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

835.24/217½

Memorandum by the Chief of Naval Operations (Stark) to the Under Secretary of State (Welles)

Washington, December 6, 1941.

1. Despatch [telegram] No. 1341 from the American Embassy, Buenos Aires, dated November 27, 1941,¹ referring to the composition of the Argentine Mission enroute to the United States contains the following:

“Owing to the work assigned to this Mission, the Ambassador of Argentina or the Chargé d’Affaires in Washington will likewise be included in this Mission, in order to take up matters having a political interest.”

2. From various despatches received from the American Embassy in Buenos Aires, it is understood that the Argentine Mission desires to accomplish the following:

(a) To discuss by means of staff conversations certain plans for Hemisphere Defense elaborated by the Argentine Army and Navy.

(b) To prepare a program for the acquisition of armaments based upon the plans for defense agreed upon in the staff conversations.

(c) To negotiate a basic agreement with the State Department for the procurement of the armaments agreed upon, as required by the Lend-Lease procedure.²

3. The proposed agenda for staff conversations, forwarded to the State Department for transmission to the Argentine Government, emphasized the idea that staff conversations should take place between Military and Naval representatives of the two Governments qualified to make military decisions, and that any agreements arrived at should be first approved by the Chiefs of the Military and Naval Staffs of the two Governments, and afterwards presented to the Argentine Foreign Office and the State Department for final approval. It is, therefore, considered most undesirable that a representative of the Argentine Embassy in Washington should take part in the purely technical discussions of the staff conversations.

4. The participation of the Argentine Ambassador or Chargé d’Affaires should be restricted to the question of the procurement of armaments, after staff conversations have been completed, and the activities necessary in negotiating the basic agreement.

5. It is suggested that this matter be discussed in the next Liaison Committee³ meeting, with a view to reaching an understanding before the arrival of the Argentine Mission.

H. R. Stark

1. Ibid.
2. Under the Act of March 11, 1941; 55 Stat. 31.
3. The Liaison Committee was a high-level policy body consisting of representatives from the War, Navy, and State Departments.