Office of the Historian

837.61351/4132

Memorandum by Mr. George F. Scherer of the Division of the American Republics to the Chief of the Division (Bonsal)

[Washington,] July 24, 1943.

Insurance on 1944 Cuban Sugar Crop

Mr. Bonsal: Mr. Wilson of CCC mentioned to me during yesterday’s sugar meeting that neither he nor Mr. Brown69 have been able to discover a way by which a provision can be inserted in the 1944 sugar agreement70 guaranteeing a minimum of manipulation in underwriting the insurance contracts.

I am disturbed at the prospect of a recurrence of Godoy’s operation on the 1943 crop. While there was little for the Department to do after the arrangement had been presented to CCC with the approval of the Institute and the Cuban Senate, it strikes me that the Department or CCC might well call to the attention of the Cuban Delegation the desirability of providing an equal opportunity for the various underwriters legally doing business in Cuba to contract for the 1944 insurance. May I please have your views?

  1. Courtney Brown, vice president of the Commodity Credit Corporation.↩
  2. See pp. 167 ff., especially the bracketed note on p. 175.↩