Tree of Hate: Propaganda and Prejudices Affecting United States Relations with the Hispanic World

227 Pages·2008·9.64 MB·English

by  Philip Wayne Powell

Tree of Hate
(cid:50)
Propaganda
and
Prejudices
Affecting
United States
Relations

with the

Hispanic
World
Philip Wayne Powell
Introduction by Robert Himmerich y Valencia
Tree Hate
of
Tree of Hate
R
Propaganda Prejudices
and
Affecting United States Relations
Hispanic World
with the
Philip Wayne Powell

Introduction by
Robert Himmerich y Valencia
university of new mexico press S albuquerque
©1971 by Philip Wayne Powell
Introduction ©2008 by the University of New Mexico Press.
All rights reserved.
University of New Mexico Press edition published by
arrangement with Lilia Patricia Rochester and Diana L. Fornas.
Printed in the United States of America
13 12 11 10 09 08 1 2 3 4 5 6
library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
Powell, Philip Wayne.
Tree of hate : propaganda and prejudices
affecting United States relations with the
Hispanic world / Philip Wayne Powell ;
introduction by Robert Himmerich y Valencia.
p. cm.
isbn 978-0-8263-4576-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Spain—Foreign public opinion.
2. Spain—Foreign relations.
3. Civilization, Hispanic.
4. Black Legend (Spanish history)
I. Title.
dp84.p68 2008
303.48´273017561—dc22
2008018671
for
diana linda
a young lady of exemplary courage
I nere could tell from what roote this huge
Large spreading Tree of hate from Spayne to us,
From us agayne to Spayne, took the first growth.
No? Then Ile tell you: let us season our sorrow
With this discourse.
—old english play,
Dick of Devonshire, 1625
Contents
preface ix
introduction xi
Part i
Dimensions of the Black Legend
chapter 1 Introducing the Hispanophobic Fallacy 3
Of Nordic Heroes and Spanish Villains
Definitions of the Leyenda Negra
chapter 2 Spain in America: The Real and the Unreal 14
The Spanish Conquest
The Spanish Centuries in America
Bartolomé de las Casas, Immortal Zealot
Part ii
Growth of the Legend
chapter 3 Roots of Hispanophobia 39
Italian Bases of the Leyenda Negra
Origins of the Germanic Black Legend
Jews and Spaniards
France and Spain
chapter 4 The Paper Wars 60
Dutchmen Strike at the Spanish Colossus
England versus Spain: Words and War
Dos Palabras on Target Spain
chapter 5 The Arrogance of Enlightenment 93
The Legend’s Rendezvous with History
Continuity of Jewish-Spanish Conflict
The Legend Becomes Enlightenment
chapter 6 Of Matricide and American Dogmas 113
Spanish America Adopts the Legend
Hispanophobic Continuity in the United States
vii
Part iii
Echoes of the Legend
chapter 7 Educating America, in Chiaroscuro 131
chapter 8 Bedevilment in Foreign Policy 145
chapter 9 Perspectives and Prescription 159
notes 169
bibliography 185
acknowledgments 199
index 203
Portfolio of Engravings by Theodore De Bry, 1598, pages 81–90
viii
Preface
Spain was the first summit power of modern times, preeminent in Europe
and presiding over an empire that dwarfed those of Rome and Genghis Khan.
Spain was also the first global power to assume what came to be called “the
white man’s burden” and, simultaneously, to defend Christendom against
the powerful thrusts of a Eurasian infidel.
With tasks and goals of such magnitude, Spain inevitably depleted her-
self in blood and treasure and went into decline in Europe, where her long
sway finally receded before France and England, successors at the summit.
But the centuries of Spanish imperial power created a host of enemies who,
mixing fear, envy, and the intense hatreds of religious conflict, made Spain
and Spaniards the first to feel the impact of the printing press as a propa-
ganda weapon. Spanish power was the target of devastating attacks, which
launched a Western fashion of denigrating Spain, Spaniards, and most of
their words—propagandas that became entrenched as History.
The story of this Black Legend, which purports a unique Spanish deprav-
ity, should be of singular interest to the citizens of a summit power now
burdened with similar twin responsibilities of defense of the West and aid
to backward nations while also suffering the blows of global propagandas
designed to destroy us. And knowledge of the growth and perennial fruit-
ing of that “large spreading tree of hate” is essential to an understanding
of the vast Hispanic world that is so vital to the survival and well-being of
Western civilization.
philip wayne powell
Santa Barbara, California
ix