The Politics of Intervention

The Pacification of Cuba 133

gram, however, represented a fraction of the total effort of

construction.

The Army and Cuban Policy

In reviewing the several phases of the Army's pacification
program, it is clear that the internal security that the Army
of Cuban Pacification maintained was essential to American
goals in Cuba and gave the Army commander and his sub­
ordinates an important voice in the execution of American
policy. There is no significant evidence that the Army abro­
gated a major political role to itself during the occupation,
but because its officers, in both the Army of Cuban
Pacification and the Provisional Government, shared common
experiences and values, it had a cohesiveness of opinion
and certainty of judgment that influenced the Provisional
Governor's political program.

On the whole, the officers of the United States Army
serving in Cuba believed that the longer and stronger the
American influence over Cuban affairs, the better the island's
chances for peace and prosperity. Reduced to the simplest
ideological terms, the officers believed that race and tradition
rendered the Cubans unfit for self-government until they
learned American ways: individual moral responsibility, pri­
vate enterprise in economic matters, fair play in all private
and public associations, truthfulness, tolerance for others and
discipline for one's self, and obedience to the law and to the
constituted government. In terms of Cuban politics, the offi­
cers, according to Lieutenant Colonel Bullard, were sympa­
thetic to the old Moderates. This attitude was rooted in the
revulsion the Americans felt toward rebellion of any kind;
the officers, however, generally refrained from direct
intervention into local matters.^31
There is evidence of frustration and ambivalence in the
officers' reaction to the eccentricities of Cuban life. Around
them they saw poverty, ignorance, sickness, and purposeless­