"Pedro 'Pete' Augusto del Valle: The Americanization of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Far Right"

Abstract:This article uses the career of Pedro Augusto del Valle as a lens through which to explore Puerto Rican responses to U.S. colonialism, and the islanders' influence on mid-twentieth century domestic politics, both of which are often elided in the literature. Most of the scholarship on Puerto Rico focuses on pro-independence or autonomist figures and movements. In contrast, Del Valle embraced Americanization and American Empire, before becoming an influential figure in the U.S. far right in the mid-twentieth century. Though Del Valle was an outlier, he was not unique. Rather, this study contends that he is one example of a group of Puerto Rican elites and military officers who embraced a white, American, and Christian identity. Moreover, it argues that the omission of these figures from the historical record has produced an overly simplified narrative of the evolution of Puerto Rican nationalism and obscured both Puerto Ricans' contributions to U.S. foreign policy in Latin America and the diverse origins of the U.S. Far Right.