Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1938, The American Republics, Volume V

839.51/4610: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Chargé in the Dominican Republic ( Hinkle )

Washington , June 8, 1938—3 p.m.

22. Your 31, June 6, 4 p.m. You should request an interview with President Trujillo immediately and inform him that you have communicated his views to the Department and the Department has instructed you to state that it stands ready as it has indicated on several previous occasions to proceed immediately with negotiations with the Dominican Government regarding a readjustment of the Convention of 1924. You may say in this connection that the general principles of the Department’s attitude towards readjustment of the existing treaty relationship were amply set forth in the Department’s counter suggestions to the Dominican proposals in the spring of 1937, which culminated in the Department’s final counterdraft of a convention delivered to the Dominican plenipotentiaries on April 12, 1937.⁸ The Department has never received any detailed comment from the Dominican Government regarding this counter proposal.

You may add that while the Department would not wish to give the impression that any future proposals should necessarily be limited to the lines of the negotiations already undertaken, it would be lacking in candor were it not to make clear from the outset that the rights of the holders of the bonds of the external loans must be adequately safeguarded. Subject to such a restriction the Department will be glad to consider sympathetically any proposal which the Dominican Government on its initiative may care to advance, and will make every endeavor to return a prompt reply. You should add that since the party desirous of modifying the convention is the Dominican Republic and since the last counter proposal of the United States has so far remained unanswered, the Department believes that the initiative should come from the Dominican Government.

Finally you may say that in the opinion of the Department, while it is desirable that the negotiations should take place in Washington, there would seem to be no necessity for the Foreign Secretary or for any other special envoy to come to Washington.

Hull

8. Counterdraft of this date not found in Department files; for the American counterproposal of March 22, see Foreign Relations, 1937, vol. v, p. 453.