Office of the Historian

811.51/4243: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Brazil (Caffery)

Washington, June 19, 1942—10 p.m.

1597. Your 1975, June 10, 9 p.m. The following telegram is being sent to all missions in the South American Republics. (See Department’s circular telegram of June 19, 1942, 11 p.m.)52

Please emphasize to the Finance Minister that this program has been adopted by Treasury because of the necessity for uniformity of treatment by the United States with respect to all importations of currency and because of the existence in other American Republics of conditions which do not exist in Brazil.

You are authorized to state to the Minister of Finance in confidence that the recommendations of the Government of Brazil or of the Bank of Brazil will be given preponderant weight in the determination by Treasury as to whether currency imported from Brazil under this arrangement should be released.

It is expected that certain special arrangements may have to be made for Brazil, but an attempt should be made to have the Bank of Brazil send to the United States as much of the currency already deposited with them as they can on the basis above indicated without violating any undertakings that they have already made with respect to such currency. If Brazil’s present regulations do not permit the forwarding of dollar currency on such basis, it is hoped that the regulations can be appropriately altered to permit such disposition of the currency. Please cable at once if this is not possible.

We hope to be able to make special adjustments for Brazil in our own program to provide a smooth working arrangement with the Brazilian authorities.

Hull
  1. Not printed; the quotation of circular telegram of June 19, 11 p.m., was stricken from this instruction before its transmission and the reference in parentheses substituted. The telegram announced the institution by the Treasury Department of a means of currency control through receiving applications for the release of currency forwarded to the United States by the Central Bank. The application was designed to elicit a variety of facts concerning the source of the currency. (811.51/4186a)↩