Ambassadors In Foreign Policy: The Influence Of Individuals On U.S.-Latin American Policy

Because of the relative neglect of Latin America by the highest levels of the U.S. government and the disproportionate weight of the United States in most Latin American capitals, individual American ambassadors have on occasion wielded considerable influence-even as the ambassadorial role worldwide has diminished. The six case studies here describe Dwight Morrow in Mexico (1927-30), Sumner Welles in Cuba (1933), Spruille Braden in Argentina (1945), Adolf Berle in Brazil (1945-46), Lincoln Gordon in Brazil (1964) and Nathaniel Davis-writing of his own experience-in Chile (1971-73).