R. A. Humphreys has provided a unique synthesis of Latin America on the eve of World War II, from 1939 through the Rio de Janiero Conference in early 1942. In a relatively short monograph, the author offers an excellent overview of how each Latin American nation acted and responded to the pending world crisis; how these nations sympathized with the Allied effort while they concurrently desired neutrality; how the solidifying United States-British alliance affected hemispheric internal and external affairs; how Latin American domestic politics developed during the “phony war”; and how these nations reacted to the attack on Pearl Harbor. There are also sections on the inter-American gatherings during this era.
Humphreys writes about his subject from four vantage points: separate entities, bilateral relations (such as the border war between Peru and Ecuador), matters regarding the United States, and, finally, the British. Of the above, the author’s description of the English impact on Latin America offers added insight into the movement toward global confrontation. His use of British foreign office records illustrates how that embattled country viewed internal Latin American matters, good neighbor diplomacy, and the rivalry over hemispheric allegiance between the British and United States diplomatic corps as seen through the former’s eyes. This, of course, results in some natural bias. Humphreys’s interpretation of Franklin Roosevelt’s neutrality zone, for example, stresses the British feeling that the zone was unenforceable. This is valid. That zone, however, set the precedent that allowed the United States to expand its assistance to the Allies in the Caribbean and along North Atlantic sea routes.
Despite this slight difference of opinion, Humphreys achieves the goal of his hook, and his use of foreign office papers adds a new dimension to the historiography of the era. The author’s style and organization make for easy reading. For the serious student of Latin American affairs during the early stages of the Second World War, this is a welcome addition to both personal and university libraries.
