Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1939, The American Republics, Volume V

715.1715/1408: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Representative of the President ( Corrigan )

Washington , March 25, 1939—noon.

23. Your telegram no. 29, March 20, 4 p.m. It is believed that for obvious reasons the exposition of the point of view of the Commission with regard to the desirability of carrying out the proposed aerial survey could be presented to the Honduran Government much more effectively by you and Dr. Zúñiga Montúfar than by Ocheltree acting alone. I am confident that if Dr. Rodríguez should be unable to accompany you he would not interpose any objection to a visit to Tegucigalpa by you and Dr. Zúñiga Montúfar. I suggest therefore for this purpose as well as for the reasons outlined in the Department’s telegrams no. 1 of January 7, 3 p.m. and no. 4 of January 18, 6 p.m. that you sound out Dr. Zúñiga Montúfar on the question of making the visit with the least possible delay. If he is not able to make the visit with you, consideration can then be given to the suggested visit to Tegucigalpa by Ocheltree for technical discussions on behalf of the Commission.

I believe that the meeting of the Commission suggested in your despatch no. 683 of March 16,²⁴ could be held more advantageously after the visit to Tegucigalpa by you and Dr. Zúñiga Montúfar when the attitude of the Honduran Government toward the future work of the Commission would presumably have been clarified. However, in order to avoid any misunderstanding, it is believed that the meeting should be held in San José.

Please refer to Ocheltree’s despatch no. 113 of March 15,²⁴ page 2, reporting Dr. Zúñiga Montúfar’s statement that the decision to request the Honduran Government to reconsider its stand on the aerial survey had been made on the basis of assurances given to the Department by the Honduran Chargé d’Affaires in Washington that the request would receive favorable consideration. You are requested to inform Dr. Zúñiga Montúfar either directly or through Ocheltree that no such assurances have been given to the Department. You may wish to inform Ocheltree of the foregoing.

Hull

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