Office of the Historian

810.74/548a: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Argentina (Armour)

Washington, October 23, 1942—4 p.m.

1592. The Department has received the following message from Harbord of RCA to Hayes of Transradio:

“Transradio Chilena has suspended the use of code and cipher telegrams to and from all countries outside the American continent. This action greatly safeguarded that country’s security and incidentally benefited the company. Strongly recommend you take similar action notifying Bern accordingly. This action is authorized by Article 27, Madrid Convention1 to which Argentine Government is signatory and is not likely to be opposed by your authorities as it will greatly simplify the work of the Government interventor. Give copy of this message to President Aguirre as alternative action to my previous suggestion regarding closing of Axis circuits.” (The country referred to is, of course, Chile.)

The Department feels that the action proposed in the above message would be more effective than action to close the Axis circuits only, since it would prevent the Axis missions in Chile and Argentina from communicating with their Governments in confidential code by way of neutral countries. Such action by Transradio would not have any practical effect on communications between your British colleague and London, since the British Government does not use the facilities of Transradio for confidential messages in any case. However, the question has been raised as to whether the Argentine Government, in response to the contemplated action of Transradio, might forbid the use of confidential code on all telecommunication circuits extending out of the hemisphere, in which case the British would be denied the use of the cable operated by the Western Telegraph Company from Buenos Aires to Ascension and thence indirectly to London for messages in confidential code. In view of this possibility, the Department is requesting the concurrence of the British Government in [Page 167] the proposed action of Transradio, and you should await word that this concurrence has been received before delivering General Harbord’s message.

Please telegraph your comment.

Hull
  1. International Telecommunication Convention signed December 9, 1932, at Madrid, Foreign Relations, 1932, vol. i, p. 873.↩