811.34582/5: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Liberia ( Walton )
37. Your mail despatch 544, November 14, 194014 and your telegram no. 14, March 15, 1939.15 Please seek an immediate interview with President Barclay16 and, referring to earlier discussions concerning the defense of Liberia, inform him that this Government is now prepared to give immediate and favorable consideration to any request he may make for the establishment of an American air base in Liberia. Explain that this suggestion is put forward in the light of the traditional relations of close friendship between the United States and Liberia which have existed for more than one hundred years. Add that such a base, if established, would of course be with full recognition on the part of the United States of the sovereign and independent [Page 533] status of Liberia and that American military personnel would of course be withdrawn from Liberia as soon as the emergency had passed. We would envisage implementing the plan by sending to Liberia at an early date a small force of say 500 United States Marines, who would prepare the way for the construction of the air base. Necessary details, including assurances with respect to full recognition of Liberian sovereignty and regarding the withdrawal of troops upon the termination of the emergency, could be worked out subsequently. These arrangements might well be along the lines of those which have been made in regard to the establishment of American bases in British territories in the Western Hemisphere.
The President attaches the utmost importance to the establishment of the proposed base and you will therefore spare no effort in endeavoring to induce President Barclay to make a request in the sense desired. In view of the need for absolute secrecy you will refrain from discussing the matter with anyone except President Barclay.
- Not printed.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1939, vol. iv, p. 558.↩
- Edwin Barclay.↩