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Dissertation Information for Joseph Charles Theisen

NAME:
- Joseph Charles Theisen

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (2006)

ADVISORS:
- James W. Wilkie

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Juan Gomez-Quinones
- Raymond A. Rocco

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: Strategic struggle for world oil: Standard Oil of New Jersey and hidden elitelore in Mexico's 1938 expropriation

Abstract: This study examines my hypothesis about Mexico's expropriation of the assets of foreign-owned oil companies in 1938. Where others have looked for the underlying cause as involving disputes with organized labor, court rulings against the companies, sovereignty issues, and/or the "decline" of Mexican oil reserves, I see the expropriation as coming about because one of the foreign actors---Standard Oil of New Jersey---strategically took actions to gain competitive advantage by provoking Mexico to act.

Expropriation by President Lázaro Cárdenas immediately attained mythic status. Yet, the countless books and articles written to demystify it have not unclouded how and why the event happened.

Because Standard Oil of New Jersey erased its historical record, the various actors have been "free" to develop six "eliteloric" views. Each of those resulting six lores were developed by leaders not only to justify their views but also to establish the folkloric interpretation that would "explain" the expropriation to the masses in Mexico and around the world.

By applying James Wilkie's theory of Elitelore and complementing it with Pierre Bourdieu's theory of "Field Analysis,"; I articulate these six views: (1) Cárdenas' public view; (2) Oil companies' public view; (3) Historians' view defining folklore; (4) U.S. Ambassador Josephus Daniels' view; (5) Oil companies' hidden views; (6) Cárdenas' hidden view.

After articulating these eliteloric views that have sought to create generalized folklore, I present View 7, wherein I offer my scholarly view of Standard Oil of New Jersey's previously hidden business agenda to neutralize Royal Dutch Shell's discovery at Poza Rica, Veracruz, the world's second-largest oil reserves---a fact which changed greatly the chess board of world oil strategy.

This new view draws upon my own experience in two ways: First, as president of my own companies, the hidden goals of Standard Oil of New Jersey have been discernable; second, my role as a trial lawyer has given me the experience to develop appropriate circumstantial evidence crucial to the analysis in this work.

My contribution here is to show Mexican oil as (1) a mere square on the world chessboard of oil exploitation and (2) a major piece on the separate chessboard of Mexican politics.

MPACT Scores for Joseph Charles Theisen

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-09-06 17:39:10

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Students under Joseph Charles Theisen

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None