Tampico and Vera Cruz Incidents

(1914)

   Incidents between the United States and Mexico, arising indirectly from the overthrow of the elected government of Francisco Madero by José Victoriano Huerta. Unlike the European powers, the administration of Woodrow Wilson in Washington refused to recognize the Huerta dictatorship and sought to isolate it from foreign sympathy and aid. In April 1914, American sailors from the U.S.S. Dolphin were arrested by Mexican authorities in Tampico on a charge of having entered a restricted area. Although the sailors were released with an apology, the local American commander peremptorily demanded the hoisting of the American flag and a 21-gun salute from the Mexican port commander and was refused. Wilson asked for and received congressional permission to use force to secure U.S. rights, and American forces had already landed on Mexican soil when a German warship arrived with munitions and supplies for the Mexicans. The Americans blocked delivery of the supplies and, on April 21, American forces bombarded Vera Cruz and occupied the city. Huerta promptly broke diplomatic relations. The two countries were on the brink of war when they accepted the mediation of the ABC Powers .

   See also <>.

   FURTHER READING:

    Link, Arthur S. Wilson: Confusions and Crises, 1915–1916. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1964;

    McDougall, Walter A. Promised Land, Crusader State: The American Encounter with the World since 1776. Boston: Hougton Mifflin, 1997.

   CARL CAVANAGH HODGE