812.00/24071: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Mexico (Summerlin)
158. In connection with your 253, May 24,25 it should be remembered that this Government has not been advised that the succession to the Presidency upon the death of the late incumbent has been effected in orderly pursuance of the provisions of the Mexican Constitution. The change appears to have been in fact revolutionary and the Executive designation appears to be a provisional expedient resting on the so-called plan of Agua Prieta,26 devised and carried out by a decree of de la Huerta as “Acting Supreme Chief of the Liberal Constitutionalist Army,” modifying the existing electoral law and convoking the Congress which has elected him Provisional President.
You should therefore be cautious in any necessary dealings with the parties now in possession, not to permit any imputation that the present régime has been even de facto recognized by the Government of the United States. Recognition cannot be accomplished by inference merely but by the full and formal entrance into international relations through the public action of the respective executives of the two countries.