Pan American Union. The First International Conference of American States, held in
Washington, D.C., in 1889–1890, established the foundations of the Pan American Union. Initially called the Commercial Bureau of the American Republics, this apparatus served common interests in trade by collecting economic information concerned with production, commerce, and customs law. Secretary of State James G.
Blaine (1889–1892) championed these ideas to promote hemispheric economic ties. The designation “Pan American Union” (PAU) emerged from a conference at Buenos Aires in 1910, and a building to house the organization was built in Washington, D.C.
The organization functioned informally and irregularly during the early years, sponsoring meetings at Mexico City, Mexico, in 1902 and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1906. After 1910 an executive director took charge of the governing board and exercised administrative authority. Meanwhile, specialized agencies such as the Pan American Sanitary Bureau (1902), the International Law Commission (1915), and the Inter‐American High Commission (1915) coordinated other endeavors.
The PAU also assumed political functions. At conferences in Santiago, Chile, in 1923, and Havana, Cuba, in 1928, Latin Americans pressed for a statement supporting the principle of nonintervention. At Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1933, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1936, the Franklin Delano
Roosevelt administration, in the spirit of the
Good Neighbor policy, accepted the idea. Nonintervention provided a basis for “hemispheric solidarity” during
World War II, including various forms of cooperation against the Axis powers.
Near unanimity in wartime entailed advantages for the United States, specifically Latin American political support and access to the region's raw materials. In 1948, the PAU merged with the
Organization of American States.
See also
Cold War;
Foreign Aid;
Foreign Relations: U.S. Relations with Latin America.
Bibliography
Alonso Aguilar , Pan‐Americanism from Monroe to the Present, 1965.
Samuel G. Inman , Inter‐American Conference, 1826–1954, 1965.
Mark T. Gilderhus
