Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Spence (Jack) El Salvador Land Reform and Agrarian Revolution papers
0555
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: Jack Spence El Salvador Land Reform and Agrarian Revolution papers
Creator:
Spence, Jack
Identifier/Call Number: 0555
Physical Description:
7.31 Linear Feet
12 boxes
Date (bulk): 1972-1994
Abstract: This collection consists of land reform documents from the government of El Salvador to the United States Department of State
prior to and during the Salvadoran Civil War.
Language of Material:
English.
The Carter Administration was plagued with international crises: rebellion against Somoza in Nicaragua, Iran hostage crisis,
Marxist guerrilla groups in Mozambique and Angola, a crisis in Cambodia, the USSR in Afghanistan, with Ronald Regan pushing
Carter to respond on all of these issues. In October 1979 there was a coup in El Salvador by reformist colonists who ushered
in military leadership and a civilian cabinet of reformers. Leftists were being killed and disappeared by rightist death squads,
with the military as the main suspect. The government changed hands multiple times in a short period of time that was marked
by assassinations and exiles. Ultimately the cabinet was run by the Christian Democratic party, which acted as a veil for
military rule. Assassinations had reached staggering numbers, and in early March 1980 the Carter administration appeared to
back the new cabinet and offered it military aid, along with support for an agrarian reform bill that hoped to redistribute
the source of wealth, social standing, and political power among the people. The rich and powerful used their political influence
and loopholes to ensure that they held onto the most valuable land, while the peasants were given underdeveloped, and often
inarable areas. The influential religious figure Archbishop Oscar Romero publicly and repeatedly denounced the aid to the
military, but the agrarian reform is decreed, and implementation begins rapidly. In late March, Archbishop Romero was assassinated
while celebrating a mass. The country moved to war in the ensuing months, with the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación
Nacional (FMLN) being created by a partial unification of 5 leftist guerilla groups. The United States viewed the military
government of El Salvador as an ally during the Cold War as well as a valuable trade partner, so they continued to support
the regime through financial means.
This collection consists of land reform documents from the government of El Salvador to the United States Department of State
prior to and during the Salvadoran Civil War. These materials include proposals, reports, telegrams, and publications with
information regarding the development and implementation of the agrarian reform bill backed by the U.S., along with the political
and civil upheaval happening in the country. There are also some materials on the elections of Nicaragua and Guatemala.
Advance notice required for access.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special
Collections at specol@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Rights Statement for Archival Description
Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by UMass Boston professor Jack Spence in 2012.
[Box/folder no. or item name], Jack Spence El Salvador Land Reform and Agrarian Revolution papers, Collection no. 0555, Boeckmann
Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.
This collection is unprocessed.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
El Salvador -- Foreign relations -- 1979-1992
El Salvador -- Foreign relations -- United States
El Salvador -- History -- Civil War -- 1979-1992
Government records
Proposals
Publications
Reports
Telegrams
Spence, Jack -- Archives