Radio in Revolution: Wireless Technology and State Power in Mexico, 1897–1938 by J. Justin Castro (review)

Historians have largely ignored the role of technology and communications during the Mexican Revolution. The author provides significant insights into radio’s impact during this era. Further, he explores the impact of radio in unifying the nation after 1920, and the ability of Mexico’s leadership under the National Revolutionary Party (PNR) to reinforce its control throughout the 1930s. Castro accomplishes this task through meticulous research, complemented by telling illustrations and photographs that capture the development of radio equipment and broadcast stations. As he argues early in the book, “the most significant consequence of the Revolution on radio development was that military concerns shaped how government leaders, mostly military men themselves, perceived the medium” (13).

Beginning with Porfirio Díaz’s presidency, Castro offers two valuable insights. First, and likely surprising to most students of Mexico, it was the Mexican military that initially recognized this new technology’s importance and quickly adapted its use to the field, substantially increasing their coordination and communication while exposing many individuals to an entirely new technology. Equally important, Castro demonstrates that the armed forces, the Secretariat of Communications and Public Works, and even Díaz himself drove the establishment of radio communications along the northern border in an attempt to strengthen government control over the frontier and thereby discourage US expansionist ambitions. Internal revolts had taken place in northern Mexico in the 1880s, and both prerevolutionary and postrevolutionary officials recognized radio as a means of strengthening government control over these frontier regions and potentially preventing successful internal rebellions.

In his analysis of radio’s role in the 1910 revolution, the author notes its importance as a “component of intelligence and the logistical infrastructure of rebel groups” (46). Castro documents an incident in which Francisco Madero, by then president of Mexico, relied on it to obtain intelligence that prevented a successful rebellion. Before he was overthrown and murdered by other counterrevolutionaries, Pancho Villa, who led new rebel forces against the usurping government, combined radio technology with trains to enhance his geographic mobility. He constructed a mobile device on a military train, facilitating his victorious campaign in 1914. When US forces chased Villa after his raid on Columbus, New Mexico in 1916, they too relied heavily on new military technology, including trucks, planes, and radios. However, the author reveals that Mexican forces used their own radio stations to repeatedly interrupt US army communications (79).

Castro concludes that the Mexican government under General Álvaro Obregón (1920–1924) introduced wireless policies to block US control over the expansion of radio in Central America. In fact, he indicates that Latin Americans resisted US efforts to promote the private development of radio communications in the region. They wanted to further their independence from the United States, and did so by pursing a government-owned strategy for expanding radio networks. This finding is important in the long-term because Mexico and other countries in the region were often governed by authoritarian leaders who took direct control of many radio stations to broaden their ability to censor opposing views.

Finally, the author sheds considerable light on both the armed forces and the civilian government’s efforts to use radio to emphasize postrevolutionary nationalistic cultural and social goals. Mexico’s PNR, forerunner of the PRI, owned several radio stations, which it used to promote its favored policies and its ideological interpretations. Social scientists who wish to understand how Mexico’s unique choices in introducing radio technology enabled its governing party to reinforce national cultural and social values and to strengthen national unity from 1929 to 2000—nearly 70 years—should read this book.