Emissary from a Revolution: Luis Cabrera and Woodrow Wilson

In January of 1914 a young Mexican lawyer named Luis Cabrera, who was already on his way to becoming one of the most important figures of the Mexican Revolution, arrived in Washington on a special mission for the First Chief of the Constitutional movement, Venustiano Carranza. Cabrera's task was to persuade President Woodrow Wilson to lift a ban on the sale of American arms and munitions to Mexican factions, and his success in this effort encouraged Carranza to turn to him in a variety of other Mexican-American crises during the next three years. In the course of three difficult negotiations he became well-known in Washington and played a role in the development of American policy toward the Mexican Revolution. Though less important then Wilson's own agents in the shaping of American policy, Luis Cabrera should be better-known to those who would understand Wilsonian policy toward Mexico.