What was the attitude of the United States toward the revolution?
The United States had maintained good relations with Porfirio Diaz prior to the opening days of the revolution in 1910.
In fact, the activities of the US government on behalf of Mexico in the decade immediately preceding the revolution are indicative of a collaborative relationship between the two countries. The United States helped the Diaz government persecute some of the more radical anti-Diaz figures in the labor movement, the most notable example of which were the Flores Magon brothers, who were significant precursors of the revolution. Ricardo and Enrique Flores Magon were forced into exile in San Antonio, Texas, where they were able to publish their antiregime newspaper, Regeneration, one of the most influential publications in converting Mexicans to the revolutionary cause. They were forced to move to St. Louis, which hosted a large exile community of pro-revolutionaries, but there they were also harassed by police, and some supporters were imprisoned. Ricardo was arrested in 1907, and tried and imprisoned in Arizona from 1909 to 1910. Other revolutionaries fared better. Pancho Villa, for example, cultivated contacts along the Texas border, including US Army commanders. Authorities winked at his exchange of cattle for weapons during the early years of the revolution. Francisco Madero, who opposed Diaz in the 1910 election and eventually fled to the United States, was viewed as a moderate by the US government and business community and therefore as a viable replacement for Diaz.
When Francisco Madero became president, Henry Lane Wilson, the US ambassador, interfered repeatedly in Mexican affairs, attempting to undercut the president's legitimacy. Most tragically, he colluded with General Victoriano Huerta to remove Madero by force, ultimately leading to the murder of the president and the vice president by the usurpers. President Woodrow Wilson came to office in 1914 and resisted Ambassador Wilson's recommendation to recognize the Huerta regime. He removed Wilson and decided to provide aid to the Constitutionalist Army opposing the regime. But using an incident involving the US Navy in the port of Veracruz, President Wilson ordered the occupation of the port by US forces. Mexicans from all over the republic responded to this blatant intervention, organizing groups of volunteers, including students, to travel to Veracruz to oppose the United States' actions.
When Huerta was finally ousted by Constitutionalists and the victorious revolutionaries embarked on another violent phase of the revolution, the United States intervened once again. This time it chased Villa's troops after they crossed the border and attacked Columbus, New Mexico, in March 1916. Ultimately, the US government chose to recognize Venustiano Carranza's administration. Regardless of its motivations or the individual factions it supported from 1911 to 1920, the United States pursued an actively interventionist agenda in Mexico, including a range of strategies from the use of force to financial support.
