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The End of Intervention
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All that remained was the inauguration. Juan B. Sacasa took the oath, of
office on 1 January 1933, and at 1700 of the following day, the last units of
the 5th Regiment sailed aboard the HENDERSON and ANTARES from Corinto.<117>
The Second Nicaraguan Campaign had ended.
What had the two major interventions accomplished? The first, with its
lightning swift campaign, had forestalled possible European intervention and
provided the republic with an opportunity to attain financial stability.
Legitimate American investments, the lives and property of American citizens,
all were protected. The Marine regiment had restored order quickly enough,
but statesmen failed to arrive at a solution for the problems that plagued
Nicaragua.
Less successful from a political point of view was the second
intervention. True, the Marines had halted a bloody civil war; but they had
not brought peace to the country, for Sandino's die-hards were never brought
to task. Worse still, patriotic Latin Americans came to hate the United States
because of its interference in Nicaraguan affairs.
Some estimate of this political failure may be gained from a glimpse at
post-occupation Nicaragua. The American Marines and seamen killed in action
during the campaign left behind them two great monuments, the Guardia Nacional
to maintain order and an electoral law to insure honest elections. Neither
survived for long.
Under the direction of its new leader, Anastasio Somoza, the Guardia
became the decisive factor in Nicaraguan politics. In fact, it was the
Guardia which was given the assignment of murdering Sandino after the rebel
leader had been given amnesty by the Sacasa government. From Jefe of the
Guardia, Somoza became President of Nicaragua in 1936. For two decades he was
dictator of the country, naming Presidents, dismissing them at his whim, or
ruling as Chief Executive himself. He died 29 September 1956 as a result of
an assassin's bullet, to be succeeded in office by his son Luis.
From a military point of view, the Marine Corps did profit from its
operations in Nicaragua. Many World War II leaders, officers such as Merritt
A. Edson, Lewis B. Puller, Evans F. Carlson, Ross E. Rowell, and Christian F.
Schilt, learned their tactics in the mountains and jungles of Central America.
More important was the fact that Marine aviators and infantrymen functioned
smoothly as a unified team. The Second Nicaraguan Campaign ended with the
Marine Corps a more effective combat organization than it had been six years
earlier.<106>
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