México y los Estados Unidos en el conflicto petrolero, 1927-1942

First published in 1968, Lorenzo Meyer’s book on the conflict between the United States and Mexico over ownership of oil companies operating in Mexico has become the standard guide on the subject. The second edition makes this even more true. There are some corrections of style and dates. But the most significant modification is the inclusion of new primary material from Mexican and U.S. archives not open in 1965-66 when the primary research for the first edition was completed. The new documentation came principally from the Archives of the Foreign Ministry in Mexico City and the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Most of the additional research concentrated on the details of the nationalization process, the American reaction to it, and the pressures brought to bear on Mexico as a consequence of the nationalization. Meyer also offers an explanation of why Cárdenas became more moderate after 1938, and he considers the problem of why Ávila Camacho (and not Múgica) became Cárdenas’s successor. With the exception of these new areas of inquiry, the book’s thesis and interpretation remain substantially the same.