Thomas Clifton Mann (November 11, 1912 – January 23, 1999) was an American diplomat who specialized in Latin American affairs. He entered the U.S. Department of State in 1942 and quickly rose through the ranks to become an influential establishment figure. He worked to influence the internal affairs of numerous Latin American nations, typically focusing on economic and political influence rather than direct military intervention. After Lyndon B. Johnson became President in 1963, Mann received a double appointment and was recognized as the U.S. authority on Latin America. In March 1964, Mann outlined a policy of supporting regime change and promoting the economic interests of U.S. businesses. This policy, which moved away from the political centrism of Kennedy's Alliance for Progress, has been called the Mann Doctrine. Mann left the State Department in 1966 and became a spokesperson for the Automobile Manufacturer's Association.
Early life
Born in Laredo, an American city on the border with Mexico, Mann grew up speaking English and Spanish. His father was a lawyer and a Southern Baptist.
He attended Baylor University and Baylor Law School, both in Waco, Texas, where he met his wife, the former Nancy Aynesworth. He graduated from law school in 1934 and took a job at his father's law firm. He held various posts, as a lawyer in Laredo, in 1934 to 1942.
Early career
Mann was rejected from the Navy due to poor vision. He joined the Diplomatic Service, United States Department Of State in 1942, and was deployed to Montevideo in Uruguay to investigate Nazi shipping. In 1943, he was promoted to do this job across Latin America. He was involved in creating the 1945 Act of Chapultepec treaty for mutual defense of trans-American nations.
Truman administration
After unsuccessfully coordinating US opposition to Juan Perón in the 1946 Argentine election, he directed US diplomats in Latin America to avoid supporting particular candidates in elections—lest they suffer due to the perceived association. He commented during the 1950 Guatemalan election:
At election time it is just political suicide to try to defend the United States... I think on the whole people in the other American Republics understand and support us, but it isn't good politics to say so at election time. We are a sort of punching bag during elections. Everybody likes to take a swing at us, and makes sure he does every time you say something.
Mann sought military assistance from Latin American countries during the Korean War, commenting "that if the Bolivians were complaining about spilling their blood for Yankees, a lot of Yankees were also complaining about American blood already being spilled in Korea for Bolivia and other countries of the hemisphere".
Mann believed that nationalism and Communism were related problems, and sought to prevent both as part of efforts to prevent Latin nationalization of resources. In a surprise to many observers, he agreed to secure US aid for Bolivia following the 1952 Bolivian revolution, partly as a reward for the new government's agreement to compensate US tin companies for nationalized assets.
Eisenhower administration
Policy shift
In 1952, Mann welcomed the incoming Eisenhower administration with a 42-page memo on US relations with Latin America. The memo argued that the main issue for the US in this region was not a Communist invasion, but the problem of US control over "readily accessible essential strategic materials". These included vanadium as well as crude petroleum, resources which the US imported mostly from Latin America. Mann advocated swift US intervention to retaliate against nationalizations, as a show of force to deter similar actions by other countries. This memo was a source for NSC 144/1, representing the incoming Eisenhower administration's new policy on Latin America.
Guatemala
In Guatemala, Mann attended the inauguration of President Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán and pronounced him a communist. Although he resisted early overtures by United Fruit representatives to intervene, he opposed Árbenz's land reform law, fearing that Guatemala would provide a test case for other nations. After the CIA-backed military coup in 1954, Mann was recalled from Greece to Guatemala. He established Norman Armour as the US ambassador and sought to bolster the new military government of Castillo Armas. Mann reportedly gained de facto veto power over Guatemalan policy; after Mann had rejected a new oil law, Armas said he would come to "no final decision without consulting with Mr. Mann."
Mann later reflected that US operatives in Guatemala had an "illusion of omnipotence", saying in 1975: