Red, White, and the Blues by Walker Rysa

Author:Walker, Rysa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-01-18T16:00:00+00:00

FROM THE COMPLETE DUMMY’S GUIDE TO US HISTORY SINCE 1950, 23RD ED (2022)

The mid-20th-century schism in the United States is frequently referred to as the Secession Crisis of 1944. While it is true that events came to a head during the summer of that year, the problem had been building for several years, and it extended well beyond the end of the decade. Indeed, one could argue that the crisis lasted into the mid-1980s, when the Western Alliance appealed to the US government to agree to a limited trade pact, which eventually led to diminished tensions and the demilitarization of the border. The most treacherous period of relations, however, was 1957–1958, when the two sides hovered on the precipice of total nuclear war.

Tensions were already heightened due to Mexico’s decision to opt out of a proposed multilateral reciprocal-assistance treaty with the United States. The McCarthy administration argued on the basis of solid evidence that the Western Alliance had threatened trade sanctions against Mexico if they signed the treaty, which was in conflict with the 1946 Peace Accord. The United States even offered to extend the treaty to the Western Alliance, but this peaceful overture was rebuffed.

Then, in November 1958, a group of dissidents within the government of Arizona, led by Governor Barry Goldwater, staged a coup. An unapproved measure on secession was added to the ballot in the 1958 election, with a reported 72 percent of the voters opting to join the Western Alliance. US troops entered the state to restore order, only to discover that Goldwater’s forces had acquired several W-54 nuclear warheads, one of which was launched at US troops gathered at the New Mexico border near the Peloncillo Mountains. The Arizona militia claimed they did not fire first, noting that the small town of San Simon was obliterated by a weapon fired earlier in the day. Several rounds of retaliation followed, with both Bisbee, Arizona, and Lordsburg, New Mexico, taking heavy casualties before a cease-fire was negotiated. Over three thousand American lives were lost, with equal or greater casualties on the opposing side. Unfortunately, the battlefield deaths were followed by a greater number of residents on both sides of the border who were afflicted with radiation poisoning or died of cancer in the coming years.

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