Complete Thesis_double spaced abstract.pdf

Guatemala and tour their facilities, the subsequent reports were sympathetic toward the United
Fruit Company and derogatory toward Guatemala and Arbenz in particular. 19
Through the work of United Fruit Company, the State Department, the U.S. Ambassador
working in Guatemala, and the CIA the United States government came to believe that direct
intervention, regime change, in Guatemala would bring about several desirable outcomes
(Cullather, 1999, 35). These outcomes included the creation of a deferential and welcome
investment atmosphere in Guatemala for United States companies, such as United Fruit
Company. The immediate and total reversal of the 1952 agrarian reforms, as well as a reversal of
the 1947 labor codes protecting the right to organize and strike. Additionally, the intervention
would facilitate the complete removal of all communists from positions in the Guatemalan
government and a complete disbanding of communist unions in Guatemala, thus returning
Guatemala to its perceived sphere of influence. The intervention would also rid Guatemala of the
communist threat, while setting an example for the rest of Central America and the world. And
finally, allow for a real life opportunity to “test” a “prototype” for fighting communism that could
then be used elsewhere (Cullather, 1999, 35).
The involvement of the United States in Guatemala did not end with the successful coup
of Arbenz; economic and military ties between the two states lasted several decades. Under
Colonel Armas the United States increased its financial contributions to Guatemala by way of
official development assistance, grants, military aid, and loans. Under Colonel Armas Guatemala
was given approximately US$80 million in the three years after the coup (Schlesinger and Kinzer,
1982, 232-233). After Colonel Armas was assassinated the United States continued its support of
19 Gleijeses, 367 and Cullather, 18. Cullather (1999) reports that Bernays, on behalf of United Fruit
Company sent “correspondents from Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, and Chicago Tribune to report
on Communist activities in Guatemala” (18). Additionally, in 1954 NBC News ran a documentary titled
“Red Rule in Guatemala,” Cullather (1999) reports there were further articles in Reader’s Digest and the
Saturday Evening Post (56). The director of public relations for Bernays was Eisenhower’s personal
secretary’s husband (Gleijeses, 361).
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