026 Foreign Relations/1358

The Ambassador in Argentina ( Weddell ) to the Secretary of State

No. 1990

Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s Instruction No. 702 of February 1920 requesting me to ascertain the views of the Argentine Government with respect to the possibility of issuing Foreign Relations volumes which will include documents of a date more recent than fifteen years, the period which now governs the publication of official papers in these volumes.

On March 8 this matter was taken up informally with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, from which the Embassy has now received a memorandum dated April 5, giving the opinion of the Ministry’s Legal Adviser to the effect that he sees no reason why the Government of the United States should not be informed that the Argentine Government considers that the period may be reduced to ten years. The Legal Adviser makes the condition that this modification can apply only to documents which are not reserved or confidential, as these may be made public only with the knowledge and authorization of all the interested governments. The memorandum concludes with the statement that the Legal Adviser’s opinion is adopted by the Ministry.

A copy and translation of the memorandum from the Ministry are enclosed.19

Respectfully yours,

Alexander W. Weddell
  1. See footnote 1, p. 976.
  2. Not printed.