In this stunningly original reinterpretation of the New World, Grandin reveals how the United States …
Vice President Henry Wallace, in 1943, had repeatedly promised that the United States would, when the Axis powers were defeated, provide capital to increase productivity and, more important, raise wages. George Messersmith, who replaced the elderly Daniels as ambassador to Mexico and was as tenacious in advancing the ideals of the Good Neighbor as his predecessor, seconded this pledge. “Mexico,” Ambassador Messersmith said, “will never be a completely satisfactory neighbor” until “the present wide gap between our standards of living is reduced.”