Below is a partial episode from the Educational Broadcast Corporation television documentary series titled, A World on Fire, which originally aired in the spring of 1987. The below episode is narrated by Patrick Stewart, and the title of the episode is: The Third Mexican Republic and the Repatriation of Sonora and Chihuahua.
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Mexico City, January 17, 1945. The Second Great War has been over for approximately six months, and the Mexican Republican movement, which the United States has supported for so many years, has just seized power from the last of the Habsburg-Lorraine emperors to rule over Mexico.
(Black and white film footage of Emperor Francisco José II, and his mistress, hanging upside down from a balcony on an upper floor of the Imperial Palace in Mexico City. The faces of both the emperor and his mistress appear badly broken and disfigured; their arms hang loosely over their heads towards the ground. The crowd in the public square below cheers as the ropes are cut, and both bodies fall into the square.)
The Second Mexican Empire finally comes to an end after roughly eighty-two years of existence, and from its ashes arises the Third Republic of Mexico.
(Black and white film footage of soldiers from the Republican movement going through the extremely ornate rooms of the Imperial Palace looking for whatever they may find.)
(Black and white film footage of a jubilant crowd gathered in Mexico City's main square to celebrate the overthrowing of the emperor. A few people are dancing to live music as others in the crowd hold up signs reading -Viva La Revolución! - Paper streamers and confetti fill the air and speckle the crowd. A young woman in her early twenties runs up to the camera and displays the front page of a newspaper. The headline on the paper reads, La República Está Declarada! The young woman then turns away and darts back into the moving dancing mob of people. The Metropolitan Cathedral can be seen in the background beyond the swarm of people.)
Within a few days of the emperor's death, the head of the Mexican Republican movement, Martin Alcantar Valdés, is sworn into office as Mexico's new president, and although no elections have been held, it is simply a foregone conclusion among many that he will lead the new Mexican government.
During the roughly seventy-two hours between the death of Emperor Francisco José II, and the inauguration of President Valdés, the Mayor of Mexico City is briefly the highest ranking public official in the capitol, and thus the presidential swearing in ceremony is held in his office.
(Color film footage of President Valdés' swearing in ceremony being held inside the mayor's office within Mexico City's Palacio de Ayuntamiento. There are only a few attorneys, city clerks, and a handful of reporters in attendance.)
As a gesture of goodwill towards the new regime, US President Thomas Dewey announces that US troops will be completely withdrawn from the Baja Peninsula, and that Baja California shall be returned to the people of Mexico. US troops begin heading north into the US state of California exactly one week after the death of Emperor Francisco José.
(Black and white film footage of the first and second battalions of the US Army 40th Infantry Division reentering the United States at a border control crossing near San Diego, California. An MP holds a retractable barrier up and out of the way as vehicle after vehicle speeds past the check point in the pre-dawn gloom. Most are covered troop trucks, but there are also a few staff cars, jeeps, and an occasional flatbed truck carrying a barrel included in the convoy. Both sides of the two lane highway are pressed into service in order to move the massive number of troops northwards, and the two solid lanes of military traffic extend back into Mexico as far as the camera can see.
The troops being garrisoned in Baja California are badly needed by the US War Department to bolster its occupation forces already serving in the defeated Confederacy, so the overthrowing of the Second Mexican Empire comes as a complete blessing to US military planners in Philadelphia.
However, when US military strategists had assessed the situation in Mexico just a few months prior, it had not been immediately clear as to whether or not the Mexican Republican movement could actually unseat the Emperor of Mexico anytime within the foreseeable future. As a result of this uncertainty, the US government clandestinely begins working on a plan to establish the Republic of Baja California. US State Department officials quietly handpick a retired school administrator and mathematician, by the name of Ruben De La Cruz, from the town of Ensenada to serve as interim president until elections can be held at a later date.
(Black and white photographic image of a studious thin-faced man in his late fifties sporting a ring of gray hair around his impressively large bald head.)
Nevertheless, just as the US White House is about to announce a timetable for an independent Republic of Baja California, soldiers of the Mexican Republican movement are finally able to break through Imperial defenses surrounding Mexico City, and to storm the emperor's palace. The would be president of Baja California is given amnesty in the sleepy US town of Palo Alto, California, and the covert scheme to turn Baja California into an independent state is quickly forgotten about in the aftermath of the revolution in Mexico City.
(Color film footage of motley looking Republican troops raising the flag of the republic in front of the Imperial Palace in Mexico City. The main square is full of people who have come out early to watch the first raising of Mexico's new flag, and the crowd lets out a collective cheer as the previously unseen banner is hoisted to the top of its pole.)
With a new regime now ruling over Mexico, diplomatic relations between the US and Mexico improve immeasurably over the blatant hostility occurring throughout the years of the Second Mexican Empire. These improved relations are in no doubt at least partially due to the US government's many years of unwavering support for the Republican movement during its long struggle to overthrow the Mexican Emperor, and also to the recent return of Baja California to Mexico by the US government.
(Black and white film footage of a US Vice President Harry Truman and US Secretary of State Prescott Bush visiting the Pyramid of the Sun outside Mexico City. The US diplomats are standing some distance from the base of the pyramid as a general from the Republican army points to the top of the carved stone monument while explaining something to Secretary of State Bush. Bush nods and then his eyes trace the length of the steep stairway as if he is imagining some unseen scene.)
While earlier generations of Mexicans tended to view the US as the great Yankee invader which had stolen Mexico's entire northern frontier, the Mexican people of the late 1940s tend to view the US as a trustworthy friend which has helped the people of Mexico to liberate themselves from a foreign dictatorship imposed upon them by Great Britain, France, and the Confederate States of America.
(Black and white Footage of US businessmen gambling in a Cancun casino which had previously been the exclusive domain of CS and British business magnates.)
As one Mexican journalist of the period put it, "While the loss of the Northern Territories will always remain an extremely painful event in the history of our country, eighty two years of rule under the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty was ten thousand times worse!"
In order to draw the two countries closer together, US officials sign several lucrative bilateral trade agreements with their Mexican counterparts. These agreements help to stimulate the Mexican economy by granting Mexican companies nearly unfettered access to the burgeoning US consumer market.
(Black and white film footage of unprocessed sugar being loaded into railroad tanker cars for shipment to the US.
(Early 1960s Color film footage of female factory worker soldering circuitry inside a battery operated talking doll.)
(Black and white footage of workers in lab coats using work-bench mounted magnifying glasses to assemble precision men's watches for the US market.)
Meanwhile, the US populace is generally pleased with the prospect of now finally having a friendly neighbor along their southern border, and in the post-war boom years, many people from the US travel south of the border to experience Mexico's warm hospitality first hand.
(Color film footage of a smiling well-to-do family of US tourists walking down the gangway leading from their luxury cruise ship which has just recently docked in Acapulco. The footage jumps to the same family later eating burgers and fries at a busy sidewalk cafe as the children wear novelty sombrero hats.)
(Color film footage of Southern California teenagers heading down the Baja Coast to check out the surf scene on the beaches south of Tijuana. An assorted collection of modified Model A Fords, woodie station wagons, and pickup trucks full of rambunctious youth make their way south along the scenic two lane highway. A pair of blond surfers rides their wooden boards all the way up on to the sand, but the looks upon their faces say that these are not the waves that they are looking for. A picnic on the beach, fried chicken, corn on the cob, and perhaps a few beers sold to them by the enterprising owner of a local cantina. The long drive back home to Orange County as the sun is beginning to set.)
However, as relations between the United States and Mexico improve, the situation between the republics of Texas and Mexico turns blatantly hostile.
(Black and white footage of Mexican soldiers along the Rio Grand engaged in an artillery duel with soldiers of the Texas Self Defense Force on the other side of the river. The unmerciful sun beats down upon the desert landscape as Mexican troops don gas-masks and other protective clothing apparently in preparation for a raid across the international border.)
The Confederate States of America and the Empire of Mexico had maintained close political and military ties throughout the roughly eight decade long rule of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty over the Mexican people. However, upon the establishment of the new Republican government in Mexico City, many officials in the new Mexican government come to view the Republic of Texas as nothing other than a rump-state continuation of the old CSA.
(A 1945 political cartoon from a Mexican newspaper depicting a map of North America. The new flag of the republic highlights Mexico, the Stars and Stripes dominate most of the rest of the continent, but the area of the map depicting the Republic of Texas is shown highlighted by the old CS Freedom Party flag.)
Many within the new Mexican government believe that the Republic of Texas is at least partially responsible for the human rights violations committed by Confederate mercenaries employed by Emperor Francisco José II, and many firebrands within the new regime even go so far as to claim that Texas is a renegade province that must be rejoined to Mexico, by force if necessary.
(Black and white film footage of nervous looking Texas diplomats leaving a meeting with their Mexican counterparts at the Presidential Palace in Mexico City. Instead of being able to sign a peace agreement, the Texan diplomats are subjected to more than two hours of continual verbal abuse and harassment by member of Mexico's Republican government.)
The continual border clashes along the Rio Grand go relatively unnoticed in Washington DC as US officials instead focus their attention upon the ongoing Freedom Party resistance movement occurring throughout the defeated Confederacy. It will not be until March of 1946 until the Dewey administration forces both sides to stop firing at each other.
(A 1945 political cartoon from a Texas newspaper: The face of a grimacing President Patman is portrayed as a walnut being crushed in a powerful looking bench vise. One jaw of the vise is labeled "US" while the other is labeled "Mexico".)
In the meanwhile, with Baja California now back in Mexico's control, questions are raised all around about the futures of Sonora and Chihuahua.
(Black and white film footage of a chain link fence topped with heavy razor wire separating the US state of New Mexico from the portion of Sonora that was officially annexed by the US during the war. A sign affixed to the fence proclaims in bold red letters - STOP! DO NOT ENTER! ACTIVE MINEFIELD AHEAD! - and below that in smaller letters US War Department. The relatively new looking barbed wire fence cuts directly across a two lane blacktop road which stretches off towards some distant mountains on the other side of the border.)
Between January 1945 and December 1945 the US simultaneously considers three possible options concerning the future disposition of Sonora and Chihuahua.
(Black and white 1944 film footage of US Navy officers and civilian War Department officials inspecting the former Confederate naval base at Guaymas, Sonora. The group of officials stop to admire a picturesque Spanish style two-story administration building which has come through the war without any visible damage. The camera pans around to show the spacious lawn and low shrubbery lining the walks in front of the building. There is a bronze statue of Confederate President James Longstreet lying on its side in the middle of the lawn, presumably toppled over by US Marines when they took over the base just a few months earlier. A US Admiral walks over and spits a huge mass of cigar stained mucus onto the statue's face. The film cuts to salvage operations focused upon raising Confederate naval vessels, mostly small destroyers and support vessels which were scuttled at their moorings by the surrendering Confederates.)
The first option the US has is to simply hold onto Sonora and Chihuahua, and to officially make them US states at some point in the future. During the months after the war, there is some serious discussion regarding US statehood for the two former CS states, but many government officials raise concerns over admitting two new states in which whites, on average, make up less than a third of the population. Many officials within the US government are concerned that admitting Sonora and Chihuahua may lead to future societal problems, and with the issue of black death camp survivors still unresolved, many in Washington DC are hesitant to take on this extra burden.
Additionally, soon after the war ends, the US Department of the Interior sends surveyors into Sonora and Chihuahua to investigate the mineral wealth found in both states. After an exhaustive study is conducted, the interior department concludes that although the coastal mountains of Sonora contain scattered deposits of precious metals, generally speaking both states lack sufficient mineral wealth to make large scale economic development a feasible possibility. Likewise, the US Army Corps of Engineers simultaneously concludes that a lack of available fresh water will indefinitely hinder commercial agriculture and major industrial development.
(Color film footage of field engineers working for the California San Joaquin Oil Company setting off explosive charges in the desert of Chihuahua in hopes of finding oil. The engineer uses his thumb to press a large red button mounted on a panel located on the side of a special purpose utility truck he is standing next to. The detonation sends up a huge flower of rock and sand several miles in the distance. Two other men wearing wide brim hats study the narrow graph paper that is being spit out by a seismograph machine which is also mounted in the back of the truck. The two continue to examine the narrow ribbon of paper as it is spit out of the machine, but after a few seconds they both shake their heads in the negative indicating that they do not see the telltale seismic echo indicative of a large oil deposit under the ground.)
In addition to the lopsided racial makeup, and the apparent lack of abundant mineral resources, US officials also have deep concerns regarding the general backwardness and lack of modern infrastructure found in both states.
(Color film footage of a young school teacher at a one room school somewhere in the Sonoran Desert using an old fashioned hand pump located in the school yard to provide water for her barefoot students.)
Although the Confederate government did manage to complete some basic infrastructure projects during the roughly sixty-two year period in which Sonora and Chihuahua were a part of the Confederacy, by the start of the Second Great War these two states still remain relatively underdeveloped and backwards when compared to the rest of the former Confederacy, and even more so when compared to the US. Officials in Washington DC quickly realize that it will cost billions of US taxpayer dollars to completely bring Sonora and Chihuahua up to modern US standards, but with the ongoing occupation of the Confederacy, doing so is not a viable option.
(Color film footage of an impoverished Sonoran farmer using a burrow to plow a small field somewhere in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range. A small child lingering in the doorway of an unpainted house is plagued by a swarm of flies as she observes her father laboring in the nearby field.)
While the majority of white Confederates living in Sonora and Chihuahua enjoy standards of living comparable to other English speaking areas of North America, most mestizo and Hispanics live at or near the poverty line.
(Grainy color home movie footage depicting a group of young upper-class white women in their early twenties lounging around an outdoor swimming pool which is overlooking a scenic desert valley landscape. The women sport dark sunglasses and the latest Hollywood swimsuit fashions as they pose themselves on towel covered patio furniture. The scene is full of tan lean bodies, blond hair, and beautiful faces. A matronly mestizo woman dressed in a blue maid's uniform slowly walks into the scene and sets a large platter of sliced fruit on a nearby wooden table. A young girl sunning herself on a reclining lounge chair removes a cigarette from her mouth and bites into a succulent piece of cantaloupe.)
After deciding that turning Sonora and Chihuahua into US states is not in the direct best interests of the country, officials in Washington DC begin to focus more attention on the second option, which is to simply grant the two former CS states to the Republic of Texas. Soon after it first opens its doors in Washington DC, the Texas Embassy begins to aggressively lobby members of the US Congress to have Sonora and Chihuahua granted to the Republic of Texas.
(Black and white film footage of the two story neo-colonial brick mansion on New Mexico Street in Washington DC which has been turned into the Texas Embassy. A US solider manning a booth located at the main pedestrian gate checks the identification of a couple of people entering the embassy compound. A Texan flag flies from a pole located in the middle of the lawn a few feet from the concrete patch leading to the front entrance of the building. A black and white Ford Sedan with civilian police markings on its front doors sits parked at the curb in front of the embassy.)
(A black and white still image of a map published by the Texas Expansionists Party. The map depicts the Republic of Texas as covering lands stretching from, Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip of Baja California, to, Texarkana on the Texas Arkansas border.)
However, the Texas Expansionists are undeterred when the Dewey administration announces that Baja California shall be returned to Mexico, and in their view the reason for remaining optimistic is that Baja California was never a part of the Confederate States of America, therefore it should not be a part of the Republic of Texas as well.
(Black and white film footage depicting members of the Texas Expansionist Party attending a committee meeting as their latest party banner is revealed for the first time. The party banner is similar to the national flag of Texas, except that it has three smaller stars arraigned in a vertical row instead of just one lone star. The three stars represent Texas, Sonora, and Chihuahua. The previous party banner held a fourth star for Baja California. The delegates attending the meeting politely clap at the display of their new party flag.)
Should Sonora and Chihuahua be granted to the Republic of Texas, the Texas Expansionist propose that the former CS navy base at Guaymas should be turned into a US Navy base, and that the already existing railroad line between Texas and the Sonoran Coast should be used to supply the speculative US naval installation.
(Black and white still image depicting the railway line between Guaymas and the industrial heartland surrounding the Dallas Fort Worth area. The red line zig-zags through the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range before flattening out approximately seventy-five miles west of El Paso. From El Paso the line follows a straight path across the US state of Houston before crossing the border into the Republic of Texas near the city of Abilene. From Abilene the railway then makes a beeline straight across the prairie to the city of Dallas.)
The Texas Expansionists believe that the United States government will see the necessity in having a "Little American brother" to help the US administer its influences over the more southerly reaches of the North American continent, and for a period of time at least, it appears that this proposal is given serious support by a handful of US Congressmen.
(Color film footage of Congressmen Berry Goldwater informally chatting with five or six US Senators in the rotunda of the US Capitol Building. A huge landscape painting depicting the 1914 Battle of Pearl Harbor can be seen behind Goldwater, and the angle of the camera makes it appear that the fiery destruction of the Royal Navy's concrete battleship is coming of out the top of Senator Goldwater's head. The senators listen intently to what Goldwater is telling them, but then one of them shakes his head "No" and walks away.)
However, while a few members in both houses express interest in the idea, no official measures are ever put before Congress, and the scheme is dealt its final death knell in late 1945 as the War Department issues a report to the White House outlining future potential pitfalls associated with handing over Sonora and Chihuahua to the Republic of Texas.
(Black and white still image of map titled: Theoretical Texas Expansion - 1995. The map has been stamped Classified - August 9, 1945, with the initials of some forgotten clerk working within the US War Department included in a square box just below the classification date. A smaller stamp mark in the upper right corner of the page declares that the map was declassified on October 15, 1980. The map depicts the hypothetical Texas of the year 1995 as covering the states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Houston, Sequoyah, much of Northern Mexico, the Sandwich Islands, as well as the original Texas homeland.)
The report authored by top officials within the War Department warns that transferring the two former Confederate States to the Republic of Texas may embolden Texas nationalists, and thus the US could find itself facing a potential challenger to its hegemony over the North American continent, a possibly dangerous rival which the US itself would be responsible for having created.
(Black and white still image of US President Dewey sitting at the head of the large table in the Cabinet Room of the White House. US Secretary of State Prescott Bush is standing to one side of the president, as the General of the US Army, Daniel MacArthur stands to the other side of the president while leaning over to indicate something on the map. Both President Dewey and Secretary of State Bush seem to be listening very carefully as MacArthur explains what he is pointing to on the map. US Attorney General Albert Brownell sits in his usual spot to the president's right. Brownell's hands are clasped together on the table in front of him as stares ahead as if in deep thought.)
The US government's third and final option regarding the future of Sonora and Chihuahua is to simply repatriate the two states back to Mexico, and thus after listening to the recommendations of his top-advisors, on December 31st, 1945, President Dewey officially announces that the two states shall be returned to the people of Mexico. The act of returning the two states will essentially return the US - Mexico border to the position it held following the 1854 Gadsden Purchase.
However, before Sonora and Chihuahua can be returned, the US military must first mop up the few stubborn pockets of Freedom Party resistance remaining in those two states.
(Black and white film footage of US troops fighting a ground battle with Freedom Party extremists who have taken up refuge on a ranch outside of New Montgomery, Sonora. A US sniper who has taken up position in a nearby water tower lays down suppression fire as a four man team of US infantrymen work their way towards a large utility shed where a number of Freedom Party Guards are held up. One of the US soldiers uses the butt of his rifle to break in a window on the side of the building. Another soldier quickly inserts the nozzle of a flame thrower and quickly squeezes the trigger. As the surviving Freedom Party men come out of the building, many with their clothes still on fire, they are picked off one by one by other US troops who are lurking behind nearby buildings and pieces of large equipment. A grit covered US solider smiles as he smokes a cigarette for the movie camera. The camera pans down to find the soldiers boot firmly planted upon the thoroughly cooked remains of a human head.)
Once the last major pockets of Freedom Party resistance have been wiped out, US occupation troops can be pulled out and sent eastward into the Old Confederacy where the Freedom Party resistance movement is still a threat. It will be up to Mexican troops to deal with any remaining Freedom Party occurring after the repatriation.
(Color film footage of US Vice President Harry Truman attending a handing over ceremony in Guaymas, Sonora held on March 2, 1946. US troops lower the Stars and Stripes, as similarly dressed Mexican soldiers raise the new Republican flag of Mexico. A similar handing over ceremony will be held in the Chihuahua City, the state capital of Chihuahua on October 12, 1946.)
However, with Sonora and Chihuahua back in Mexican hands, law and order in those two states quickly breaks down, and chills are sent down the spines of Texas government officials in Austin as refugees trickling across the Rio Grand tell stories of ethnic cleansing occurring throughout the two returned states.
(Silent black and white film footage, presumably filmed with a home-movie camera, depicting a terrified well-dressed white-Anglo woman being attacked by a mob of angry mestizo peasants in a sunny town square somewhere outside of New Montgomery. One of the woman's eyes is completely swollen shut as she uses a hand to compress a wound in her scalp that is sending a cascade of blood down the side of her neck. She uses her other hand to make a pleading gesture towards the unseen person behind the camera, but no assistance is forthcoming. In the background behind the panicked injured woman can be seen an expensive looking Vauxhall Town Car, its tailpipe still sending tiny puffs of exhaust into the bright morning air. All of the doors of the luxury car are wide open, with several indistinguishable bodies crumpled on the ground near the front of the vehicle. For the moment the angry peasants are focused on venting their rage upon the crumpled bodies lying near the car's wide bumper. Suddenly, as if perhaps summoned by the person operating the movie camera, the mob made up of mostly drunken men appears to realize that the bloodied woman has wandered away from them. The mob abandons the victims on the ground in front of the car, and rushes to where the woman is standing in front of the camera. The woman disappears out of sight as she is taken to the ground by the angry men. Elbows and fists can be seen flying as bits of bloody clothing are torn off and thrown away.)
Theoretically, the white-Anglos living in Sonora and Chihuahua are supposed to be granted full Mexican citizenship upon the return of those two states to Mexico. However, few step in to protect the isolated former Confederates as they are systematically murdered by organized Mexican peasants seeking retribution for what they consider to be decades spent living under an oppressive feudal system segregated by race.
(Black and white footage of officials from the new Republican government of Sonora serving an eviction notice on a white former Confederate family and ordering them off of their large estate outside the city of Imuris, Sonora. An official uses a hammer and nail to tack a notice onto the ornate carved front door of the huge mansion. The anglo-Confederate family is allowed to flee in a sedan with only what they can carry.)
Just as many Mormons have grown weary of living in the US state of Utah, and have opted to resettle in the world's far flung corners, many former Confederate citizens make their way away from Sonora and Chihuahua to resettle in the remote Australian Outback, where they are known locally as "Featherstoners" after the last President of the Confederacy, Jake Featherston.
(The camera pans across a color landscape photo depicting a medium sized group of people posing in front of rugged clapboard buildings, similar to the type seen in the American Old West. One of the buildings appears to be some sort of a store, with the words "Huge Sale" displayed on a sign taped to the inside of a front facing window. The next structure is a one story bar or saloon with a squared off high-rise false front giving the impression of a nonexistent second story. The last building appears to be either a post office or a bank, but its purpose isn't easily discernible from the photo. The men, women, and children depicted in the group generally appear to be healthy and happy in their new surroundings, and everyone is smiling. Some of the men are wearing shirts and trousers from their old Confederate military uniforms, while nearly everyone else, including the women and children are dressed in sturdy looking work clothes. At one end of the group a school child is proudly holding the Stars and Bars flag of the Confederacy, while at the opposite end of the group a second child holds the Australian national flag with equal pride. Someone in the back row is holding a placard over their head reading "FREEDOM!" but only one person is doing so.)
By the mid-1960s there will be only a handful of Confederate Anglos still living in Sonora and Chihuahua, with most of them residing in and around the US economic zone surrounding Guaymas. However, over the next forty years, there will be persistent, but unfounded, rumors of a Freedom Party redoubt hidden somewhere in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range of Sonora.
Tune into next week's episode, the Battle of Jackson, and the establishment of the USOA.
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Mexico City, January 17, 1945. The Second Great War has been over for approximately six months, and the Mexican Republican movement, which the United States has supported for so many years, has just seized power from the last of the Habsburg-Lorraine emperors to rule over Mexico.
(Black and white film footage of Emperor Francisco José II, and his mistress, hanging upside down from a balcony on an upper floor of the Imperial Palace in Mexico City. The faces of both the emperor and his mistress appear badly broken and disfigured; their arms hang loosely over their heads towards the ground. The crowd in the public square below cheers as the ropes are cut, and both bodies fall into the square.)
The Second Mexican Empire finally comes to an end after roughly eighty-two years of existence, and from its ashes arises the Third Republic of Mexico.
(Black and white film footage of soldiers from the Republican movement going through the extremely ornate rooms of the Imperial Palace looking for whatever they may find.)
(Black and white film footage of a jubilant crowd gathered in Mexico City's main square to celebrate the overthrowing of the emperor. A few people are dancing to live music as others in the crowd hold up signs reading -Viva La Revolución! - Paper streamers and confetti fill the air and speckle the crowd. A young woman in her early twenties runs up to the camera and displays the front page of a newspaper. The headline on the paper reads, La República Está Declarada! The young woman then turns away and darts back into the moving dancing mob of people. The Metropolitan Cathedral can be seen in the background beyond the swarm of people.)
Within a few days of the emperor's death, the head of the Mexican Republican movement, Martin Alcantar Valdés, is sworn into office as Mexico's new president, and although no elections have been held, it is simply a foregone conclusion among many that he will lead the new Mexican government.
During the roughly seventy-two hours between the death of Emperor Francisco José II, and the inauguration of President Valdés, the Mayor of Mexico City is briefly the highest ranking public official in the capitol, and thus the presidential swearing in ceremony is held in his office.
(Color film footage of President Valdés' swearing in ceremony being held inside the mayor's office within Mexico City's Palacio de Ayuntamiento. There are only a few attorneys, city clerks, and a handful of reporters in attendance.)
As a gesture of goodwill towards the new regime, US President Thomas Dewey announces that US troops will be completely withdrawn from the Baja Peninsula, and that Baja California shall be returned to the people of Mexico. US troops begin heading north into the US state of California exactly one week after the death of Emperor Francisco José.
(Black and white film footage of the first and second battalions of the US Army 40th Infantry Division reentering the United States at a border control crossing near San Diego, California. An MP holds a retractable barrier up and out of the way as vehicle after vehicle speeds past the check point in the pre-dawn gloom. Most are covered troop trucks, but there are also a few staff cars, jeeps, and an occasional flatbed truck carrying a barrel included in the convoy. Both sides of the two lane highway are pressed into service in order to move the massive number of troops northwards, and the two solid lanes of military traffic extend back into Mexico as far as the camera can see.
The troops being garrisoned in Baja California are badly needed by the US War Department to bolster its occupation forces already serving in the defeated Confederacy, so the overthrowing of the Second Mexican Empire comes as a complete blessing to US military planners in Philadelphia.
However, when US military strategists had assessed the situation in Mexico just a few months prior, it had not been immediately clear as to whether or not the Mexican Republican movement could actually unseat the Emperor of Mexico anytime within the foreseeable future. As a result of this uncertainty, the US government clandestinely begins working on a plan to establish the Republic of Baja California. US State Department officials quietly handpick a retired school administrator and mathematician, by the name of Ruben De La Cruz, from the town of Ensenada to serve as interim president until elections can be held at a later date.
(Black and white photographic image of a studious thin-faced man in his late fifties sporting a ring of gray hair around his impressively large bald head.)
Nevertheless, just as the US White House is about to announce a timetable for an independent Republic of Baja California, soldiers of the Mexican Republican movement are finally able to break through Imperial defenses surrounding Mexico City, and to storm the emperor's palace. The would be president of Baja California is given amnesty in the sleepy US town of Palo Alto, California, and the covert scheme to turn Baja California into an independent state is quickly forgotten about in the aftermath of the revolution in Mexico City.
(Color film footage of motley looking Republican troops raising the flag of the republic in front of the Imperial Palace in Mexico City. The main square is full of people who have come out early to watch the first raising of Mexico's new flag, and the crowd lets out a collective cheer as the previously unseen banner is hoisted to the top of its pole.)
With a new regime now ruling over Mexico, diplomatic relations between the US and Mexico improve immeasurably over the blatant hostility occurring throughout the years of the Second Mexican Empire. These improved relations are in no doubt at least partially due to the US government's many years of unwavering support for the Republican movement during its long struggle to overthrow the Mexican Emperor, and also to the recent return of Baja California to Mexico by the US government.
(Black and white film footage of a US Vice President Harry Truman and US Secretary of State Prescott Bush visiting the Pyramid of the Sun outside Mexico City. The US diplomats are standing some distance from the base of the pyramid as a general from the Republican army points to the top of the carved stone monument while explaining something to Secretary of State Bush. Bush nods and then his eyes trace the length of the steep stairway as if he is imagining some unseen scene.)
While earlier generations of Mexicans tended to view the US as the great Yankee invader which had stolen Mexico's entire northern frontier, the Mexican people of the late 1940s tend to view the US as a trustworthy friend which has helped the people of Mexico to liberate themselves from a foreign dictatorship imposed upon them by Great Britain, France, and the Confederate States of America.
(Black and white Footage of US businessmen gambling in a Cancun casino which had previously been the exclusive domain of CS and British business magnates.)
As one Mexican journalist of the period put it, "While the loss of the Northern Territories will always remain an extremely painful event in the history of our country, eighty two years of rule under the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty was ten thousand times worse!"
In order to draw the two countries closer together, US officials sign several lucrative bilateral trade agreements with their Mexican counterparts. These agreements help to stimulate the Mexican economy by granting Mexican companies nearly unfettered access to the burgeoning US consumer market.
(Black and white film footage of unprocessed sugar being loaded into railroad tanker cars for shipment to the US.
(Early 1960s Color film footage of female factory worker soldering circuitry inside a battery operated talking doll.)
(Black and white footage of workers in lab coats using work-bench mounted magnifying glasses to assemble precision men's watches for the US market.)
Meanwhile, the US populace is generally pleased with the prospect of now finally having a friendly neighbor along their southern border, and in the post-war boom years, many people from the US travel south of the border to experience Mexico's warm hospitality first hand.
(Color film footage of a smiling well-to-do family of US tourists walking down the gangway leading from their luxury cruise ship which has just recently docked in Acapulco. The footage jumps to the same family later eating burgers and fries at a busy sidewalk cafe as the children wear novelty sombrero hats.)
(Color film footage of Southern California teenagers heading down the Baja Coast to check out the surf scene on the beaches south of Tijuana. An assorted collection of modified Model A Fords, woodie station wagons, and pickup trucks full of rambunctious youth make their way south along the scenic two lane highway. A pair of blond surfers rides their wooden boards all the way up on to the sand, but the looks upon their faces say that these are not the waves that they are looking for. A picnic on the beach, fried chicken, corn on the cob, and perhaps a few beers sold to them by the enterprising owner of a local cantina. The long drive back home to Orange County as the sun is beginning to set.)
However, as relations between the United States and Mexico improve, the situation between the republics of Texas and Mexico turns blatantly hostile.
(Black and white footage of Mexican soldiers along the Rio Grand engaged in an artillery duel with soldiers of the Texas Self Defense Force on the other side of the river. The unmerciful sun beats down upon the desert landscape as Mexican troops don gas-masks and other protective clothing apparently in preparation for a raid across the international border.)
The Confederate States of America and the Empire of Mexico had maintained close political and military ties throughout the roughly eight decade long rule of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty over the Mexican people. However, upon the establishment of the new Republican government in Mexico City, many officials in the new Mexican government come to view the Republic of Texas as nothing other than a rump-state continuation of the old CSA.
(A 1945 political cartoon from a Mexican newspaper depicting a map of North America. The new flag of the republic highlights Mexico, the Stars and Stripes dominate most of the rest of the continent, but the area of the map depicting the Republic of Texas is shown highlighted by the old CS Freedom Party flag.)
Many within the new Mexican government believe that the Republic of Texas is at least partially responsible for the human rights violations committed by Confederate mercenaries employed by Emperor Francisco José II, and many firebrands within the new regime even go so far as to claim that Texas is a renegade province that must be rejoined to Mexico, by force if necessary.
(Black and white film footage of nervous looking Texas diplomats leaving a meeting with their Mexican counterparts at the Presidential Palace in Mexico City. Instead of being able to sign a peace agreement, the Texan diplomats are subjected to more than two hours of continual verbal abuse and harassment by member of Mexico's Republican government.)
The continual border clashes along the Rio Grand go relatively unnoticed in Washington DC as US officials instead focus their attention upon the ongoing Freedom Party resistance movement occurring throughout the defeated Confederacy. It will not be until March of 1946 until the Dewey administration forces both sides to stop firing at each other.
(A 1945 political cartoon from a Texas newspaper: The face of a grimacing President Patman is portrayed as a walnut being crushed in a powerful looking bench vise. One jaw of the vise is labeled "US" while the other is labeled "Mexico".)
In the meanwhile, with Baja California now back in Mexico's control, questions are raised all around about the futures of Sonora and Chihuahua.
(Black and white film footage of a chain link fence topped with heavy razor wire separating the US state of New Mexico from the portion of Sonora that was officially annexed by the US during the war. A sign affixed to the fence proclaims in bold red letters - STOP! DO NOT ENTER! ACTIVE MINEFIELD AHEAD! - and below that in smaller letters US War Department. The relatively new looking barbed wire fence cuts directly across a two lane blacktop road which stretches off towards some distant mountains on the other side of the border.)
Between January 1945 and December 1945 the US simultaneously considers three possible options concerning the future disposition of Sonora and Chihuahua.
(Black and white 1944 film footage of US Navy officers and civilian War Department officials inspecting the former Confederate naval base at Guaymas, Sonora. The group of officials stop to admire a picturesque Spanish style two-story administration building which has come through the war without any visible damage. The camera pans around to show the spacious lawn and low shrubbery lining the walks in front of the building. There is a bronze statue of Confederate President James Longstreet lying on its side in the middle of the lawn, presumably toppled over by US Marines when they took over the base just a few months earlier. A US Admiral walks over and spits a huge mass of cigar stained mucus onto the statue's face. The film cuts to salvage operations focused upon raising Confederate naval vessels, mostly small destroyers and support vessels which were scuttled at their moorings by the surrendering Confederates.)
The first option the US has is to simply hold onto Sonora and Chihuahua, and to officially make them US states at some point in the future. During the months after the war, there is some serious discussion regarding US statehood for the two former CS states, but many government officials raise concerns over admitting two new states in which whites, on average, make up less than a third of the population. Many officials within the US government are concerned that admitting Sonora and Chihuahua may lead to future societal problems, and with the issue of black death camp survivors still unresolved, many in Washington DC are hesitant to take on this extra burden.
Additionally, soon after the war ends, the US Department of the Interior sends surveyors into Sonora and Chihuahua to investigate the mineral wealth found in both states. After an exhaustive study is conducted, the interior department concludes that although the coastal mountains of Sonora contain scattered deposits of precious metals, generally speaking both states lack sufficient mineral wealth to make large scale economic development a feasible possibility. Likewise, the US Army Corps of Engineers simultaneously concludes that a lack of available fresh water will indefinitely hinder commercial agriculture and major industrial development.
(Color film footage of field engineers working for the California San Joaquin Oil Company setting off explosive charges in the desert of Chihuahua in hopes of finding oil. The engineer uses his thumb to press a large red button mounted on a panel located on the side of a special purpose utility truck he is standing next to. The detonation sends up a huge flower of rock and sand several miles in the distance. Two other men wearing wide brim hats study the narrow graph paper that is being spit out by a seismograph machine which is also mounted in the back of the truck. The two continue to examine the narrow ribbon of paper as it is spit out of the machine, but after a few seconds they both shake their heads in the negative indicating that they do not see the telltale seismic echo indicative of a large oil deposit under the ground.)
In addition to the lopsided racial makeup, and the apparent lack of abundant mineral resources, US officials also have deep concerns regarding the general backwardness and lack of modern infrastructure found in both states.
(Color film footage of a young school teacher at a one room school somewhere in the Sonoran Desert using an old fashioned hand pump located in the school yard to provide water for her barefoot students.)
Although the Confederate government did manage to complete some basic infrastructure projects during the roughly sixty-two year period in which Sonora and Chihuahua were a part of the Confederacy, by the start of the Second Great War these two states still remain relatively underdeveloped and backwards when compared to the rest of the former Confederacy, and even more so when compared to the US. Officials in Washington DC quickly realize that it will cost billions of US taxpayer dollars to completely bring Sonora and Chihuahua up to modern US standards, but with the ongoing occupation of the Confederacy, doing so is not a viable option.
(Color film footage of an impoverished Sonoran farmer using a burrow to plow a small field somewhere in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range. A small child lingering in the doorway of an unpainted house is plagued by a swarm of flies as she observes her father laboring in the nearby field.)
While the majority of white Confederates living in Sonora and Chihuahua enjoy standards of living comparable to other English speaking areas of North America, most mestizo and Hispanics live at or near the poverty line.
(Grainy color home movie footage depicting a group of young upper-class white women in their early twenties lounging around an outdoor swimming pool which is overlooking a scenic desert valley landscape. The women sport dark sunglasses and the latest Hollywood swimsuit fashions as they pose themselves on towel covered patio furniture. The scene is full of tan lean bodies, blond hair, and beautiful faces. A matronly mestizo woman dressed in a blue maid's uniform slowly walks into the scene and sets a large platter of sliced fruit on a nearby wooden table. A young girl sunning herself on a reclining lounge chair removes a cigarette from her mouth and bites into a succulent piece of cantaloupe.)
After deciding that turning Sonora and Chihuahua into US states is not in the direct best interests of the country, officials in Washington DC begin to focus more attention on the second option, which is to simply grant the two former CS states to the Republic of Texas. Soon after it first opens its doors in Washington DC, the Texas Embassy begins to aggressively lobby members of the US Congress to have Sonora and Chihuahua granted to the Republic of Texas.
(Black and white film footage of the two story neo-colonial brick mansion on New Mexico Street in Washington DC which has been turned into the Texas Embassy. A US solider manning a booth located at the main pedestrian gate checks the identification of a couple of people entering the embassy compound. A Texan flag flies from a pole located in the middle of the lawn a few feet from the concrete patch leading to the front entrance of the building. A black and white Ford Sedan with civilian police markings on its front doors sits parked at the curb in front of the embassy.)
(A black and white still image of a map published by the Texas Expansionists Party. The map depicts the Republic of Texas as covering lands stretching from, Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip of Baja California, to, Texarkana on the Texas Arkansas border.)
However, the Texas Expansionists are undeterred when the Dewey administration announces that Baja California shall be returned to Mexico, and in their view the reason for remaining optimistic is that Baja California was never a part of the Confederate States of America, therefore it should not be a part of the Republic of Texas as well.
(Black and white film footage depicting members of the Texas Expansionist Party attending a committee meeting as their latest party banner is revealed for the first time. The party banner is similar to the national flag of Texas, except that it has three smaller stars arraigned in a vertical row instead of just one lone star. The three stars represent Texas, Sonora, and Chihuahua. The previous party banner held a fourth star for Baja California. The delegates attending the meeting politely clap at the display of their new party flag.)
Should Sonora and Chihuahua be granted to the Republic of Texas, the Texas Expansionist propose that the former CS navy base at Guaymas should be turned into a US Navy base, and that the already existing railroad line between Texas and the Sonoran Coast should be used to supply the speculative US naval installation.
(Black and white still image depicting the railway line between Guaymas and the industrial heartland surrounding the Dallas Fort Worth area. The red line zig-zags through the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range before flattening out approximately seventy-five miles west of El Paso. From El Paso the line follows a straight path across the US state of Houston before crossing the border into the Republic of Texas near the city of Abilene. From Abilene the railway then makes a beeline straight across the prairie to the city of Dallas.)
The Texas Expansionists believe that the United States government will see the necessity in having a "Little American brother" to help the US administer its influences over the more southerly reaches of the North American continent, and for a period of time at least, it appears that this proposal is given serious support by a handful of US Congressmen.
(Color film footage of Congressmen Berry Goldwater informally chatting with five or six US Senators in the rotunda of the US Capitol Building. A huge landscape painting depicting the 1914 Battle of Pearl Harbor can be seen behind Goldwater, and the angle of the camera makes it appear that the fiery destruction of the Royal Navy's concrete battleship is coming of out the top of Senator Goldwater's head. The senators listen intently to what Goldwater is telling them, but then one of them shakes his head "No" and walks away.)
However, while a few members in both houses express interest in the idea, no official measures are ever put before Congress, and the scheme is dealt its final death knell in late 1945 as the War Department issues a report to the White House outlining future potential pitfalls associated with handing over Sonora and Chihuahua to the Republic of Texas.
(Black and white still image of map titled: Theoretical Texas Expansion - 1995. The map has been stamped Classified - August 9, 1945, with the initials of some forgotten clerk working within the US War Department included in a square box just below the classification date. A smaller stamp mark in the upper right corner of the page declares that the map was declassified on October 15, 1980. The map depicts the hypothetical Texas of the year 1995 as covering the states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Houston, Sequoyah, much of Northern Mexico, the Sandwich Islands, as well as the original Texas homeland.)
The report authored by top officials within the War Department warns that transferring the two former Confederate States to the Republic of Texas may embolden Texas nationalists, and thus the US could find itself facing a potential challenger to its hegemony over the North American continent, a possibly dangerous rival which the US itself would be responsible for having created.
(Black and white still image of US President Dewey sitting at the head of the large table in the Cabinet Room of the White House. US Secretary of State Prescott Bush is standing to one side of the president, as the General of the US Army, Daniel MacArthur stands to the other side of the president while leaning over to indicate something on the map. Both President Dewey and Secretary of State Bush seem to be listening very carefully as MacArthur explains what he is pointing to on the map. US Attorney General Albert Brownell sits in his usual spot to the president's right. Brownell's hands are clasped together on the table in front of him as stares ahead as if in deep thought.)
The US government's third and final option regarding the future of Sonora and Chihuahua is to simply repatriate the two states back to Mexico, and thus after listening to the recommendations of his top-advisors, on December 31st, 1945, President Dewey officially announces that the two states shall be returned to the people of Mexico. The act of returning the two states will essentially return the US - Mexico border to the position it held following the 1854 Gadsden Purchase.
However, before Sonora and Chihuahua can be returned, the US military must first mop up the few stubborn pockets of Freedom Party resistance remaining in those two states.
(Black and white film footage of US troops fighting a ground battle with Freedom Party extremists who have taken up refuge on a ranch outside of New Montgomery, Sonora. A US sniper who has taken up position in a nearby water tower lays down suppression fire as a four man team of US infantrymen work their way towards a large utility shed where a number of Freedom Party Guards are held up. One of the US soldiers uses the butt of his rifle to break in a window on the side of the building. Another soldier quickly inserts the nozzle of a flame thrower and quickly squeezes the trigger. As the surviving Freedom Party men come out of the building, many with their clothes still on fire, they are picked off one by one by other US troops who are lurking behind nearby buildings and pieces of large equipment. A grit covered US solider smiles as he smokes a cigarette for the movie camera. The camera pans down to find the soldiers boot firmly planted upon the thoroughly cooked remains of a human head.)
Once the last major pockets of Freedom Party resistance have been wiped out, US occupation troops can be pulled out and sent eastward into the Old Confederacy where the Freedom Party resistance movement is still a threat. It will be up to Mexican troops to deal with any remaining Freedom Party occurring after the repatriation.
(Color film footage of US Vice President Harry Truman attending a handing over ceremony in Guaymas, Sonora held on March 2, 1946. US troops lower the Stars and Stripes, as similarly dressed Mexican soldiers raise the new Republican flag of Mexico. A similar handing over ceremony will be held in the Chihuahua City, the state capital of Chihuahua on October 12, 1946.)
However, with Sonora and Chihuahua back in Mexican hands, law and order in those two states quickly breaks down, and chills are sent down the spines of Texas government officials in Austin as refugees trickling across the Rio Grand tell stories of ethnic cleansing occurring throughout the two returned states.
(Silent black and white film footage, presumably filmed with a home-movie camera, depicting a terrified well-dressed white-Anglo woman being attacked by a mob of angry mestizo peasants in a sunny town square somewhere outside of New Montgomery. One of the woman's eyes is completely swollen shut as she uses a hand to compress a wound in her scalp that is sending a cascade of blood down the side of her neck. She uses her other hand to make a pleading gesture towards the unseen person behind the camera, but no assistance is forthcoming. In the background behind the panicked injured woman can be seen an expensive looking Vauxhall Town Car, its tailpipe still sending tiny puffs of exhaust into the bright morning air. All of the doors of the luxury car are wide open, with several indistinguishable bodies crumpled on the ground near the front of the vehicle. For the moment the angry peasants are focused on venting their rage upon the crumpled bodies lying near the car's wide bumper. Suddenly, as if perhaps summoned by the person operating the movie camera, the mob made up of mostly drunken men appears to realize that the bloodied woman has wandered away from them. The mob abandons the victims on the ground in front of the car, and rushes to where the woman is standing in front of the camera. The woman disappears out of sight as she is taken to the ground by the angry men. Elbows and fists can be seen flying as bits of bloody clothing are torn off and thrown away.)
Theoretically, the white-Anglos living in Sonora and Chihuahua are supposed to be granted full Mexican citizenship upon the return of those two states to Mexico. However, few step in to protect the isolated former Confederates as they are systematically murdered by organized Mexican peasants seeking retribution for what they consider to be decades spent living under an oppressive feudal system segregated by race.
(Black and white footage of officials from the new Republican government of Sonora serving an eviction notice on a white former Confederate family and ordering them off of their large estate outside the city of Imuris, Sonora. An official uses a hammer and nail to tack a notice onto the ornate carved front door of the huge mansion. The anglo-Confederate family is allowed to flee in a sedan with only what they can carry.)
Just as many Mormons have grown weary of living in the US state of Utah, and have opted to resettle in the world's far flung corners, many former Confederate citizens make their way away from Sonora and Chihuahua to resettle in the remote Australian Outback, where they are known locally as "Featherstoners" after the last President of the Confederacy, Jake Featherston.
(The camera pans across a color landscape photo depicting a medium sized group of people posing in front of rugged clapboard buildings, similar to the type seen in the American Old West. One of the buildings appears to be some sort of a store, with the words "Huge Sale" displayed on a sign taped to the inside of a front facing window. The next structure is a one story bar or saloon with a squared off high-rise false front giving the impression of a nonexistent second story. The last building appears to be either a post office or a bank, but its purpose isn't easily discernible from the photo. The men, women, and children depicted in the group generally appear to be healthy and happy in their new surroundings, and everyone is smiling. Some of the men are wearing shirts and trousers from their old Confederate military uniforms, while nearly everyone else, including the women and children are dressed in sturdy looking work clothes. At one end of the group a school child is proudly holding the Stars and Bars flag of the Confederacy, while at the opposite end of the group a second child holds the Australian national flag with equal pride. Someone in the back row is holding a placard over their head reading "FREEDOM!" but only one person is doing so.)
By the mid-1960s there will be only a handful of Confederate Anglos still living in Sonora and Chihuahua, with most of them residing in and around the US economic zone surrounding Guaymas. However, over the next forty years, there will be persistent, but unfounded, rumors of a Freedom Party redoubt hidden somewhere in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range of Sonora.
Tune into next week's episode, the Battle of Jackson, and the establishment of the USOA.
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