We Stand at Armageddon - The U.S. Presidential Election of 1912

 With the November 2012 presidential elections lowering over us, we thought it would be interesting for our readers to take a look at another presidential election --- one held almost exactly 100 years ago. The 1912 election pitted three major candidates against each other: the Republican, William Howard Taft; his immediate predecessor, President Theodore Roosevelt, who ran as a "third party" candidate on the Progressive (or Bull Moose) Party ticket; and the Democrat "progressive," Woodrow Wilson. Though the candidates claimed to represent very different visions for America, really, there were not many profound differences between them. Even the "conservative" (as juxtaposed to Roosevelt and Wilson) candidate, President Taft, had spent his term enacting many of the same sorts of policies that the progressive President Roosevelt had put in place when in office.

The foregoing might lead one to conclude that not much has changed between 1912 and 2012. Yet, there are some striking differences --- for instance, in how party conventions are conducted (the presidential candidate was not a foregone conclusion), the vibrancy of third parties (not just the Bull Moosers but the Socialists made a splash in 1912), and the three-dimensional personalities of the candidates. What's more, these men could speak --- no tired analogies, no chiding headed off by, "make no mistake...", no hackneyed phraseology, such as "all options are on the table." Moreover, it has been a long time since we have had such a character as Teddy Roosevelt. One may not agree with all of his policies, but who wouldn't like to spend an afternoon over beer with the man --- even if it led to a "bully" fight?

Please click here read the article. It is taken from our yet-to-be published high school history of North America, Lands of Hope and Promise.

We Die For God- Cristero Revolution Part 7

The Uprising Rekindled

With the rebellion again in full swing, the Liga Defensora decided that the scattered Cristero forces needed coordination and military discipline. They turned thus to a retired general, Enrique Gorostieta Velarde, to take on overall command of the rebellion. Gorostieta however did not embrace the aims of the Cristeros. The mercenary general (he demanded twice the salary of a federal general) was a Liberal and a Freemason and mocked the religion for which the Cristeros died. But Gorostieta opposed Calles. His dream, it seems was to establish a truly Liberal republic that enforced separation of Church and state but did not interfere with religious belief or practice.

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We Die For God- Cristero Revolution Part 6

Revolution and Counter-revolution
Struggle of Rival Factions

The government that replaced Carranza in 1920 was able to bring some peace to Mexico. Pancho Villa was bought off by the gift of a hacienda in Durango. The zapatistas laid down their arms when the government assured them they could keep whatever lands they had taken in Morelos. President Obregón, unlike Carranza, seemed a friend to labor and radical agrarian aspirations – so much so that disgruntled businessmen in the United States soon were complaining that the president of Mexico was a “Bolshevist.”

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We Die for God- Cristero Revolution Part 5

The Revolution Turns Radical
Struggle of Rival Factions

The overthrow of Victoriano Huerta could not bring peace to Mexico. After victory, the divisions that had all the while plagued the revolutionary forces now became clearly pronounced, with villistas and carranzistas each accusing the other of betraying the struggle. General Obregón, after installing Carranza in the presidential palace, went north to negotiate with Pancho Villa. The two revolutionary chieftains agreed that Carranza should serve only as provisional president until elections could be held. Carranza apparently agreed to this (for him) unwelcome plan, though he secretly was looking for some way to maintain power. He suggested holding a convention of rebel leaders in Mexico City --- safely within his own sphere of influence --- to discuss this all important question of the presidential succession.
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We Die for God- Cristero Revolution Part 4

The Mexican Revolution and La Cristiada
Chaos Returns- Fire from the North

Mexico's new president, Victoriano Huerta, seemed in every way the opposite of Madero. For one thing, he was no teetotaller; indeed, he spent a good part of his day drunk. Unlike Madero, he had little regard for constitutional order or justice. To assure his absolute sway over the state, Huerta replaced several state governors with generals faithful to him. He conducted a purge of Congress, jailing over a hundred representatives who opposed his regime. One congressman, Belisario Dominguez, a senator from Chiapas, spoke out publicly against Huerta; he was later found dead. He had been shot. Huerta spared members of the National Catholic Party (PCN), but in Congress, they now had to do his bidding.

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When he had come into power, Huerta secured the PCN's acquiesence to his regime by promising the party 100 seats in the congress. He pledged that if a PCN candidate won the planned presidential election in October 1913, he would uphold the results. Both the Church and the party had expressed their disapproval of Huerta; but, then again, for good or ill, he was the government; it seemed that little good would come from opposing him. One could attempt a revolution, but it was doubtful whether a revolution would succeed. This, it seems, may have been the reasoning that led the PCN leadership to strike a bargain with Huerta. It was, however, a devil's bargain. As we shall see, Huerta was not about to concede an election to any opponent. Moreover, as the only party left after the purge of Congress, the PCN lost its independence and became tainted with the reputation of being huértista. In the end, Huerta turned on the PCN. In early 1914, he arrested the PCN president, Gabriel Fernández and exiled him. The alliance with Huerta killed the PCN. It could not survive the fall of the Huerta regime.
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We Die for God- Cristero Revolution Part 3

The Mexican Revolution and La Cristiada
Chaos Returns 

The provisional president of the revolutionary government, Francisco de la Barra was anything but a revolutionary. This man, who had been Díaz’s ambassador to the United States, had strong connections with the wealthy families of Mexico and the científicos. He was hardly the man to carry out the only radical provision of Madero’s Plan de San Luis Potosí -- agrarian reform, the redistribution of land to the poor from whom it had been taken. Emiliano Zapata, for one, was not pleased with de la Barra and had become disillusioned with Madero. In August, Zapata and Madero had met in Cuernevaca, the capitol of Morelos. Zapata left the meeting convinced that Madero was not committed to agrarian reform.

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Zapata was not alone in distrusting Madero; some of the Mexican bishops were wary of him, though not for the same reasons as the Morelos revolutionary. In a May 28, 1911 letter to the archbishop of Mexico City, José de Jesús Ortizy y Rodriguez, the archbishop of Guadalajara, lamented that “we will no longer be able to depend on the tolerance and the spirit of conciliatory supervision of the illustrious General Díaz, who has been until now our only defense under God.” But Archbishop Ortiz did not express the sentiments of the many clergy who supported Madero and of the Catholic people, who rejoiced over Díaz's overthrow. CLICK HERE to continue...

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We Die for God- Cristero Revolution Part 2

The Mexican Revolution and La Cristiada
The Fall of Don Porfirio

Resistance to El Porfiriato – Díaz’s regime – had already begun south of Mexico City, in the tiny state of Morelos.

Since the 1880s, Morelos had become a major producer of sugar cane, and haciendas had been seizing the lands of small farmers and Indian ejidos, forcing their owners to work as peons on the ever-growing sugar-cane plantations. One such hacienda was El Hospital, which threatened lands held by the peasants of the village of Anencuilco. El Hospital would have successfully absorbed the small property around Anencuilco as it, and other haciendas, had successfully done Indian lands before but for one unexpected factor: a man named Emiliano Zapata.

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Emiliano Zapata, the son of a mestizo share-cropper and small landowner, did not share the poverty of the Indians among whom he lived. Emiliano was known far and wide as a successful horse trainer – a profession that could have earned him more money and conferred a higher social status in nearby Mexico City had he chosen to go there. Money and social status, though, did not move Zapata; the cause of justice and freedom for his people did. Born into a family that had fought under Juárez against the imperialists, Emiliano had from infancy imbibed ideals of liberty for the small man and small landowner --- though Juárez himself had, in the end, betrayed these ideals. For Zapata, however, juárismo did not include a disdain for the Catholic faith. Emiliano and his men would go into battle with images of Our Lady of Guadalupe pinned to their sombreros. CLICK HERE to continue...

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Cristero Revolution Part 1

One of the goals for this blog is to provide our readers with links and texts of historical interest. We begin this feature of the blog with excerpts from a chapter about the Cristero revolution from our yet-to-be published high school American history text, 'Lands of Hope and Promise'.

 

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To provide the proper context to the Cristero revolt, we will describe the events that gave rise to it --- the Mexican Revolution of 1911. We will publish the chapter serially, so please check back frequently to catch each installment of this interesting and inspiring story of men and women who gave all to defend their Catholic faith. CLICK HERE to continue...

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