810.34 Leasing/60: Telegram
The Ambassador in Argentina (Weddett) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:09 p.m.]
140. Referring to my 137, August 16, 5 p.m.,18 the decline in popular interest in the destroyer matter referred to therein appears to continue.
Today in an interview with the Minister for Foreign Affairs on an unrelated matter he brought up this subject. His words and manner seemed to me apologetic and as if chosen to leave the impression that he had only acted in the face of pressure brought by the Ministry of Marine. He mentioned that the officer referred to in the fourth paragraph of my 137 had been consulted by the editors of La Nación and had impressed on them the gravity and unfortunate nature of the American proposal; the flat contradiction here evidently will not be overlooked.
The Minister spoke at length of his attempts to smooth down and mitigate both official and popular discussion of the matter as serving no good purpose, asserting that through his active intervention he had prevented interpellations in the Senate which had been favored by a Socialist member “whom he greatly feared”. He also spoke of his efforts with the local press to minimize publicity.
In emphasizing the local nature of the general leasing question which he thought contained potentialities of continental significance, he mentioned actual or potential reactions in Argentina’s relations with Chile and Brazil and read me lengthy telegrams and letters from his Ambassador in Rio de Janeiro tending to demonstrate that the Brazilian Government had refused to allow his exhaustive press statement to be published; hence Brazilian criticism of his attitude was based on imperfect knowledge.
In conclusion he stated and restated his belief that with the passage of time and with the adjournment of the Argentine and American Congresses “a satisfactory solution” of the matter could be worked out.
- Not printed.↩