sponsored farming colonies or not, life
back in Mexico was very difficult for them,
especially if they had been in the United
States for a long time. Their customs
were different; they might even find native
Mexicans calling them “gringos,” a
derogatory term for Anglo-Americans.
Many American-born people of Mexican
descent retraced their steps back north
after the Great Depression, when the
United States again needed Mexicans for
the work force during World War II. But
others who attempted to return discov-
ered that their U.S. citizenship had been
revoked when they had voted in Mexican
elections or served in the Mexican army—
eventualities about which they had never
been properly warned.
The New Deal and the
Good Neighbor PolicyThe election of President Franklin
Roosevelt (1882–1945; president
1933–1945) brought the United States a
vigorous and optimistic leader who insti-
tuted many measures to combat the ills of
the Great Depression. His domestic
reform program, known as the New Deal,
included measures that benefited
Hispanic Americans.
The New Deal aided Hispanic
Americans through direct relief and
through jobs programs. The Farm
Security Administration established labor
camps for migrant farm workers in such
regions as the San Joaquin Valley; these
camps often had better facilities than
those provided by most growers. Federal
jobs came through the Federal
Emergency Relief Administration in the
winter of 1934–1935; after 1935, they
came largely through the Works Progress
Administration (WPA), which employed
Mexican Americans on public works
projects such as roads, bridges, and gov-
ernment buildings. The Civilian Con-
servation Corps (CCC), established in
1933, employed Mexican Americans in
surveying and reforestation projects.
However, Mexican Americans faced
obstacles to relief and jobs programs that
Anglo-Americans did not. Many pro-
grams were restricted to those who could
establish permanent state residence—a
hard task for migrant farmworkers. From
1933 to 1937, New Deal policy changes
increasingly barred noncitizens from
employment and relief, making many
Mexican nationals ineligible. In some
cases Mexican nationals were able to
work, but at lower wages than those
received by Anglos.
Despite the shortcomings of New
Deal legislation, Mexican Americans and
other Hispanics honored Roosevelt as a
champion of the poor. The Great
Depression established a long-lasting,
though not monolithic, preference for
the Democratic Party among Hispanic-
American voters.THE AGE OF WORLD WARS 153REBELLION IN NICARAGUA
In 1909, the United States backed the successful overthrow of Nicaragua’s nationalist
president, José Santos Zelaya. Two years later, U.S. forces arrived in the Central
American nation to forcibly put down popular rebellion and protect the new leader,
Adolfo Díaz, a Nicaraguan previously employed by an American-owned mining com-
pany. The Marines stayed until 1925, left briefly, and then returned in 1926.
The following year, an anti-interventionist revolutionary leader named Augusto
Sandino launched a war against the U.S. military presence and the U.S.-backed conser-
vative government. Although Sandino claimed to be acting in support of the country’s
Liberal party, when the Liberal presidential candidate won election in 1928, Sandino
declared the election unconstitutional, and declared his new goal to be the establish-
ment of a united federation of Latin American states.
Though the United States government saw Sandino as a bandit, his resistance to
U.S. forces made him a hero throughout Latin America. Although his army of peas-
ants (which he called “The Army in Defense of the National Sovereignty of
Nicaragua”) suffered some serious defeats, Sandino’s superior knowledge of the local
terrain and use of guerrilla tactics allowed him to evaded capture. At one point, he
even faked his own funeral to mislead U.S. forces. In 1933, in accordance with
President Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor Policy, the Marines left Nicaragua. The follow-
ing year, however, forces under General Anastasio Somoza García assassinated
Sandino, then seized power in a coup. The Somoza regime remained in power until
1979, when the dynasty was overthrown, by the National Liberation Front (FSLN), bet-
ter known as the Sandinistas, in Sandino’s honor.Augusto Sandino (center) and his staff, 1929 (National Archives)