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In the aftermath of the 1910 Mexican Revolution, Mexican and U.S. political leaders, business executives, and ordinary citizens shaped modern Mexico by making industrial capitalism the key to upward mobility into the middle class, material prosperity, and a new form of democracy-consumer democracy. Julio Moreno describes how Mexico's industrial capitalism between 1920 and 1950 shaped the country's national identity, contributed to Mexico's emergence as a modern nation-state, and transformed U.S.-Mexican relations. According to Moreno, government programs and incentives were central to legitimizing the postrevolutionary government as well as encouraging commercial growth. Moreover, Mexican nationalism and revolutionary rhetoric gave Mexicans the leverage to set the terms for U.S. businesses and diplomats anxious to court Mexico in the midst of the dual crises of the Great Depression and World War II. Diplomats like Nelson Rockefeller and corporations like Sears Roebuck achieved success by embracing Mexican culture in their marketing and diplomatic pitches, while those who disregarded Mexican traditions were slow to earn profits. Moreno also reveals how the rapid growth of industrial capitalism, urban economic displacement, and unease caused by World War II and its aftermath unleashed feelings of spiritual and moral decay among Mexicans that led to an antimodernist backlash by the end of the 1940s.
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Yankee Don’t Go Home!
The LUTHER HARTWELL HODGES SERIES ON BUSINESS, SOCIETY, AND THE STATE William H. Becker, editor
JULIO MORENO
Yankee Don’t Go Home! Mexican Nationalism, American Business Culture, and the Shaping of Modern Mexico, 1920–1950 The University of North Carolina Press — Chapel Hill and London
© The University of North Carolina Press All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Designed by Barbara Williams Set in ITC Charter with Clarendon display by Tseng Information Systems, Inc. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Moreno, Julio, – Yankee don’t go home! : Mexican nationalism, American business culture, and the shaping of modern Mexico, – / by Julio Moreno. p. cm. — (The Luther Hartwell Hodges series on business, society, and the state) Includes bibliographical references and index. --- (cloth : alk. paper) — --- (pbk. : alk. paper) . Industrial policy—Mexico—History—th century. . Capitalism—Mexico—History—th century. . Consumption (Economics)—Mexico—History—th century. . Mexico—Foreign relations—United States. . United States—Foreign relations—Mexico. . Advertising—Mexico—History—th century. . Nationalism—Mexico—History—th century. . Mexico—Politics and government—–. . Mexico—Politics and government—–. . J. Walter Thompson Company. . Sears, Roebuck and Company. I. Title. II. Series. . .''—dc cloth paper
To my family: my son, David; wife, Mónica; mother, Maria Santos Linares; brothers, Alvaro Abrego and Francisco Moreno; stepfather, Jose Abrego; and nephew, Nick Moreno
And to my extended family: my grandmother, Margarita Interiano, and uncles, Virgilio Interiano, Rogelio Interiano, Isidro Interiano, and Mauro Moreno, for assuming parental roles after the tragic death of my father when I was one year old and for offering love, support, and guidance when my mother was forced to leave our village in Camones to work as a maid in Santa Ana, El Salvador
Contents Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction
ix xiii
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