Office of the Historian

810.20 Defense/1805

Memorandum by Mr. Emilio G. Collado, Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State (Welles)24

[Washington,] December 12, 1941.

Lend-Lease Program With the Other American Republics25

After conferences with Mr. Duggan and Mr. Acheson regarding the changed circumstances surrounding the continuance of the program of lend-lease cooperation with the other American republics, the following program is suggested:

1.
With respect to the seven countries that have already signed agreements,—Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nicaragua and Paraguay,26—nothing needs to be done. Article I of the standard agreement27 does not firmly commit us to deliveries of material during the first year, and in any event provides a full reservation at the discretion of the President.
2.
Pending agreements—It is suggested in general that no pressure be placed by the Department on other governments to sign agreements, and that as governments approach the Department to conclude negotiations already well in progress, it be indicated that the first year deliveries cannot at the moment be accurately forecast. It is suggested that new agreements omit the sentence in Article I which relates to the amount of deliveries which it is contemplated will be made in the first year. It is also suggested that we adopt for all future agreements the new Article II proposed for Venezuela and Argentina. This Article II, which is much less cumbersome than the former, provides for a simple proportional payment for such goods as are delivered. There is attached a copy of the proposed new form.27

If you approve this new procedure, we can go ahead on this new basis with El Salvador which is about ready to sign a lend-lease agreement.

Emilio G. Collado
  1. Addressed to the Adviser on Political Relations (Duggan) and the Under Secretary of State (Welles), both of whom indicated on the original of this memorandum their agreement with the suggested procedure.↩
  2. The Lend-Lease agreements signed by the United States with other American Republics differed from the conventional “master” agreements in that a specific repayment responsibility for defense aid furnished was accepted by each beneficiary nation. (Message from the President of the United States transmitting the Thirty-Third Report to Congress on Lend-Lease Operations, for the period ending December 31, 1951, p. 41, footnote 1.)↩
  3. For texts of agreements with Bolivia and Brazil, see post, pp. 428 and 534, respectively; with Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Paraguay, see vol. vii, pp. 122, 253, 319, 410, and 480, respectively.↩
  4. Not printed.↩
  5. Not printed.↩