Office of the Historian

862.20210/2032¾

Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Welles) to the Secretary of State

[Washington,] November 7, 1942.

Mr. Secretary: With reference to our conversation of this afternoon I have now received from Ambassador Armour the reply to the inquiry which I sent him on November 581 and which I attach herewith for your reference, particularly the part which I have marked.82

I feel we should not only avoid making any commitments at this time with regard to nonpublication of the memorandum, but that we should also emphasize at every opportunity that the facts brought to the attention of the Argentine Government affect the security of all of the other American republics as well as our own security and that the basic question involved is one which has already appropriately been placed in the hands of the Inter-American Defense Committee in Montevideo.

I know that you will bear in mind in talking with the Argentine Ambassador that the Inter-American Defense Committee has already made public the memorandum covering Axis activities in Chile, and that we could therefore hardly in principle agree to take a more favorable position with regard to Argentina than we have with regard to Chile.

  1. For inquiry, see telegram No. 1659, November 5, 5 p.m., to the Ambassador in Argentina, p. 236.↩
  2. The marking referred to does not appear on file copy of reply, telegram No. 2194 of November 6, 7 p.m., printed on p. 240.↩