The 1954 Guatemalan Coup D'état

Warfare

History Hit

History

4.5 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 27 February 2023

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As Cold War tensions escalated in the early 1950s, the White House became obsessed with one core goal: Containing Communism. Nowhere was this more true than in Guatemala. The United States viewed the Central American country as one which was firmly within its own backyard, and thus fair game for external interference. It was for this reason that in 1954 - before the Bay of Pigs or the Cuban Missile Crisis - the CIA carried out one of its most damaging, and notorious, military coups - aiding the overthrow of Guatemala's first democratically elected President.

In this episode, James is joined by Dr Rachel Nolan from Boston University, to take a deep dive into the CIA's infamous 1954 military coup that sparked a wave of violence in Guatemala and beyond for decades. With the effects of this geopolitical scandal still felt today, what can we learn from this shocking moment in history, and how come not one, but two, US Presidents signed off on it?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	As Cold War tensions began to heighten in the early 1950s, the US became driven, obsessed with one core goal, containing communism.
0:11.6	Nowhere was this more true than in Guatemala.
0:14.8	As a Central American country with vast U.S. economic ties, the U.S. government, specifically
0:19.9	the Truman and Eisenhower administrations, considered Guatemala as being firmly in their backyard
0:25.7	and so open to external interference.
0:29.1	It was for this reason that in 1954, long before the Bay of pigs or the Cuban Missile Crisis, the U.S. Central Intelligence
0:36.1	Agency, the CIA, carried out one of its first, most damaging and notorious military coups, Operation PB success.
0:45.0	I'm your host James Rogers and to take us through this violent period in Guatemalan history,
0:49.5	I'm joined by Dr. Rachel Nolan.
0:51.5	Rachel is an expert historian at Boston University and it's with
0:55.4	her help that we take a deep dive into this infamous CIA operation, a military
0:59.8	coup that would light a fire of violence in Guatemala that would burn for four decades.
1:04.8	I know you're going to find this episode fascinating, so I'd like to thank our regular warfare
1:08.6	listener, Sarah Salares, for getting in contact and suggesting the topic.
1:13.0	And if there's a history that you want to hear,
1:15.0	you think we should cover, then you can do the same.
1:18.0	Email us on warfare at historyhit.com,
1:20.0	or message me on Instagram at James Rogers history.
1:23.4	But now here is Rachel Nolan on the Guatemalan coup of
1:27.1	1954.
1:28.8	Hi Rachel, welcome to the warfare Podcast. How are you doing today? Are you knee-deep in snow over in Boston, Massachusetts?
1:38.0	It's been unseasonably warm. Thank you for the invitation. I'm happy to join you all.
	...

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