Editing Jacobo Árbenz (section)

===Political motives===
Several factors besides the lobbying campaign of the United Fruit Company led the United States to launch the coup that toppled Árbenz in 1954. The US government had grown more suspicious of the Guatemalan Revolution as the [[Cold War]] developed and the Guatemalan government clashed with US corporations on an increasing number of issues.{{sfn|Immerman|1982|pp=82–100}} The US was also concerned that it had been infiltrated by communists{{sfn|Gaddis|1997|p=177}} although historian [[Richard H. Immerman]] argued that during the early part of the Cold War, the US and the CIA were predisposed to see the revolutionary government as communist, despite Arévalo's ban of the communist party during his 1945–1951 presidency.{{sfn|Immerman|1982|pp=82–100}} Additionally, the US government was concerned that the success of Árbenz's reforms would inspire similar movements elsewhere.{{sfn|Streeter|2000|p=4}} Until the end of its term, the Truman administration relied on purely diplomatic and economic means to attempt to reduce communist influences.{{sfn|Immerman|1982|pp=109–110}}

Árbenz's enactment of Decree 900 in 1952 provoked Truman to authorize [[Operation PBFortune]], a covert operation to overthrow Árbenz.{{sfn|Schlesinger|Kinzer|1999|p=102}} The plan had originally been suggested by the US-backed dictator of Nicaragua, [[Anastasio Somoza García]], who said that if he were given weapons, he could overthrow the Guatemalan government.{{sfn|Schlesinger|Kinzer|1999|p=102}} The operation was to be led by [[Carlos Castillo Armas]].{{sfn|Gleijeses|1992|pp=228–231}} However, the US state department discovered the conspiracy, and secretary of state [[Dean Acheson]] persuaded Truman to abort the plan.{{sfn|Schlesinger|Kinzer|1999|p=102}}{{sfn|Gleijeses|1992|pp=228–231}} After being elected president of the US in November 1952, [[Dwight Eisenhower]] was more willing than Truman to use military tactics to remove regimes he disliked.{{sfn|Schlesinger|Kinzer|1999|pp=100–101}}{{sfn|Gleijeses|1992|p=234}} Several figures in his administration, including Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]] and his brother and CIA director [[Allen Dulles]], had close ties to the United Fruit Company.{{sfn|Schlesinger|Kinzer|1999|pp=106–107}}{{sfn|Immerman|1982|pp=122–127}} John Foster Dulles had previously represented United Fruit Company as a lawyer, and his brother, then-CIA director Allen Dulles was on the company's board of directors. Thomas Dudley Cabot, a former CEO of United Fruit, held the position of director of International Security Affairs in the State Department.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Fish that Ate the Whale|last=Cohen|first=Rich|publisher=Farrar, Straus & Giroux|year=2012|location=New York|pages=186}}</ref> Undersecretary of State [[Bedell Smith]] later became a director of the UFC, while the wife of the UFC public relations director was Eisenhower's personal assistant. These connections made the Eisenhower administration more willing to overthrow the Guatemalan government.{{sfn|Schlesinger|Kinzer|1999|pp=106–107}}{{sfn|Immerman|1982|pp=122–127}}