821.796 Avianca/51: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Colombia (Braden)
22. Your 23, February 3, 2 p.m.30 We share your opinion that a statement at this juncture by the Department or by the Embassy might serve merely to feed publicity in Colombia. Hence we are inclined to volunteer no comment. Should inquiry be made by correspondents here (which is not improbable since a number of Washington newspaper men are aware of the general problem and following it closely) we plan to limit ourselves to pointing out that this Government is not a party to negotiations and that discussions—which have been under way for some time in an entirely friendly atmosphere—are between the Colombian Government and Colombian nationals on one hand and Pan American Airways on the other.
- Not printed. It concerned publicity in the Bogotá press given to an Associated Press story with Washington dateline of February 2, 1940 to the effect that the United States was intervening “to speed negotiations” between the Colombian Government and Pan American Airways. The Ambassador’s reaction to the incident was that neither the State Department nor the Embassy should make an announcement “until we see more clearly direction matters take.” While there existed “great confidence in President Roosevelt and his administration,” Ambassador Braden observed that “there lingers deep-seated fear of return to big stick policy.” (821.796 Avianca/51.)↩