Office of the Historian

738.39/530: Telegram

The Ambassador in the Dominican Republic (Warren) to the Secretary of State

Ciudad Trujillo, October 28, 1943—11 a.m.
[Received 4:43 p.m.]

316. In the course of conversations with President Trujillo and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Peña Batlle, they mentioned the visit of President Lescot of Haiti to the United States14 and expressed some surprise at the cordiality of Lescot’s reception. I told them that the higher officials of the Department of State were concerned over the deterioration of Dominican-Haitian relations and there was a disposition to place the major part of blame on Dominican officials and through them directly upon President Trujillo himself.

I informed them that Ambassador White and I had been given the privilege of endeavoring to improve the relations.

They replied that they were disposed to cooperate to this end. President Trujillo said that care would be taken during the Centenary celebration15 to avoid any adverse reference to Haiti and that as evidence of his good will he was prepared to invite President Lescot to attend the celebration as the guest of the Dominican Government.

Warren
  1. President Lescot visited the United States in October 1943.↩
  2. A celebration planned for 1944 in honor of the founding of Santo Domingo.↩