812.6363/4413a: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Mexico ( Daniels )

140. The New York Times this morning publishes an article by Kluckhohn which reads in part as follows:

“President Lazaro Cárdenas asserted tonight that the activities of the United States Government with reference to the Mexican expropriation of foreign-owned oil properties had been devoted exclusively to trying to get the United States oil concerns to deal directly with the Mexican Government. The President declared that the United States State Department had made no demands upon Mexico in regard to the expropriation and had sent no formal note. He said Washington had merely asked questions. These statements were made at a press conference this evening.”

Please telegraph the Department as soon as possible whether you have obtained or can obtain confirmation that President Cárdenas actually made such a statement as that attributed to him.10

[Page 756]

The Department, in view of the instructions contained in Department’s telegram No. 50 [47] of March 27, 2 p.m.,12 of course assumes that the Government of Mexico has always regarded the Department’s note transmitted in the Department’s telegram No. 45 of March 26, 2 p.m.,12 as having been delivered and has understood the position of the Government of the United States to be as indicated in Department’s telegram No. 50 [47], namely that it “was prepared to withhold publication of the note, for the time being, and definitely if a satisfactory solution is found.”

Hull
  1. Ambassador Daniels reported that, according to a Foreign Ministry statement, President Cárdenas’ answers to questions from a newsman did not justify the impression that Secretary Hull had not persistently insisted on compensation for appropriated properties of American oil companies.
  2. Not printed.
  3. Not printed.