File No. 763.72119/579
The Ambassador in Argentina ( Stimson) to the Secretary of State
[Received 3.10 p.m.]
Your April 22, 2 p.m. Yesterday I told the Minister for Foreign Affairs the substance of your reply to his question concerning the proposed conference of American nations excluding the United States. He seemed much disappointed, reminding me that the Argentine Government in its answer to my note had taken an attitude of taking sides with the United States in a manner unprecedented in its history. He then asked me a great many questions as to the [Page 265] meaning of the State Department’s answer; whether it meant that it disapproved of the conference in toto and whether it would have made any difference in the answer if the United States had been included in the invitation. I, of course, told him that he could interpret the meaning of the reply as well as I could myself, but that it did not seem necessary to suppose that it meant any more than it said. I adverted to the fact that there had appeared in the Buenos Aires press a telegram from Washington said to be given out by the Department to the effect that the United States would not take part in such a conference for fear of giving offense to the powers of the Entente. He said that that should not be the case, hinting strongly that the design of the Argentine Government in calling the conference was to line up the American republics with the attitude taken by President Wilson. I asked him whether he wished me to send any further question to my Government and he said that he would let me know to-day after conversing with the President.