Spruille Braden ( ; March 13, 1894 – January 10, 1978) was an American

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

, businessman, lobbyist, and member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...

. He served as the ambassador to various Latin American countries, and as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. He is notable for his interventionist activities and his prominent role in several coups d'état. Braden served on the national council of the John Birch Society.

Early life

Born in Elkhorn, Montana, Braden was the son of a leading engineer at Anaconda Copper Company's properties in Chile, William Burford Braden. He attended

Montclair Kimberley Academy Montclair Kimberley Academy (MKA) is a co-educational private school for students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade located in Montclair, New Jersey, Montclair in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...

and Yale, earning a degree in engineering in 1914. He worked as a mining engineer and consultant to governments in Latin America, returning to the US in 1920. Braden first came to prominence as one of the owners of the Braden Copper Company in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and as a shareholder in the United Fruit Company. He also directed the W. Averell Harriman Securities Corporation. As an agent of

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...

, he played a role in the

Chaco War The Chaco War (, Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

and

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

and espoused an openly anti-union position. Braden was a delegate to the

Montevideo Convention The Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States is a treaty signed at Montevideo, Uruguay, on December 26, 1933, during the Seventh International Conference of American States. At the conference, United States President Franklin D. R ...

(Seventh International Conference of American States) in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1933, where he sat with Secretary of State Cordell Hull; former American ambassador to Mexico J. Reuben Clark; American minister to Uruguay J. Butler Wright; and University of Chicago professor Sophonisba Breckinridge.

Latin American diplomatic roles

He held several brief but important ambassadorships in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

(1939–1942),

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

(1942), and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. As ambassador to Argentina for four months in 1945, Braden encouraged the opposition against President Edelmiro Julián Farrell and

Juan Perón Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine military officer and Statesman (politician), statesman who served as the History of Argentina (1946-1955), 29th president of Argentina from 1946 to Revolución Libertad ...

. Perón exploited his intervention with a slogan, ''Braden o Perón'' ("Braden or Perón"), which contributed to Perón's victory in the presidential election the following year. Braden accused Perón of being pro-

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

and anti-

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

, and of plotting against Allied interests in South America, including the protection of industrial and commercial Axis assets and massive violations of

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

. In 1945, Braden served as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs under

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

. He clashed with George S. Messersmith, former ambassador to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, with whom he had many disagreements about foreign policy in Latin America.Trask, Roger R. ''Spruille Braden versus George Messersmith: World War II, the Cold War, and Argentine Policy, 1945–1947'' in the ''Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs'', Vol. 26, No. 1 (Feb., 1984), pp. 69–95 The disagreement with Braden would eventually force Messersmith out of the foreign service. Beginning in 1948, Braden was a paid lobbyist for the United Fruit Company. When the company's interests were threatened in

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

by President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, Braden helped to conceive and execute the 1954 coup d'état that overthrew him. In his first act as newly-ignaugurated

President of Nicaragua The co-presidents of Nicaragua (), officially known as the presidency of the Republic of Nicaragua (), are the heads of state and head of government, government of Nicaragua. The office was created in the Constitution of 1854. From 1825 until ...

on May 1, 1967,

Anastasio Somoza Debayle Anastasio "Tachito" Somoza Debayle (; 5 December 1925 – 17 September 1980) was a Nicaraguan politician who served as the 53rd President of Nicaragua from 1967 to 1972 and again from 1974 to 1979. As head of the National Guard (Nicaragu ...

conferred Nicaragua's highest decoration, the Grand Cross of Ruben Dario, on Ambassador Spruille Braden and his wife Verbena for their "unstinting efforts in the cause of freedom in all of Latin America".

Later life

Braden served as president of the Metropolitan Club of New York, founded in 1891 by

J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. As the head of the banking firm that ...

, from 1967 to 1973. He died in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

of a heart ailment after unsuccessfully lobbying against the Torrijos–Carter Treaties.

Works

*''Diplomats and Demagogues: The Memoirs of Spruille Braden'', Arlington House, 1971,

References

Works cited

*Scenna, Miguel A. (1974), ''Braden y Perón'', Buenos Aires: Korrigan. *Frank, Gary (1980). ''Juan Peron vs. Spruille Braden : the story behind the blue book''. Lanham, MD : University Press of America *Trask, Roger R. ''Spruille Braden versus George Messersmith: World War II, the Cold War, and Argentine Policy, 1945–1947'' in the ''Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs'', Vol. 26, No. 1 (Feb., 1984), pp. 69–95

External links

Democracy’s Bull
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'', November 15, 1945 {{DEFAULTSORT:Braden, Spruille 1894 births 1978 deaths Montclair Kimberley Academy alumni United States assistant secretaries of state People from Jefferson County, Montana Ambassadors of the United States to Cuba Ambassadors of the United States to Argentina Ambassadors of the United States to Colombia Burials at Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Hawthorne, New York) 20th-century American diplomats Yale University alumni John Birch Society members