Although a few bills have been introduced in Congress over the past 125 years seeking independence for Puerto Rico, almost all of these bills died fairly soon after they were introduced and received scant support from Puerto Ricans.
U.S. presidents for their part have briefly explored the idea of Puerto Rico independence, but any attempts to proceed along this path were short lived, ill-informed, often clumsy, and quickly rebuffed by Puerto Ricans.
President Roosevelt and Puerto Rico
The Tydings Bill of 1936 may have been the most serious proposal to end the current U.S.-Puerto Rico relationship by creating a new country of Puerto Rico, though its intention was clearly for the United States to divest itself of Puerto Rico, not to empower Puerto Rico.
The New York Times explained that the bill had the support of the Roosevelt administration, but that its introduction “came as a surprise.”
“Apparently every effort was made to draft the bill quietly, and even administration officials closely in touch with Puerto Rican affairs had not seen the measure until Mr. Tydings introduced it,” reported the Times in a front page story.
The article further noted that Senator Millard E. Tydings (D-MD), Chair of the Committee of Territories and Insular Affairs Committee, indicated that “he did not write the bill himself and that it would doubtless need revision in committee.”
Luis Muñoz Marin, a future Governor of Puerto Rico serving in the Puerto Rican Senate at the time, rejected the proposal, predicting that it would “totally lack the support of the Puerto Rican people.”
“Under the bill introduced, independence plays the role of a victim in a hold-up,” he told the New York Times.
A Long History of Puerto Rico Independence Bills in Congress: No U.S. Citizenship
Did Eisenhower Offer Independence?
In 1953, at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly at which the U.N. agreed that Puerto Rico should no longer be considered a colony, Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge read a statement in which he explained that he was “authorized to say on behalf of the President [of the United States] that if at any time the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico adopts a resolution in favor of more complete or even absolute independence, he will immediately thereafter recommend to Congress that such independence be granted.”
Ambassador Cabot Lodge’s public statement implicitly recognized that no such resolution had been introduced at that time. The Ambassador’s remarks also acknowledged the limits of Presidential power and that Congress holds the reins when it comes to Puerto Rico’s status.
The Ambassador’s audience was not the Puerto Rico Legislative Assembly. He was instead speaking broadly and on the record to an international audience that was often critical of the United States during the Cold War. His remarks were not a direct offer of independence to the Puerto Rican officials who could have claimed it.
The Evolution of the “Commonwealth” Label During the Cold War
The Ambassador did not offer independence to Puerto Rico as much as punt to Congress in front of a skeptical audience with a promise to acquiesce to congressional actions if: (1) the people of Puerto Rico Legislative Assembly ever requested independence, and then (2) Congress followed suit.
Did Puerto Rico respond?
The Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico never responded to Ambassador Cabot Lodge by requesting independence, although a few decades later the legislature requested statehood.
Independence has been an option on six of the seven political status referenda held in Puerto Rico, and it has always lost. Just over 10% voted for independence in 2024, a larger percentage than had ever before chosen this option but still a very small proportion of the total votes and one that may have been inflated due to uncertainty over the ultimate fate of U.S. citizenship in an independent Puerto Rico.
What Will Happen to U.S. Citizenship in a New Nation of Puerto Rico? The Word from Washington
Although Eisenhower’s U.N. Ambassador suggested that the president would agree to independence for Puerto Rico, several subsequent presidents, including Reagan, Ford, and Biden, expressed direct support for Puerto Rico statehood. Since it is Congress, not the President of the United States, who can admit states, these statements of support were nonetheless not formal offers of statehood, just as the Ambassador Cabot Lodge’s statement was not a meaningful Eisenhower offer of independence to Puerto Rico.
