Fate of Freedom Elsewhere

Michael Schmidli William

Description

During the first quarter-century of the Cold War, upholding human rights was rarely a priority in U.S. policy toward Latin America. Seeking to protect U.S. national security, American policymakers quietly cultivated relations with politically ambitious Latin American militaries-a strategy clearly evident in the Ford administration's tacit support of state-sanctioned terror in Argentina following the 1976 military coup d'etat. By the mid-1970s, however, the blossoming human rights movement in the United States posed a serious threat to the maintenance of close U.S. ties to anticommunist, right-wing military regimes. The competition between cold warriors and human rights advocates culminated in a fierce struggle to define U.S. policy during the Jimmy Carter presidency. In The Fate of Freedom Elsewhere, William Michael Schmidli argues that Argentina emerged as the defining test case of Carter's promise to bring human rights to the center of his administration's foreign policy. Entering the Oval Office at the height of the kidnapping, torture, and murder of tens of thousands of Argentines by the military government, Carter set out to dramatically shift U.S. policy from subtle support to public condemnation of human rights violation. But could the administration elicit human rights improvements in the face of a zealous military dictatorship, rising Cold War tension, and domestic political opposition? By grappling with the disparate actors engaged in the struggle over human rights, including civil rights activists, second-wave feminists, chicano/a activists, religious progressives, members of the New Right, conservative cold warriors, and business leaders, Schmidli utilizes unique interviews with U.S. and Argentine actors as well as newly declassified archives to offer a telling analysis of the rise, efficacy, and limits of human rights in shaping U.S. foreign policy in the Cold War.

Sujets

• USA
• Argentina
• International relations
• History of the Americas
• Human rights
• États-Unis
• Argentine

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 03 juillet 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780801469626
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

THEFATEOFFREEDOM ELSEWHERE

THEFATE OFFREEDOM ELSEWHERE HumanRightsandU.S.ColdWar Policy toward Argentina

WilliamMichaelSchmidli

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON

Copyright © 2013 by Cornell University

Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,orparts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2013 by Cornell University Press

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Schmidli, William Michael, 1979– author.  The fate of freedom elsewhere : human rights and U.S. Cold War policy toward Argentina / William Michael Schmidli.  pages cm  Includes bibliographical references and index.  ISBN 9780801451966 (cloth : alk. paper)  1. United States—Foreign relations—Argentina. 2. Argentina—Foreign relations—United States. 3. Human rights—Argentina. 4. Human rights— Government policy—United States. 5. United States—Foreign relations— 1945–1989. I. Title.  E183.8.A7S36 2013  327.73082—dc23 2013004908

CornellUniversityPressstrivestouseenvironmentallyresponsiblesuppliersand materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Elisa Da Vià

Heknewthatthetalehehadtotellcouldnotbeoneoffinalvictory. It could be only the record of what had had to be done, and what assuredly would have to be done again in the never ending fight against terror and its relentless onslaughts, despite their personal afflictions, by all who, while unable to be saints but refusing to bow down to pestilences, strive their utmost to be healers. —Albert Camus,The Plague

Contents

Acknowledgments Abbreviations

xi xiii

Introduction: Human Rights and the Cold War 1 1.  From Counterinsurgency to StateSanctioned Terror: Waging the Cold War in Latin America 8 2.  The “Third World War”: U.S.Argentine Relations, 1960–1976 29 3.  “Human Rights Is Suddenly Chic”: The Rise ofThe Movement, 1970–1976 56 4.  “Total Immersion in All the Horrors of the World”: The Carter Administration and Human Rights, 1977–1978 83 5.  On the Offensive: Human Rights in U.S.Argentine Relations, 1978–1979 120 6.  “Tilting against GrayFlannel Windmills”: U.S.Argentine Relations, 1979–1980 156 Conclusion: Carter, Reagan, and the Human Rights Revolution 182

AbbreviationsUsedintheNotes Notes PrimarySources Index

195 197 245 247