Lesson 4: Nationalism in Latin America

Lesson Focus

We'll explore how U.S. economic influence and the Great Depression destabilized Latin America. This turmoil fueled nationalist movements and the rise of authoritarian governments during the 1930s.

People to Know

Getúlio Vargas, Lázaro Cárdenas, Diego Rivera

Learning Objectives

• Explain how U.S. investment and the Great Depression influenced Latin American economies and spurred new industrial growth.
• Identify who held political power and how economic crises led to authoritarian regimes in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico.
• Discover how artists like Diego Rivera blended European techniques with local themes to forge a unique national art.

In the 1920s, the United States became the main investor in Latin America, replacing Great Britain.

Unlike the British, U.S. firms took direct control of industries, causing many Latin Americans to view the U.S. as an imperialist power. In 1933, President Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor policy tried to fix this by rejecting military force.

This economic dominance was shattered by the Great Depression, which devastated Latin America’s export-driven economies and created widespread instability.

The economic crisis of the Great Depression caused severe domestic instability across Latin America.

In response to this chaos, military leaders in many nations seized control of their governments during the 1930s. They often did this to protect the power of the ruling elite, which was typically an oligarchy of wealthy landowners and church officials.

This trend toward authoritarianism resulted in the creation of many new military dictatorships throughout the region.

In Argentina, an oligarchy of landowners controlled the government, but the election of Hipólito Irigoyen in 1916 represented the rise of the middle class.

The military, fearing the growing power of industrial workers, overthrew President Irigoyen in 1930.

This coup successfully re-established the power of the large landowners and stopped the move toward industrialization, ensuring the traditional elite remained in control. Note that this military influence continued, with the Group of United Officers (GOU) seizing power again in 1943.

The Great Depression destroyed Brazil’s coffee-based economy, leading to a 1930 military coup that made Getúlio Vargas president.
Facing opposition, Vargas became a dictator in 1937 and created his authoritarian New State. He outlawed political parties and restricted civil rights to silence opponents.
Pay special attention to how Vargas used his power to establish new industries, transforming Brazil into Latin America's chief industrial power by the time he was forced to resign in 1945.

Although Mexico had a democratic government in form, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) truly controlled politics.

From 1934 to 1940, President Lázaro Cárdenas moved to fulfill the revolution's goals by distributing land to peasants and seizing foreign-owned oil fields after a wage dispute.

He then created PEMEX, a national oil company. This act made Cárdenas a national hero and established PEMEX as a powerful symbol of Mexican independence from foreign control.

In the early twentieth century, Latin American artists began adapting European modern art styles to reflect their own national roots.

The artist Diego Rivera, after studying in Europe, painted huge murals on public buildings in Mexico. His art was designed to be understood by the masses, many of whom could not read.

Rivera's murals portrayed Mexico's Aztec history, folk customs, and the Mexican Revolution, helping to create a strong, shared national identity through visual storytelling.