723.2515/361: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Chile (Shea)
Your December 10, 5 p.m.
Confidential: A copy of President’s statement as set forth in Department’s December 4, 6 p.m. was given the Argentine Foreign Office. Ambassador Stimson was instructed at the same time that he presented the statement to inquire of the Argentine Government whether it had taken any steps to approach the Governments of Chile and Peru, counselling moderation in their actions and in case it had [Page 139] not done so to state that the Government of the United States trusted that the Government of Argentine would see its way clear to instruct its representatives in Santiago and Lima to advise the Chilean and Peruvian Foreign Offices respectively to pursue a policy of moderation and avoid any widening of the breach of relations between Chile and Peru until a friendly settlement of the questions between the two countries might be arrived at.
Do not quote the Department’s instructions to Ambassador Stimson to the Chilean Foreign Office but intimate to the Foreign Office that you understand that the term “mediation” was not used by the United States Government in its communication to the Argentine Government.
For your confidential information:
Instructions similar to those sent Ambassador Stimson were sent to the American Embassy Rio, and the American Legations at Montevideo, Bogota, Asuncion, and Quito.