in their hearts Mihailo Pupin and Bishop Nikolai of Zica between their native and adopted country

Balcanica ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 245-259
Author(s):  
Maxim Vasiljevic
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Native Land ◽  
The First World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
First World

The present study gives us an opportunity to look at the Christian heritage that the Serbian immigrants brought to the new land of Americas through the examples of Mihailo Pupin and Nikolai Velimirovic, Bishop of Zica, since these two names are indelibly inscribed in the history of the so-called Serbica Americana. The paper is divided into two sections dealing specifically with their Serbianism and Americanism to show that a distribution of love and loyalty between their native and adopted country functioned in a fruitful way. Based on a detailed analysis of their writings, the author suggests that Serbians and Americans remember Pupin and Velimirovic because they enjoy the benefits of their remarkable contributions. The following aspects of Pupin?s and Nikolai?s lives are examined: their deep concern with the fate of Serbia during and after the First World War; their leading roles among the Serbs in the United States through their assistance in establishing Serbian churches and communities, through their scholarship funds, philanthropic work, etc. Their genuine care for Serbia and Serbs was in no way an obstacle in their adjustment to their adopted country.

Remembrance Begins, 1919–1923

2018 ◽  
pp. 15-51
Author(s):  
Thomas H. Conner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
First World ◽  
The U.S

This chapter looks at the establishment of the ABMC and the history of American cemeteries and monuments in Europe. During the First World War, in a span of about seven months, America left more than 75,000 American soldiers dead in Europe. Torn between bringing the soldiers home and the expense of doing so, the U.S. government allowed the families to decide the fates of their fallen loved ones. Two parties arose from the controversy over whether the fallen soldiers should be brought home or left in American cemeteries abroad. The “Bring Home the Soldier Dead League” wanted the former, and the “Field of Honor Association” wanted the latter. Most of the soldiers’ bodies were shipped home to America, but in 1920-1921, eight permanent cemetery sites were designated in Europe: Suresnes, Romagne, Belleau Wood, Bony, Brookwood, Fère-en-Tardenois, Thiaucourt, and Waregem. In addition to the American cemeteries, it was also decided that American monuments would be erected in Europe. General Pershing emerged as the “chief of national remembrance” for the United States, and the first chairman of the ABMC.

Toward the Concept of Collective Security: The Bryce Group's “Proposals for the Avoidance of War, ” 1914–1917

1970 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin David Dubin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
First World War ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
World War ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
International Court ◽  
The First World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
First World

A remarkable document in the history of international organization is a detailed constitution for a league of nations which was given limited distribution in March 1915 under the title “Proposals for the Avoidance of War”. Prepared by British liberal and socialist critics of prewar British diplomacy headed by Lord Bryce, the historian, jurist, and retired ambassador to the United States, it undoubtedly was the single most influential scheme for a league of nations produced during the First World War. Although the “Proposals” recommended neither international social or economic cooperation nor measures of international administration, it was known to the authors of the major league schemes prepared in the United Kingdom and the United States during the First World War and to officials in both countries. Indeed, the document was the source of key concepts and language embodied in 1919 in the Covenant of the League of Nations and subsequently in the Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) and of its successor, the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Yet discussion of the “Proposals” in the literature on the origins of the League of Nations is both cursory and imprecise. Even such writers as Henry R. Winkler and Alfred Zimmern who recognize its importance seem not to understand how the “Proposals” evolved and how early and pervasive an influence it had.

History of the History of Psychology

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian C. Brock
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Experimental Psychology ◽  
The United States ◽  
History Of Psychology ◽  
First World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Scientific Psychology ◽  
The First World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
First World

Reflexivity has been a common theme in the literature on the history of psychology in recent years. Reflecting on the history of psychology is for historians of psychology the ultimate reflexive step. Germany is widely regarded as the homeland of “modern” or “scientific” psychology. It is here that the oldest surviving work with the word “psychology” in the title was published in 1590. It was also here that the first book with the title History of Psychology [Geschichte der Psychologie] was published in 1808. This reflects the fact that a substantial literature on psychology had already been published in Continental Europe by the end of the 18th century. Several other works on the history of psychology were published in German-speaking countries in the 19th century and in the years leading up to the First World War. English-speaking countries were relatively late in adopting psychology, but it grew rapidly in the United States when it was adopted, and the country was already the dominant power in the field by the outbreak of the First World War. Several works on the history of psychology were published in the United States around the same time, suggesting that disciplines and disciplinary history tend to appear simultaneously. This is because disciplines use their history to create a distinct identity for themselves. The history of psychology was widely taught in American psychology departments, and several textbooks were published to support these courses. E. G. Boring’s A History of Experimental Psychology (1929, 1950) was by far the most influential of these textbooks, and it has profoundly shaped the understanding of psychologists of the history of their field. For example, it was Boring who traced the history of the discipline to the establishment of Wilhelm Wundt’s laboratory for experimental psychology at the University of Leipzig in 1879. In 1979–1980, was widely celebrated as the “centennial” of psychology and the XXII International Congress of Psychology was held in Leipzig to mark the occasion. Prior to the 1960s, the history of psychology was mainly a pedagogical field, and it still is as far as many psychologists are concerned. However, it also became an area of specialization during this decade. This was partly due to a few psychologists adopting it as their main area of interest and partly due to historians of science becoming more interested in the field. A large body of scholarly literature has been produced, including some scholarly textbooks, but this literature exists side by side with more traditional textbooks for which there is still a significant demand. There are signs that the history of psychology has been facing difficulties as a branch of psychology in Europe and North America in recent years. However, interest in the field has been growing among psychologists in other parts of the world and among historians of science. This situation will inevitably have implications for the content of the field.

Latino Catholics in the Southwest

2019 ◽  
pp. 43-62
Author(s):  
Timothy Matovina
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mexican American War ◽  
Church And Society ◽  
History Of ◽  
The U.S

This chapter summarizes new trends in scholarship on the U.S. Southwest by expanding and refining the three-era schema of Southwest history illustrated in the book of Francis Baylies, who accompanied the victorious U.S. forces on their march through Mexico following the Mexican–American war. The book reflected U.S. views on the history of the region and the U.S. takeover of the former Mexican territories. The chapter divides Latino Catholicism in the Southwest into a thematic schema: colonial foundations, enduring communities of faith in the wake of the war between Mexico and the United States, the rejuvenation and diversification of Latino Catholic communities with the arrival of numerous immigrants from Mexico and throughout Latin America, and the struggle for rights in church and society that accelerated during the second half of the twentieth century.

A New Force in the History of the World

2019 ◽  
pp. 13-39
Author(s):  
Katherine M. Marino
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Feminist Movement ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Pan American ◽  
Pan Americanism ◽  
First World ◽  
The U.S

This chapter explores the birth of Pan-American feminism through a conflict between Uruguayan Paulina Luisi and Brazilian Bertha Lutz. Both women helped develop a new inter-American movement for women’s political, civil, economic, and social rights, and both drew on ideals of a Latin-American-led Pan-Americanism that followed the First World War. However, Luisi privileged a Pan-Hispanic movement led by Spanish-speaking women that could counter U.S. hegemony, while Lutz upheld the U.S. and Brazil as continental leaders. At the 1922 Pan-American Conference of Women in Baltimore, Maryland, Luisi’s proposal created a new inter-American feminist group, but Lutz and U.S. feminist Carrie Chapman Catt became its leaders. This 1922 conference and the Pan-American Association of Women that emerged from it would be critical to unprecedented resolutions at the 1923 Fifth International Conference of American States for the study and discussion of women’s rights at future diplomatic Pan-American conferences. Yet Lutz and Catt’s organization failed to unite many Latin American feminists because of their own dim views about Spanish-speaking feminists’ capacity to organize. These tensions and their conflicts with Luisi demonstrate how centrally discord around language, race, nation, and empire, shaped the early Pan-American feminist movement.

Colombia, the United States, and Interamerican Aviation Rivalry, 1927-1940

1972 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 297-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen James Randall
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
The United States ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
World War ◽  
Commercial Aviation ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Pan American

Recent research on U.S. diplomacy in Latin America has indicated the prominent role of the State Department in gaining for American airlines a major share of interamerican aviation in the mid-1920s. The department's campaign to “de-Germanize” commercial aviation in the western hemisphere immediately prior to and during World War II has also drawn the attention of historians (McCann, 1968; Newton, 1965; Conn, 1960; Burden, 1943). Yet little analysis has been directed to U.S. policy in the late 1920s and early 1930s, crucial years for the shift of power away from European-supported commercial airlines in Latin America to Pan American Airways.

Power Vacuum or Hegemonic Continuity?

World Affairs ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 179 (3) ◽  
pp. 59-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Luis León-Manríquez
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
First Century ◽  
America Reads ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
Region I ◽  
Economic Transformations ◽  
History Of

This article argues that the gradual decline of the United States’ economic presence in Latin America—and particularly in South America—reads as a manifestation of Washington’s hegemonic attrition in the world. Indeed, concerns over the Chinese incursion in Latin America and the increase of the pressures of the American hard line could transform the region into a scenario of geopolitical dispute between the two great powers. I first analyze the history of the relations between the United States and Latin America, which have followed a complex trajectory of interest, coercion, consensus, and carelessness. I then focus on bilateral relations since the 1990s and specify the political and economic transformations of Latin America in the first years of the twenty-first century and the consequent paralysis of the United States to understand these changes. The article then summarizes the contours of the dynamic commercial relations between Latin America and China, an emergent actor in the region. I conclude with an examination of the U.S. responses to Chinese presence in the Western hemisphere.

Britain and American Railway Development

1951 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 375-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leland H. Jenks
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Real Income ◽  
First World War ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
World War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Technological Improvements ◽  
First World

Our task here is to inquire into the relations between two familiar sets of phenomena—the economic development of the Western Hemisphere and the involvement of British investors, financiers, engineers, contractors, and financial groups in railways in that area. As a matter of convenience we shall look chiefly at the United States and Argentina, and at the time span of three quarters of a century preceding the First World War. It is no secret that during that period both countries underwent rapid development, whose contours included such matters as the effective occupation of new areas of vast extent; the growth of population, partly fed by immigration; the effective application of technological improvements to the exploitation of natural resources; an increasing complexity of the division of labor; and a rise in productivity and real income per capita, participated in by large segments of the population. During the same period, the Western Hemisphere was normally the outlet for from 40 to 60 per cent of British foreign investment, the United States and the Argentine being two of the countries chiefly affected. We are familiar with estimates that British investments in the United States, on the eve of the First World War, amounted to over 4 billion dollars, approximately 3 billion of which were in railway securities, and that something like half as much was invested in Argentina, with a somewhat smaller percentage directly in rails.

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