Mexico's "Real" Good Neighbors: US Catholics and Empire during the Interwar Red Scare.

The article discusses the Knights of Columbus' charitable efforts in Mexico during the interwar period, focusing on their Christmas Day clothing drive in Nogales, Arizona, to aid Mexican Catholics. The Knights' activism was part of a broader campaign to support Mexican Catholics against the anti-Catholic policies of the Mexican government. The Knights used their publication, Columbia magazine, to denounce US President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Good Neighbor Policy and promote a vision of US Catholics as Mexico's "real" Good Neighbors. The article highlights the Knights' efforts to raise awareness of the Mexican religious conflict and their advocacy for increased US involvement in Mexico. It also explores the Knights' Red Scare Hispanism, which was grounded in racialized perceptions of Mexicans and Spanish Catholicism as a bulwark against communism. The Knights' interventionist ideology was based on appeals to human rights and individual liberties, positioning them as defenders of American values and Catholic principles in the face of perceived threats from communism. [Extracted from the article]