711.00 Statement July 16, 1937/41: Telegram
The Chargé in Brazil (Scotten) to the Secretary of State
[Received 11:52 a.m.]
82. Department’s circular telegrams of July 22, 7 p.m., and July 28, 2 p.m. Upon receipt of the Department’s telegram of July 22, 7 p.m., I called upon the Minister for Foreign Affairs and communicated to him the substance of the telegram under reference. The Minister’s reaction was entirely favorable but he informed me that, inasmuch as the Secretary’s statement had received no publicity in this country and in fact I was now bringing it to his attention for the first time, he felt it should be published in the Brazilian press and followed by a declaration by the Brazilian Government supporting the views it contained. For this purpose he desired first to consult the President of the Republic. He promised to furnish the Embassy with an advance copy of whatever statement was eventually drawn up in order that it could be cabled to the Department. The Foreign Office subsequently arranged for the publication of the Secretary’s statement of July 16th which was carried in full in all of the morning newspapers yesterday. Yesterday, without communicating with the Embassy, the Foreign Office handed a communiqué to the press which was prominently carried in all of yesterday’s evening papers and the papers of this morning. The text follows:
“The Ministry for Foreign Affairs was officially informed concerning the declaration of the principles which orientate the foreign policy of the United States made on the 16th of July by the Secretary of State Mr. Cordell Hull. The statement of the Secretary of State having been brought to the attention of the President of the Republic by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the latter received instructions from the President to make public that the Brazilian Government, entirely sharing the point of view of the Government of the United States concerning the world international political situation, fully agrees with those declarations and gives complete support to the principles formulated therein, which have already been warmly advocated in the inter-American Conference for the maintenance of peace and at other international political assemblies and which it will do everything possible to put into practice by the most convenient methods at every opportunity which arises”.
I regret that the Department’s telegram of July 28, 2 p.m., which was received here at 9 p.m., arrived too late to make it possible to handle the publicity in this instance according to the Department’s wishes.