A Depiction Of The Mexican Revolution As Told Through Letters Written Abroad

During the Mexican Revolution, which effectively ended dictatorship in Mexico and established a constitutional republic, Edith O'Shaughnessy lived alongside her diplomatic husband Nelson O'Shaughnessy who held the role as a Chargé de Affairs for a U.S. embassy in Mexico. During his tenure, which lasted the entire duration of Mexican dictator Victoriano Huerta’s regime, Mrs. O'Shaughnessy wrote letters to her mother living in the United States. Her book, A Diplomat’s Wife in Mexico, which was published less than a year after a coup uprooted Huerta in 1914, contains many of these letters which include vivid imagery and descriptive language intended to communicate to her mother the tumultuous and violent activity she was witness to in Mexico.

This book provides ample insight into what a foreign perspective of an internal rift between a national government and the people it governs might look like, through the lens of a foreigner living in the midst of this political unrest. O'Shaughnessy does a successful job of setting up a dichotomy between text and printed images in order to fully get across to readers her perspective on this revolution and her negative perception of Huerta. Shown in the two black and white images below we can see Huerta’s officers scouting and strategizing military strategies, and we can see Ojinaga refugees in a refugee camp. These images help audiences to gain a better visualize sense of what transpired in Mexico during this revolution. Seeing these men looking out into the horizon with telescopes and artillery by their sides makes it seem like they are planning to strike an attack soon after this picture was taken. By positioning this picture right above the image of refugees, readers can gain a sense that Huerta’s regime was responsible for making these individuals refugees of their own country, which they were.

These printed pictures help to set up O'Shaughnessy’s purpose in publishing her letters to her mother in this book, and that was to help educate Americans living in the United States, particularly women, about Huerta’s regime, the lack of United States intervention ­ which she believed was inhumane, and to demonstrate what she observed through her first­hand experiences. Likewise, the author also used this platform to help voice her opinions about President Woodrow Wilson’s foreign policy toward Mexico, which she was highly critical of and believed contributed to the troubled relationship between the United States and Mexico. This book was a rousing success after its publication because it shed light on international politics and relationships that remained very unnoticed before and O'Shaughnessy capitalized on her newfound celebrity status by campaigning actively against Wilson in the upcoming presidential election soon after.