The special Foreign Relations retrospective volume will aim to deepen discussion of U.S. involvement in the 1954 coup d'état. Scholars are also invited to submit proposals that will illuminate the larger context within which the multifaceted relationship between the U.S. and Guatemala developed. The overthrow of President Arbenz took place at the conjuncture of two decisive events in both American and Central American history. First, many historians argue that the United States had come to approach world affairs almost exclusively through a Cold War paradigm. Such a paradigm, at the very least, set the parameters within which American policymakers interpreted the unfolding political career of Arbenz. At the same time, Guatemala continued to undergo a political and social revolution that had begun in 1944. By the early 1950s, Arbenz had to steer Guatemala's revolution through an increasingly unfriendly regional environment integrated suddenly into a polarizing and global Cold War. An expanded discussion of this broader context will enhance our understanding of this pivotal period in U.S.-Latin American relations. Some of the themes presenters may wish to address include:

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