Josephus Daniels in Mexico

The White House announcement in March, 1933, that President Roosevelt had appointed Josephus Daniels ambassador to Mexico resulted in an immediate and loud cry of protest from the Mexican people. For in 1914 when the U.S. Navy seized Veracruz, killing more than one hundred Mexicans, the man who gave the order was Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, and his Assistant Secretary of the Navy at that time was Franklin D. Roosevelt. From the standpoint of long-range benefit to Mexico and the United States, Roosevelt could have made no better choice than Daniels Ironically, the 'villain' of the Veracruz incident proved to be one of the administration's staunchest foes of 'gunboatism' in American diplomacy. This book, while focusing on the work of Ambassador Daniels in Mexico from 1933 through 1941, throws important new light on the debate within the Roosevelt administration as to the nature and application of the Good Neighbor Policy.