The U.S.-Mexican border has become an increasingly important subject of study. Coerver and Hall have added to this literature by producing a well-researched and well-written monograph of the border within the context of state and federal government policies during the Mexican Revolution. That conflict, with its threat to both the security and sovereignty of Texas and the United States, generated disputes over which policies and roles should be carried out by which level of government. On the immediate firing line, the Texas government under leaders such as Governor Colquitt argued and lobbied for a forceful policy that would prevent violations of the neutrality act and secure safety for U.S. citizens along the border. On the other hand, the federal government under Taft and Wilson, with larger stakes to consider, took a more restrained posture and attempted to balance neutrality and security issues with American interests in Mexico. The result was a confusing and contradictory series of strategies that led to antagonism between Austin and Washington.
Utilizing state and federal archives as well as Mexican sources, Coerver and Hall have added a new dimension to the study of the Mexican Revolution and have illuminated the different perceptions of that conflict as seen by “front line ’ states such as Texas and by the federal government. In these days of intense debate over immigration and border policy, this study reminds us that the voices in Washington may be very much out of tune with what the people and authorities along the border think.
Coerver and Hall further remind us that despite Chamber of Commerce rhetoric, the U.S.-Mexican border has produced as much conflict as it has harmony and cooperation between peoples and governments. In addition to the Washington-Austin disputes, local officials and citizens in border cities such as El Paso have clamored for a show of strength by both state and federal authorities. Border conflicts resulting from the civil war in Mexico not only endangered economic interests along the border but threatened political and ethnic relations. Critical periods such as the U.S. occupation of Veracruz in 1914, the murder of Anglo-Americans by the forces of Pancho Villa in the Santa Ysabel Massacre in 1916, and the later Villa raid into southern New Mexico increased ethnic tensions between Anglos and Mexicans along the border and often resulted in outright riots.
Coerver and Hall deftly handle a wealth of material and provide us with a scholarly and insightful study of the often heated and troublesome history of the U.S.-Mexican border region.
