Anyone who has spent time in Paraguay soon learns the significance of the Paraguayan War (1864 – 70) to the nation and its people. Better known in the country as the War of the Triple Alliance, this devastating conflict has etched itself into the soul of Paraguayan historiography, affecting not only the writing and teaching of the nation’s history but the very definition of political legitimacy. The major catalyst has been the character and actions of Paraguay’s leader, Mariscal Francisco Solano López, seen alternatively as a cruel tyrant interested only in his self-importance and wealth, or as a selfless patriot concerned with saving his nation from international imperialism. Over the past several decades the Paraguayan state appropriated this latter interpretation to the exclusion of all others.
A factor in the polemic was a set of incidents involving the contentious U.S. diplomatic representative to Paraguay from 1861 to 1868, Charles A....
