The Truman’s administration’s “memory policy” toward Latin America

The article is devoted to the Truman’s administration’s attempts to form a collective memory of the Western Hemisphere in order to strengthen cooperation between the USA and Latin America. The purpose of the study is to explore what memories and myths Truman turned to in his politics of memory. We understand the so-called “memory policy” as the use of social perceptions of the past and their representation for political purposes in the foreign policy discourse. It is argued that the declared goal of the “good neighbor” policy in the 1930s for economic autonomy for Latin America has not been achieved. In the context of the Cold War, it was difficult for the Truman’s administration to reconcile the spirit of the “good neighbor” policy with the need to contain communism. The ambiguity of the US government’s position with regard to the traditions of the “good neighbor” policy and the Latin American countries’ dissatisfaction with the lack of economic support and the USA’s military and political dominance were the reason for Harry Truman’s appeal to collective memory. The collective memory that the US government intended to popularize was based both on the idea of the region as a “Ne w World” of democracy, freedom, self-determination and non-intervention, and the idea of Pan-Americanism. An analysis of the president Truman’s commemorative speeches has revealed several points. First, the “memory policy” was based on commemoration (or “remembrance”) of the struggle for independence of North and South America. In his public speeches Truman repeatedly paid tribute to the hero of the War of Independence of the Spanish colonies in America, Simon Bolivar. In 1947, during his visit to Brasil, Truman noted similarities in the declarations of U.S. and Brazilian independence. In 1948 the US government also commemorated the anniversary of Cuba’s independence. One more historical event to commemorate was the American-Mexican war of 1846-1848. Truman’s visit to Memorial at Chapultepec Castle in Mexico was a symbolic move that laid the groundwork for a rapprochement on the issue of remembrance of the war. The author comes to conclusion that the effectiveness of Truman’s memory policy is difficult to estimate because the formation of collective memory is a long-term process. In general, that policy was inconsistent and selective. These trends reflected the state of US -Latin American relations in the context of the beginning of Cold war and tense ideological rivalry between the USSR and the USA.

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