832.01/29
Memorandum by the Legal Adviser (Hackworth) to the Chief of the Division of the American Republics (Duggan)
Mr. Duggan: 1. Where a new régime is established through a coup d’état or revolution, some form of recognition is necessary. It may, of course, take the form of our treating with the government in the regular way or some more formal act.
2. A formal act of recognition is not required where the existing government has executed a coup d’état displacing the Constitution by a new one or setting it aside. If that government has already been recognized by us it will continue to be so recognized by the mere continuance of our relations with it.