Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1942, The American Republics, Volume V

810.74/556: Telegram

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

Buenos Aires, October 26, 1942—6 p.m.
[Received 7:52 p.m.]

2088. Department’s 1592, October 23, 4 p.m.; and Embassy’s 2081, October 24, noon. proceeding on the assumption that Transradio by itself will not follow the action of its Chilean affiliate, it is likely that such a plan could be made effective only by action of Argentine Government, in which case it is probable that the British also would be affected. British Embassy here says its experts feel that inability to use code or cipher would cause great inconvenience, although it would abide by whatever decision is reached in Washington and London.

Another plan has been suggested to me by Gache, Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, which would prohibit international messages by radiotelegraph thus limiting them to cable. While prohibition of code or cipher was not mentioned, his plan has considerable merit in that it would force the Axis to send their messages by the cable facilities of either All America Cables or Western Telegraph, thus enabling messages to be held up and scrutinized in the United States or England.

I do not believe that Gache would propose such a plan without knowledge of the Cabinet, which may wish to answer the Under Secretary’s Boston speech in this manner.⁴ At the same time there may be considerable difficulty in achieving the plan due to opposition which would come from the radio communications companies such as Transradio and Radiar, which would stand to lose most if not all of their traffic depending on the scope of the proposal.

Gache asked my opinion of the plan and I told him I thought it offered distinct possibilities. He also mentioned it to the British who also feel that it deserves full consideration and are so advising their Government.

If the Department thinks well of the idea, which has the advantage of coming from the Argentine Government itself, then even if the British Government concurs in the former plan of restricting coded and cipher messages to the American Hemisphere, it may be advisable to hold up delivery of the Harbord message to Hayes pending further developments on the Gache plan.

The Department’s comments would be appreciated.

Armour

4. Speech at the World Trade dinner of the Twenty-ninth National Foreign Trade Convention, October 8, 1942. For text, see Department of State Bulletin, October 10, 1942, p. 808; for correspondence concerning the accusations made by Mr. Welles, see post, pp. 210 ff. passim.