The Envoy of the Empire among us: the Visit of the US Secretary of State Philander Chase Knox to Costa Rica (1912)

Abstract

This article analyzes the contextual factors and the implications of the visit of Secretary of State of the United States Philander C. Knox, to Costa Rica in 1912. The main objective of this study is to understand the purposes of the Costa Rican authorities during the stay of Knox and his entourage in the country, as well as the reciprocal perceptions that existed both in Costa Rica and in the governmental authorities of the United States during those years. The existing evidence demonstrates that despite the existence of animosity in Costa Rica to the US policy of the moment, this did not condition the performance of the political elites that preferred to follow a pragmatic policy; likewise, the staging made it possible to consolidate the idea of the Costa Rican exceptionalism in the region in the eyes of the American authorities.