Americans are experiencing vast amounts of change during this time period. The Great Depression has risen, World War II is starting and the Cold War is scratching the surface. The Great Depression has struck all families, American and Hispanic, with poverty, diseases, and surprisingly, relocation methods. President Hoover elected William Doak as Secretary of Labor and he chose to launch a nationwide gathering of illegal immigrants to send them back to their home lands (i.e. Mexico). During World War II, over 250,000 Hispanic Americans fought for the U.S. which constituted approximately 5% of the United States fighting figures. However, when the Cold War began, Mexicans and other Latinos had less harsh views towards communism in comparison to their American counterparts. Hispanics did not associate all things communist with the USSR. During World War I, many ethinic minorites including latinos participated in the war effort but were ridiculed by the english speaking soldiers and wanted to leave. The Camp Gordan Plan was initiated which separated soldiers into batallions based off of their native tongue. In WW2, the units were then integrated and the latinos were the first of the US army force to particpate in the war especially in the Phillipines.
*In this image, there is a Mexicann family on the road with tire trouble. The context of the siutation is very important because the family is leaving the United States to go back to Mexico during the Great Depression. Many families were forced to leave due to citizenship issues and during the GD the US government could not afford to grant citizenship to immigrants due to a lack of funding and overall cost.
*In this photo, there is a group of Puerto Ricano soldiers that fought in World War 1. This is significant because they aided the American forces fighting in the Phiilipines. However, the units during WWI were segregated based on native tongue rather than pure size of force. In other words, there was the English force and Spanish force fighting together in WWI. Receiving war recognition was extremely difficult for latinos due to the lack of records during the war.
*In this obituary, a Dominicano (Dominican) avaitor was discovered during World War II. This is important because World War II was the first instance where the United States utilized air strikes as a war tactic. Esteban Hotesse was the first latino airman in the United States Army Corps. As a black Dominicano, Hotesse was part of the squadron that single-handedly tore downt he military segregation policies and altering Ameican perception during the Jim Crow era.
*In previous history, the US freed Cuba from the reign of Spain and installs the Platt Amendment. In 1934, The US abandons its rights to intervene in Cuba's international affairs, changes the Cuban Sugar Quota and changes tarriffs to favor Cuba. However in the 1950's, The US removes all military aid to Bastista and Castro leads a revolt to drive out Bastista and claims himself as Prime Minister.