War & remembrance: the U.S. and Mexico share a long, sometimes-troubled history that goes back to the Mexican-American War--which still resonates on both sides of the border.

• Author: Weiner, Tim
• Position: Cover Story

Almost no one in the U.S. remembers the war that Americans fought against Mexico more than 150 years ago. In Mexico, almost no one has forgotten.

The Mexican-American War of 1846-48 cut Mexico in two, and "the wound never really healed," says Miguel Soto, a historian in Mexico City. The war took less than two years, and ended with the U.S. seizing half of Mexico, taking the land that became America's Wild West: California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and beyond. In Mexico, they call this "the Mutilation."

The Mexican American War forms the background for many of the current tensions between the two countries, including problems along the border, illegal immigration, and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and its economic fallout on both sides of the border.

Today, more than 20 million Mexicans live in the U.S., and the debate over how the two neighboring countries should relate to each other continues. The passage 10 years ago of NAFTA--which initiated free trade between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada--caused a flurry of economic activity south of the border and resentment in the U.S. that the agreement "exported" blue collar jobs from the U.S. to Mexico.

Earlier this year, President Bush unveiled a proposal to give temporary work visas to millions of illegal immigrants, many of them Mexican. The plan--which would, in effect, grant amnesty to more than 4 million Mexicans now living illegally in the United States--was part of an effort to smooth relations between the two countries.

ONE WAR, TWO MEANINGS

Understanding that the border was fixed by a war helps explain the mixed feelings some Mexicans have toward the U.S.

"The war between Mexico and the United States has a different meaning for Mexicans and Americans," says Alfredo Hernandez Murillo, director of Mexico City's National Museum of Interventions, which chronicles the war. "For Americans, it's one more step in the expansion that began when the United States was created. For Mexicans, the war meant we lost half the nation. It was very damaging, and not just because the land was lost.

"It's a symbol of Mexico's weakness throughout history in confronting the United States," he adds. "For Mexicans, it's still a shock sometimes to cross the border and see the Spanish names of the places we lost." Those places have names like Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Fe, El Paso, and San Antonio. The list is long.

WHY THE WAR HAPPENED

The roots of the...