Troubled Neighbors: U.S. Interventions in Mexico Since 1821 [] LIFELONG LEARNING

Instructor: Gerie Bledsoe

February 17, 19, 21  |  1-3 p.m.​

Relations between Mexico and the United States will be surveyed from the independence of Mexico in 1821 to the present time. We will focus on the many times the U.S. has intervened dramatically in Mexico’s internal affairs, including the loss of Texas (1836), the invasion of Mexico (1846), the Gadsden Purchase (1853), and the U.S. role in the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), including the naval invasion of Veracruz (1914) and the incursion by the U.S. Army into northern Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa (1916). Participants in this class should gain a better understanding of why the leaders of successive Mexican governments have cast a wary eye northward, and why Mexican nationalists continue to decry the loss of about one-half of their country to the U.S. in 1848. Special attention will be paid to Mexican immigration to the U.S. and the economic relations between the two countries. Time will be reserved for questions and discussion. 

Gerie Bledsoe holds a Ph.D. in European history from Florida State University and taught at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia. As a staff member for the American Association of University Professors, the National Education Association, and Michigan State University, he educated adults in a variety of subjects. Bledsoe taught the first Lifelong Learning Program course in 2012 and has presented this course and others on Mexican history every year since then. Bledsoe and his wife, Diane Ruszczyk, lived in San Miguel from 2010 to 2015. They now live in Illinois and Florida.

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