AF files, lot 58 D 459, “Locker Correspondence”
The Director of the Office of African Affairs (Utter) to the Ambassador in Liberia (Locker)
official business–informal
Dear Mr. Ambassador: Mr. Byroade is relinquishing his duties in the Department preparatory to becoming our next Ambassador to Cairo and has referred your letter of November 171 to this Office for necessary action.
Before we began our conversations with the Liberians, the Secretary [Page 537] himself made it clear that the Liberians should leave the table happy2 and that we should make every effort to assure this eventuality. This we undertook to do and the Aide-Mémoire3 correctly reflects the desire of the United States Government to meet the wishes of the Liberians within the bounds of reason.
Despite our desire to please, we confined ourselves to accepting and initiating courses of action which would ultimately serve the mutual interests of the two countries. Your reports and the findings of the FOA evaluation team had made it clear that many changes are desirable in Liberia.4 Our job here was to meet the Liberian requests as far as possible while setting up the framework for a local negotiation that would apply the findings of the Evaluation team as well as the knowledge of the Embassy and USOM/L. Our quid pro quo lies, we feel, in the fact the Liberians implicitly accepted the idea that changes are necessary. Whether we can cash in on this quid pro quo will depend on the success of the local negotiation. We have not ignored your advice but rather have left its application to you in the negotiation. And we in NEA do not consider that anything in the Aide-Mémoire will prejudice your chances of success. The Department and FOA/W will prepare more detailed instructions for your guidance in the negotiations and in their preparation will take into consideration the contents of your letter.
Sincerely yours,
- Ante, p. 529.↩
- The Export-Import Bank authorized a $15,000,000 loan to Liberia on Jan. 20, 1955 for the construction of all-weather roads connecting the provinces and Monrovia. For further information, see Export-Import Bank of Washington, Twentieth Semiannual Report to Congress for the Period January—June, 1955 (Washington, 1955), pp. 23–24.↩
- Dated Nov. 10, p. 527.↩
- Jones had provided Locker with a copy of the FOA Evaluation Report on Dec. 7. (Monrovia Consulate files, lot 61 F 169)↩