711.35/201
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Stettinius)
The Argentine Ambassador called on me. He was quite emotional about his recall, stating that he had been hopeful that he and I might have an opportunity to work out some mutual problems facing our two countries, with a new approach. He said he felt, however, that his place, much as he hated to leave Washington, was in Argentina as he might be able to do something constructive there. He expressed the opinion that although Argentina had recently reached the point of nearly breaking relations with the Axis, he felt the situation now would be worse before it was better.
He referred to the statements that this Government had been making and expressed the opinion that every statement we make further agitates the situation and expressed the hope that we would be a bit more cautious in these statements. I made no reply to these observations.