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How a Tennessee Farm Boy Cashed In on the Mexican Revolution

By Andrew Paxman

William O. Jenkins Helped shape modern Mexico – and made a fortune while at it.

This article is adapted from AQ's print issue on peace and economic opportunity in Colombia

Few stories better illustrate Mexico’s deep-rooted inequalities — and the broken legacy of its century-old constitution — than the giddy career of William O. Jenkins.

In 1901, this Tennessee farm boy placed his bets on Mexico. Shortly before crossing the Rio Grande, he had eloped from Vanderbilt University with his Southern belle girlfriend. He had a chip on his shoulder: Her patrician family...

Read this article on the Americas Quarterly website. | Subscribe to AQ.

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