839.00/3355: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in the Dominican Republic (Curtis)
20. Supplementing the Department’s telegram No. 19, March 19, 4 p.m. After a further study of the situation, the Department is [Page 720] inclined strongly to feel that the candidacy of Trujillo can best be prevented, if at all, through a personal, friendly, and frank appeal by you to him couched in such terms as not to impair your personal relations. It will probably appear desirable to you to emphasize the point that he has in his present position a marked opportunity to render a patriotic service of the highest order through effecting the maintenance of peaceful conditions and through the assuring of free and fair elections. It might also be helpful to point out that as General in Command he has an influential and an assured position, and one which, from the point of view of his own personal interest, he might, upon further reflection, find it unwise to forsake for political activities with their attendant uncertainties.