1920 Events
January 1920 - Buenos Aires
A US intelligence asset infiltrates a private dinner hosted by the Japanese minister to Argentina and discovers a secret anti-US cabal known as the Latin League.
A US intelligence asset infiltrates a private dinner hosted by the Japanese minister to Argentina and discovers a secret anti-US cabal known as the Latin League.
January 1920 - Manzanillo, Colima & Mexico City
Cruiser Yakumo of the Imperial Japanese Navy and an accompanying ammunition ship made a courtesy call in Manzanillo. Carrancísta officials welcomed them with bands playing and flag-waving well-wishers. Yakumo’s sailors (including cadets from the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy at Etajima) were put aboard chartered trains for Mexico City where they were feted on January 3, 1920. On January 13, US newspapers accused the Japanese vessels of delivering a huge shipment of machine guns and arms to First Chief Carranza. Mexico’s chief of staff denied the arms delivery, while the foreign minister denied rumors of a secret treaty between Japan and Mexico (it would not be signed until March 1920). During the next seven weeks the Yakumo meandered down the coast of Central America to Panama before doubling back to visit southern California in March.
Cruiser Yakumo of the Imperial Japanese Navy and an accompanying ammunition ship made a courtesy call in Manzanillo. Carrancísta officials welcomed them with bands playing and flag-waving well-wishers. Yakumo’s sailors (including cadets from the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy at Etajima) were put aboard chartered trains for Mexico City where they were feted on January 3, 1920. On January 13, US newspapers accused the Japanese vessels of delivering a huge shipment of machine guns and arms to First Chief Carranza. Mexico’s chief of staff denied the arms delivery, while the foreign minister denied rumors of a secret treaty between Japan and Mexico (it would not be signed until March 1920). During the next seven weeks the Yakumo meandered down the coast of Central America to Panama before doubling back to visit southern California in March.
February 1920 - Buenos Aires
By late February, US Minister to Argentina Frederic Stimson felt that he could finally dismiss a strange solicitation received during the first days of the month. An anonymous note deposited at the US Legation had offered proof of a secret anti-US alliance between “four great states of Europe, Asia and America.” US agents determined that the offer originated with a former clerk of the German Legation, who wanted $25,000, a US visa and passage to New York. Stimson and his colleagues in Buenos Aires were skeptical—they’d received quite a few shady propositions in the 14 months since the Armistice. By the end of February, the strange solicitation had been carried in the diplomatic pouch to Washington, where it was quietly filed away and forgotten. However, rumors, reports and even troubling evidence of a secret anti-US alliance would arise with increasing frequency the next several months… |
February 27, 1920 - New York, Washington & Mexico City
Readers of the non-stop mayhem in revolutionary Mexico were astonished to read Joseph Guffey’s obsequious declarations in the February 27, 1920, New York Times praising First Chief Venustiano Carranza, blaming the predominantly Republican US oil lobby NAPARM for defaming the country, accusing US oil companies of being avaricious cheats, and insisting a bit too earnestly that Mexico was prosperous, stable and well-governed. “I speak from intimate knowledge of conditions in saying the Mexican Government is not attempting to confiscate oil properties developed and operated by American companies,” asserted Guffey with a straight face, in hopes that Carranza would not confiscate assets of Guffey’s Atlantic Gulf Oil Company. Guffey, a stalwart Wilson Democrat, laid it on thick, having no qualms about being a carrancista agent of influence in exchange for sweetheart oil deals at the expense of pro-Republican oil companies.
Guffey had dropped out of Princeton in 1892, but not before becoming a disciple of Professor Woodrow Wilson. After a few years as a politically appointed postal supervisor, he devoted himself to family oil and gas businesses, became a millionaire, and represented Pennsylvania as a delegate to the 1912 Democratic Convention where he worked with future Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to secure the presidential nomination for Wilson. During the war, Guffey secured a position as a “dollar-a-year man” in the Petroleum Division of the War Industries Board and as sales director for the Office of the Alien Property Custodian, where he was charged with misappropriating funds, but never tried.
Readers of the non-stop mayhem in revolutionary Mexico were astonished to read Joseph Guffey’s obsequious declarations in the February 27, 1920, New York Times praising First Chief Venustiano Carranza, blaming the predominantly Republican US oil lobby NAPARM for defaming the country, accusing US oil companies of being avaricious cheats, and insisting a bit too earnestly that Mexico was prosperous, stable and well-governed. “I speak from intimate knowledge of conditions in saying the Mexican Government is not attempting to confiscate oil properties developed and operated by American companies,” asserted Guffey with a straight face, in hopes that Carranza would not confiscate assets of Guffey’s Atlantic Gulf Oil Company. Guffey, a stalwart Wilson Democrat, laid it on thick, having no qualms about being a carrancista agent of influence in exchange for sweetheart oil deals at the expense of pro-Republican oil companies.
Guffey had dropped out of Princeton in 1892, but not before becoming a disciple of Professor Woodrow Wilson. After a few years as a politically appointed postal supervisor, he devoted himself to family oil and gas businesses, became a millionaire, and represented Pennsylvania as a delegate to the 1912 Democratic Convention where he worked with future Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to secure the presidential nomination for Wilson. During the war, Guffey secured a position as a “dollar-a-year man” in the Petroleum Division of the War Industries Board and as sales director for the Office of the Alien Property Custodian, where he was charged with misappropriating funds, but never tried.
March 16, 1920 - Copenhagen
Colonel T. Worthington Hollyday, US military attaché to Denmark, warned Washington in a secret telegram: “Have obtained information from an apparently reliable source of an agreement between Mexico, Japan and Spain in case of war between Japan and the United States and Mexico and the United States.” Surveillance, signals intercepts and “black bag jobs” in Denmark and elsewhere suggested that the anti-US military pact might be genuine.
Colonel T. Worthington Hollyday, US military attaché to Denmark, warned Washington in a secret telegram: “Have obtained information from an apparently reliable source of an agreement between Mexico, Japan and Spain in case of war between Japan and the United States and Mexico and the United States.” Surveillance, signals intercepts and “black bag jobs” in Denmark and elsewhere suggested that the anti-US military pact might be genuine.
March 19, 1920 - New York and Washington
A surreal replay of the Zimmermann Telegram affair, but this time, the US public didn't care...
US State Department eavesdroppers intercepted a “highly interesting” cable between Mexican diplomats mentioning secret negotiations in Madrid with the Japanese and Spanish governments. Information about a Japanese-Mexican pact swiftly leaked to US Senator Albert Fall and reporters. Within hours, US newspapers announced that the Fall subcommittee on Mexican affairs had obtained letters prepared by the Mexican Ambassador to Spain, Eliseo Arredondo, regarding negotiations with Japanese diplomats in Madrid for defensive and offensive military pacts. The pact may indeed have been genuine, but the North American newspaper articles were riddled with errors, half-truths and quibbles. Regardless, headlines were dominated by President Woodrow Wilson’s final failure to convince the US Senate to ratify the Versailles Treaty, and the war-weary public did not take heed of the secret pact.
A surreal replay of the Zimmermann Telegram affair, but this time, the US public didn't care...
US State Department eavesdroppers intercepted a “highly interesting” cable between Mexican diplomats mentioning secret negotiations in Madrid with the Japanese and Spanish governments. Information about a Japanese-Mexican pact swiftly leaked to US Senator Albert Fall and reporters. Within hours, US newspapers announced that the Fall subcommittee on Mexican affairs had obtained letters prepared by the Mexican Ambassador to Spain, Eliseo Arredondo, regarding negotiations with Japanese diplomats in Madrid for defensive and offensive military pacts. The pact may indeed have been genuine, but the North American newspaper articles were riddled with errors, half-truths and quibbles. Regardless, headlines were dominated by President Woodrow Wilson’s final failure to convince the US Senate to ratify the Versailles Treaty, and the war-weary public did not take heed of the secret pact.
April 8, 1920 - Guatemala City
Manuel Estrada Cabrera, Guatemala's murderous dictator president since 1898, is declared insane by the National Assembly, which elects Carlos Herrera as provisional president. Risking their lives, members of the National Assembly had suddenly gathered at 9 a.m., read a list of “grave charges” against Estrada Cabrera, then formally declared him insane. They elected unionista Carlos Herrera as provisional president of Guatemala. Agents of el Presidente tried to break up the meeting but failed. Troops that were sent to break up the Assembly were turned away by excited throngs several blocks away. This drastic action by the Assembly was the culmination of months of plotting by secret cells of Partido Unionista activists and supporters. With no army of its own, the Assembly was grabbing the reins of power from a madman who was armed to the teeth. Failure meant death or exile. At 1 p.m. the National Assembly adjourned and news of their bold action spread like wildfire. “There was the wildest joy and excitement throughout the city,” reported US military attaché Major Louis O’Donnell. “Church bells were rung, and crowds paraded through the streets shouting “Viva Guatemala libre!” But 34 days of vicious fighting and bloodshed would follow before the tyrant surrendered power.
Manuel Estrada Cabrera, Guatemala's murderous dictator president since 1898, is declared insane by the National Assembly, which elects Carlos Herrera as provisional president. Risking their lives, members of the National Assembly had suddenly gathered at 9 a.m., read a list of “grave charges” against Estrada Cabrera, then formally declared him insane. They elected unionista Carlos Herrera as provisional president of Guatemala. Agents of el Presidente tried to break up the meeting but failed. Troops that were sent to break up the Assembly were turned away by excited throngs several blocks away. This drastic action by the Assembly was the culmination of months of plotting by secret cells of Partido Unionista activists and supporters. With no army of its own, the Assembly was grabbing the reins of power from a madman who was armed to the teeth. Failure meant death or exile. At 1 p.m. the National Assembly adjourned and news of their bold action spread like wildfire. “There was the wildest joy and excitement throughout the city,” reported US military attaché Major Louis O’Donnell. “Church bells were rung, and crowds paraded through the streets shouting “Viva Guatemala libre!” But 34 days of vicious fighting and bloodshed would follow before the tyrant surrendered power.
May 1920 - Washington, DC
As political convulsions rocked Mexico in the months leading up to the contentious 1920 presidential election, Mexico’s embassy in Washington became the focus of intrigue involving diplomats, spies and lobbyists from many factions and international interests. Ambassador Ignacio Bonillas, a technocrat little known outside government circles, had departed Washington for Mexico on March 8, 1920, to campaign as President Venustiano Carranza’s hand-picked successor (a pre-PRI dedazo!). Bonillas left the Washington embassy in the hands of a capable chargé d’affairs Salvador Diego Fernandez, who was given the pleasure of informing the staff of a 25 percent pay raise to guarantee their loyalty to Carranza.
As political convulsions rocked Mexico in the months leading up to the contentious 1920 presidential election, Mexico’s embassy in Washington became the focus of intrigue involving diplomats, spies and lobbyists from many factions and international interests. Ambassador Ignacio Bonillas, a technocrat little known outside government circles, had departed Washington for Mexico on March 8, 1920, to campaign as President Venustiano Carranza’s hand-picked successor (a pre-PRI dedazo!). Bonillas left the Washington embassy in the hands of a capable chargé d’affairs Salvador Diego Fernandez, who was given the pleasure of informing the staff of a 25 percent pay raise to guarantee their loyalty to Carranza.
May 7, 1920 - Washington, DC & Mexico City
On May 7, 1920, the Washington Herald insinuated that Diego Fernandez had gone over to anti-government rebels, spurring him to cable President Carranza “to reiterate … my sentiments of unshakeable attachment and loyalty.” The following day the chargé telegraphed a press summary to Carranza in Mexico City, then realized that Carranza had fled the capital. A shaken Bonillas had already withdrawn from the presidential campaign and vanished into hiding after a few kidnapping and assassination attempts. Diego Fernandez sent a few messages to rally Mexico’s consular network in the US behind Carranza, but remained in the dark apart from confusing accounts in US newspapers. Carranza’s vast network of intelligence, financial and political resources in the US was up for grabs…
Diego Fernandez’s replacement was already in town: Alvaro Torre Diaz was waiting in the wings to take over the embassy on behalf of the rebels. He was now the senior man of a “confidential agency” in Washington established on behalf of rebel Sonora Governor Adolfo de la Huerta in late April by the cultured, socialist liberator of Yucatan, General Salvador Alvarado. Twice Torre Diaz had visited the embassy to entreat Diego Fernandez to turn over the mission to him before turning the matter over to an attorney. By May 14, US intelligence began reading Torre Diaz’s cables to the rebel headquarters in Hermosillo, Sonora, a sign that Torre Diaz was beginning to eclipse Diego Fernandez, who asked State Department for “detectives” to protect the embassy in case of a violent takeover. Rebel agents in cities throughout the United States were trying to induce carrancista consuls and staff to desert. By the end of May, many would be jobless after Carranza met a violent demise in a poor Puebla village. Torre Diaz was appointed Mexico’s consul in New York before the end of the year, and soon became ambassador to Brazil. In 1926, he would be elected governor of Yucatan. Bonillas and Diego Fernandez faded into obscurity…
On May 7, 1920, the Washington Herald insinuated that Diego Fernandez had gone over to anti-government rebels, spurring him to cable President Carranza “to reiterate … my sentiments of unshakeable attachment and loyalty.” The following day the chargé telegraphed a press summary to Carranza in Mexico City, then realized that Carranza had fled the capital. A shaken Bonillas had already withdrawn from the presidential campaign and vanished into hiding after a few kidnapping and assassination attempts. Diego Fernandez sent a few messages to rally Mexico’s consular network in the US behind Carranza, but remained in the dark apart from confusing accounts in US newspapers. Carranza’s vast network of intelligence, financial and political resources in the US was up for grabs…
Diego Fernandez’s replacement was already in town: Alvaro Torre Diaz was waiting in the wings to take over the embassy on behalf of the rebels. He was now the senior man of a “confidential agency” in Washington established on behalf of rebel Sonora Governor Adolfo de la Huerta in late April by the cultured, socialist liberator of Yucatan, General Salvador Alvarado. Twice Torre Diaz had visited the embassy to entreat Diego Fernandez to turn over the mission to him before turning the matter over to an attorney. By May 14, US intelligence began reading Torre Diaz’s cables to the rebel headquarters in Hermosillo, Sonora, a sign that Torre Diaz was beginning to eclipse Diego Fernandez, who asked State Department for “detectives” to protect the embassy in case of a violent takeover. Rebel agents in cities throughout the United States were trying to induce carrancista consuls and staff to desert. By the end of May, many would be jobless after Carranza met a violent demise in a poor Puebla village. Torre Diaz was appointed Mexico’s consul in New York before the end of the year, and soon became ambassador to Brazil. In 1926, he would be elected governor of Yucatan. Bonillas and Diego Fernandez faded into obscurity…
May 20, 1920 - Tlaxcalontongo, Puebla, Mexico
Mexico's First Chief Venustiano Carranza is assassinated.
Mexico's First Chief Venustiano Carranza is assassinated.
July 1920 - Petrograd, Russia
Mexico was the only Latin American nation to have delegates at the Second Comintern Congress in Petrograd in mid–July 1920, though none were actually Mexican.
Mexico was the only Latin American nation to have delegates at the Second Comintern Congress in Petrograd in mid–July 1920, though none were actually Mexican.
December 1920 - Buenos Aires
A US naval intelligence agent purloins the waste basket of the British naval attaché Captain Charles Backhouse and finds evidence indicating secret meetings with German and Japanese intelligence officers.
A US naval intelligence agent purloins the waste basket of the British naval attaché Captain Charles Backhouse and finds evidence indicating secret meetings with German and Japanese intelligence officers.
December 1920 - Washington, DC
Major Yamada, the Japanese Military Attaché to the United States was preparing to depart on an overt intelligence-gathering tour of Mexico and Central America. Yamada and the Japanese War Ministry spent several weeks planning the trip, and on December 21 the General Staff notified him that a money order for 1,687 yen had been purchased for his travel expenses. On December 23, 1920, an embassy executive informed the Japanese General Staff, “I have directed Major Yamada to bear in mind during his inspection that matters relating to essential questions between Japan and the US today have a future consideration in case of outbreak of war.” Herbert Yardley’s US Cipher Bureau had cracked the Japanese code for secret diplomatic messages between Washington and Tokyo, and read the telegraphic traffic with mild alarm a few days later. Apparently--but no real surprise to US intelligence--Japan, America's ally in World War I, was preparing for the next world war--against the United States.
Major Yamada, the Japanese Military Attaché to the United States was preparing to depart on an overt intelligence-gathering tour of Mexico and Central America. Yamada and the Japanese War Ministry spent several weeks planning the trip, and on December 21 the General Staff notified him that a money order for 1,687 yen had been purchased for his travel expenses. On December 23, 1920, an embassy executive informed the Japanese General Staff, “I have directed Major Yamada to bear in mind during his inspection that matters relating to essential questions between Japan and the US today have a future consideration in case of outbreak of war.” Herbert Yardley’s US Cipher Bureau had cracked the Japanese code for secret diplomatic messages between Washington and Tokyo, and read the telegraphic traffic with mild alarm a few days later. Apparently--but no real surprise to US intelligence--Japan, America's ally in World War I, was preparing for the next world war--against the United States.
On December 23, 1920, an executive of the Japanese Embassy in Washington informed the Japanese General Staff, “I have directed Major Yamada to bear in mind during his inspection that matters relating to essential questions between Japan and the US today have a future consideration in case of outbreak of war.”
By 1921, the US Congress and public had forgotten the constant friction between US and Japanese contingents on the Trans-Siberian Railroad from August 1918 until April 1920. In this US Army Signal Corps photo, Japanese army and US 27th Infantry guards (foreground) face each other in Russia, probably 1919.
Copyright 2021, Jamie Bisher.