American Prestige E227 - A New History of the Americas, Pt. 2 w/ Greg Grandin
Sep 23, 2025
Greg Grandin, the Peter V. and C. Van Woodward Professor of History at Yale University, dives deep into the complex history of U.S.–Latin American relations. He discusses the contradictions behind American expansionism, particularly during the Spanish-American War and the Mexican Revolution. Grandin explores Woodrow Wilson’s interventions and FDR’s Good Neighbor Policy, examining how these shaped hemispheric dynamics. The conversation also highlights the effects of Cold War policies and the rise of social movements amidst U.S.-backed violence, revealing the enduring revolutionary spirit in contemporary Latin America.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Civil War's Short-Lived Goodwill
- The U.S. Civil War briefly improved Latin American perceptions of the United States as anti-slavery and republican.
- That goodwill collapsed as postwar U.S. parties embraced expansion and imperialism toward the hemisphere.
Human Rights Rhetoric Masked Expansion
- The 1898 war fused U.S. expansion with rhetoric of human rights and rule-of-law to legitimize intervention.
- That created a contradiction: promoting an international legal order while practicing gunboat diplomacy in the Caribbean.
Mexico As A U.S. Workshop
- Mexico became the U.S.'s first major nation-building workshop with heavy U.S. capital rebuilding its economy under Porfirio Díaz.
- That dependency helped spark the Mexican Revolution as peasants and workers pushed back against dispossession and foreign control.
