Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1943, The American Republics, Volume V

862.20210/2152: Telegram

The Ambassador in Uruguay (Dawson) to the Secretary of State

Montevideo, January 12, 1943—8 p.m.
[Received 8:55 p.m.]

56. Reference Department’s Number 38 of January 8 to Buenos Aires repeat to Montevideo and number 18 of January 8 to Montevideo.¹³

1. Pursuant to instructions Spaeth and I today discussed the matter under reference with Dr. Guani who approved the procedure set forth in the Department’s cable communication between [apparent omission] Dr. Guani, also stated that in his opinion the information should be published for the same reasons which inspired the Committee’s action in the case of the Chilean memorandum.¹⁴

2. Prior to seeing Dr. Guani we had agreed with Ford, English and Doyle¹⁵ at the meeting at Buenos Aires to delete material in the second memorandum dealing with Japanese and Italian activities, which are still under investigation, as well as certain other information which in our judgment falls within the [apparent omission] expressed by the Department. We also agreed that it would be advisable to consolidate the three memoranda into one document and to add one or two paragraphs which would knit the material together and point up the principal adverse consequences to the defense of the hemisphere. When we saw Doctor Guani we explained that although the principal substance of the information supplied to the Committee would be the same as that supplied to the Argentine Government and agrees [sic] the form of the document would be different and in addition there would be certain minor changes of content. We suggested to him that, in view of the fact that the document would at least in form be a new memorandum, it seemed unnecessary to make any reference, either in the letter of the Minister to the Chairman of the Committee or in [any?] resolution which the Committee might adopt, to the fact that memoranda containing substantially the same information were presented to the Argentine Government. Dr. Guani agreed with this view and recalled that, on his own suggestion, the resolution authorizing publication of the Chilean memorandum did not recite that the memorandum had been presented to the Government of Chile by the Government of the United States, because Dr. Guani wished to avoid the charge that the Committee was interfering in negotiations between two republics. We assume that the Department does not consider that any specific or other reference need be made to the fact that the three memoranda were presented to the Argentine Government.

3. Department’s cable urges caution as respects indication of methods by which material was obtained. Although we will, of course, avoid revealing methods used in Argentina, we recommend that the Department authorize the quotation in the memorandum of the most important intercepts of clandestine radio messages, together with statement of fact of interception as in case Chile memorandum. If this recommendation is not approved, we will merely incorporate information secured through intercepts without indicating how obtained. Attention is called to the fact that Argentine officials know that we have the intercepts, and that the texts of the most important intercepts were released to the press by the Argentine police. Hence we conclude that the Axis must be aware that the codes have been broken. Representatives of Buenos Aires Embassy approve the foregoing.

Repeated to Buenos Aires.

Dawson

13. Latter not printed.
14. For a summary of this memorandum, see Foreign Relations, 1942, vol. v, p. 225; for its consideration by the Emergency Advisory Committee, see telegram No. 954, November 3, 1942, 10 p.m., from the Ambassador in Uruguay, ibid., p. 103.
15. Richard Ford, Clifton P. English, and Albert M. Doyle, Foreign Service Officers at Buenos Aires.