Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Argentina and the US
The relationship between Argentina and the US seems to become increasingly precarious throughout the Depression, particularly leading into World War II. Consider some of the events discussed throughout the article that shaped the American perception of Argentina in particular. Do they make sense to you? Why or why not?
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In the article it talks about how Argentina was having a really hard time making it hard for them to really have any kind of relationship with any other country such as the US. However the reading also states that, “reasonable economic stability and tariffs attracted American subsidiaries" and "by the late 1930s, American companies employed 14,000 [Argentine] workers." This shows that throughout the depression Argentina and the US even though they may have had their issues built a relationship somehow, but the reading confuses me because the reading made it sound like Argentina and the US did and did not have a relationship. Once the war started it seems like the two countries got along but the reading overall really confused me.
ReplyDeleteWOW Meghan your slacking with the length. Got to step it up. Well based on the article America looked everywhere for help during this time. They were looking at what other countries were doing and try to mimic them. But I agree with Meghan the reading was long in boring, it needs pictures. It did confuse me as well, but I feel like they did not really have a great relationship during this time but when it came time for War they put aside there differences and got along together just fine.
ReplyDeleteAfter I read this I felt that the reason why the relationship changed between Argentina and the U.S. because the U.S. needed to know what side Argentina was on and they remained neutral. leading up towards the war and during it america was pressuring Argentina to let it use its suppliers and natural resources such as fuel and food. as the war go more intense, there were even talks of setting up a base in Argentina encase the axis powers were winning. this makes sense that the relationship would deteriorate over time because the U.S is pressuring Argentina to get involved in something they want no part of. and ion doing that the country is going to push some buttons and ultimately cause a rift between the two countries to form. this rift has closed up some in modern times but i believe that it is still there and the Argentina people still remember how much pressure we exerted on the country.
ReplyDeleteArgentina was already plenty of problems to have even more and go into the World War II and make any relationship with any country. However as Argentina was much more weak than the US by that time, the US started accusing Argentina of many things like facism, and they started talking bad about Argentina. Therefore, I believe they made some agreements: Argentina wanted to export to the us and US wanted cheap workers from Argentina for example. In addition, this helped the US since having allies in the War was a positive thing even though Argetina stayed sort of neutral in the sense for example that they did not want to pay any of the costs of the World War 2 .
ReplyDeleteOnce the Depression occurred, Argentina was in trouble, like every other country. Argentina, “ appeared to be helpless and unable to bargain as an economic partner.” Fortunately for Argentina, the economy began to bounce back as a consequence of the droughts in Canada and the storms that created the dust bowl in the United States. I think it is also important to consider how Argentina viewed America. Writers such as Scalabrini Ortiz, “ contributed to a wave of revisionism that reinforced the notion that Argentina had been victimized by foreign ideas.” To me this quote demonstrates how Argentina viewed the effect America had on it. Argentinians believed that foreign nations were forcing their ideas onto the unwilling Argentina.
ReplyDeleteChandler you write half of what meghan writes.. Anyways.. One event that was discussed was when Roosevelt visited Buenos Aires and that incident. Another event was when the government supported the strikers that were going against the universities. These examples helped America to understand what Argentina was really all about. America soon learned that Argentinas government was very crazy and unstable and that its wasn't closely related to any other country in any way. These events make sense to me and I understand why America viewed Argentina in such ways. Argentina was crazy and their government and citizens were completely out of control. America obviously made these assumptions about the government based on Argentinas dumb actions.
ReplyDeleteWhen the Depression hit Argentina, the country was hiy severely. Arrgregated production fell by 14 percent and the exchange value of the peso fell by 20 percent. Plus, Export fell by 34 percent and the cost of bankrupticies and company liabilities soared to 105 million paper pesos. The government in response, reduced debts, cut the spendings and increased the trade while signing the Roca-Runiciman Agreements of 1932. US and Argentina did have maintain some relationship with America, however, it was Britain who Argentina held the closest relationship with. Not only did they sign the Roca-Runiciman Agreements but also they signed the Eden Malbran Treaty which allowed Britain to impose taxes on Argentine meat imports and more favorurable terms for British owned railways in Argentina.
ReplyDeleteU.S. is not a very good friend with Argentina. Argentina sees U.S. as a competitor, U.S. looks down on Argentina. Even during the wartime, U.S. still remains aloof to Argentine. For example, the senate rejected the plan of buying canned meat from Argentina. U.S. also accuses Argentina adapting Fascism, which is not necessary true. Argentina confirmed its neutrality. U.S. freezes their assets in U.S.; they view Argentina as pro-Axis and a source of danger. Unlike Argentina's attitude toward U.S., Argentina remained loyal to Britain. They signed Roca-Runiciman Agreement to bond their trade. Overall, U.S. and Argentina are averted toward each other, especially during the war time.
ReplyDeleteIf we look at this question in a biggest scale, we will find that the relation between Argentina and the United States are never that good (even now). Sometimes there might be a attempt to negotiate, but it always failed and turned into hostility. One reason that Argentina didn't have a good harmonized relation with the United States was the effect of the Great Britain since the Great Britain kind of using Argentina to against the United States, and Argentinian government did it. The Great Depression was also a reason because it really affected the market and trading between Argentina and the United States. Argentina's economy mostly relied on other countries, which made more sense that its politics was easy to be affected. Both Argentina and the United States are the leaders of the America continent, and in order to achieve balance of power, confrontation was not avoidable.
ReplyDeleteAs the time got closer to the WWII, the relationship between Argentina and the US got worse and worse. Argentina was accused as fascist and pro-Axis country. Alone with the precarious relationship between US and Argentina is the bad economy. From the depression, Argentina just never was out of it. Argentina was a neutral country in WWII. However, I would not say that US was in ally with Argentina.
ReplyDeleteIn this article there are many events that shaped the American perception of Argentina. Throughout the article there are many accusations and complaints from America and Argentina, on both sides. For some time America refused to buy goods from Argentina. The relationship between America and Argentina was actually awful, but America realized what Argentina was going through, and ultimately put aside their differences and made compromises. It seemed as if they both needed eachother, no matter their differences. This article was confusing at times because like Meghan said, the reading made it sound like Argentina and the US did and did not have a relationship, but then at other times they had a relationship and got along.
ReplyDeleteThe depression caused economic problems in Argentina, as it did to all the countries after World War I. This made it difficult for trade with the US. Accusations arose between the two countries and the relationship was becoming more precarious. In fact, the US began to view Argentina as dangerous and hostile. Before, the US was an important trading partner and Argentina greatly relied on them. However, the article was a little confusing because at some points, the two countries seemed to get along and help each other economically.
ReplyDeleteMany events shaped the United State's view on Argentina, which just like them was also going through the affects of the Great Depression. As WWII arose accusations began to fly that Argentine was fascist and pro-axis which worsened the already tenuous relationship between that existed between the US. America also refused to buy canned meats from their South American "friend". Argentina also saw the US as a bully because they used their economic power and global standing to get what they want. So, all in all, the US and Argentina did not have a close relationship but were eventually able to come to some sort of arrangement which benefited them both
ReplyDeleteAs World War II rolled along, Argentina made the choice of declaring neutrality because was the general consensus of the people. However this turned out to be a bad choice because Argentina's exports fell below Depression levels. After Germany conquered France, England responded by closing off all trade to mainland Europe using its navy. And Germany did the same to English trade. So Argentina;s only major foreign customer was America. At this point it would have been especially wise to officially declare itself a part of the Allies, but Argentina remained neutral which hurt its relations with America. We felt that they were either with us or against us. In an attempt to gain a position in the South Atlantic, America sent weapons to Brazil (Argentina's neighbor) and contemplated taking an Argentinian port. It is unsurprising to me that the US grew wary of Argentina in this time period. The Axis was a formidable threat to the Allies, and since Argentina didn't do much to build trust with America it was not clear where Argentina's alliance would fall should its neutrality end. Luckily, relations improved when both countries entered the UN.
ReplyDeleteAt first the relationship between the US and Argentina was brutal. Argentinas main ally was Britain but Argentina wasn't the only one that they were trading with which really hurt Argentina. One of Britain's other allies was the US so to Argentina, the US was a threat. Also Argentina was going through a revolution of its own. More people were trying to move for a different education system, one that was more available to the middle class and that also moved away from humanism. The result of this was a Fascist movement in Argentina. They wanted a government that would be able to take care of them and that moved away from the ideas of capitalism. When Franklin D. Roosevelt went to visit Argentina the son of the president even threw a shoe at him and said "get that yankee president out". So clearly, the new revolution did not really favor the US. However, as time moves on WW2 tactics including the closing of trade in England which made their only foreign trade partner the US. Argentina still did not join the ally forces and remained neutral which really didn't help them, and also kept their relationship with the US distant.
ReplyDeleteas a nation in the american hemisphere you basically submit to american power. during the infamous error wide spread repression ensued. americas policy on maintaing freedom however only comes in mind when the nation has resources america needs. Argentina did have oil but america already had sources for that. america had supported argintina since it was freed from spain but major events had not happened. when the government became out of control intervention did happen
ReplyDeletetrue life christina, anyways, due to the fact that the depression made trade difficult for all countries, the relationship between argentina and the US was made very difficult especially in economic terms. Like jason said, britain had a much closer relationship during the depression with argentina than the US did. Also, america viewed Argentina in more of a negative way due to how Argentina ran their government because most of it went against how americans wanted our government to be run/ how we actually ran it.
ReplyDeleteArgentina and the US shared a mutual ally in Britain. Britain traded with both countries, but the US was more stable to didn't need as much support from britain. Britain was Argentina's made ally and relied heavily. But because they were trading with other countries, Argentina couldn't always get what they needed. And during WWII when Britain's trade exports were cut off, it was was a huge deficit to Argentina because they couldn't trade. And because they remained neutral, they could not trade with other allies, and their only real consumer was America. Remaining neutral made the US question the faith of Argentina, and could not decide whether to help them or not.
ReplyDeleteI think that the United States view on Argentina was not a very good one. When looking at all the corruption in the government you can tell that the country was not a very stable one. The leaders would literally arrest people of they voted against them and switched the ballot boxes to make sure the conservative side had the majority. Also they were somewhat shady because when Justo devalued the peso and the American dollar was also devalued, he used this opportunity to pay back the United states but in a cheaper way and on favorable terms.
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