Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1944, General, Volume I

500.CC/9–1644

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of Caribbean and Central American Affairs (Cabot)⁸

[ Washington ,] September 16, 1944.

Participants:	The Secretary
	The Dominican Ambassador9
	The Haitian Ambassador10
	The Panamanian Ambassador11
	The Salvadoran Ambassador12
	The Cuban Chargé d’Affaires13
	The Bolivian Chargé d’Affaires14
	The Guatemalan Chargé d’Affaires15
	The Costa Rican Chargé d’Affaires16
	The Nicaraguan Chargé d’Affaires17
	The Ecuadoran Chargé d’Affaires18
	The Military Attaché of the Honduran Embassy19
	ARA—Mr. Armour
	CCA—Mr. Cabot

The Secretary began by discussing the vital role which cooperation had played in the past in inter-American affairs and must continue to play in the future. He said that at Montevideo he had proposed a program revolving around the doctrine of non-intervention. Upon his return he had insisted to the President upon a number of steps including a withdrawal from the then existing interventions and abrogation of the Platt Amendment.²⁰

The Secretary said that if we had gone to war haphazardly the peace would necessarily have been haphazard and uneasy. Moreover, the danger of attack would have been increased if the American Republics had not been united. Unity and cooperation had saved us from attack. Germany had made the blunder of not seizing the vital North African bases from which it would have been possible to have attacked this hemisphere by plane.

The Secretary stated that without the cooperation for which the foundations had been laid at Montevideo some of the American Republics would have followed the Argentine regime and its German followers. All of the American Republics would then have gone down together. As it is now, however, we are confronted with the choice of whether to cooperate in peace.

One of the questions which we must face is that of post-war organization. Private organizations have been drafting on this subject for some time. We have studied their suggestions. All drafts, including ours,²¹ include the same fundamental principles, many of which were also embodied in the League Covenant.²² There will be an Assembly, a Council, and a World Court and a Secretariat. There will be provision for discussion of economic and social welfare questions.

The work so far has been done by technicians. These technicians have been discussing and weighing ideas, changing both substance and wording from day to day. It is on this account that nothing is now being made public beyond the general principles embodied in the draft. Some of our friends at the talks are not used to our press. The Russians are in a somewhat difficult position. In the talks we have insisted on the observance of the rights of middle and small sized nations. We recognize that the large and small nations are interdependent. In the recommendations being drafted, the principles established at the Montevideo Conference, for example in regard to non-intervention, are being observed; also those fundamental to the Good Neighbor Policy. We have sought to increase in every possible way the functions of the Assembly in which every Nation will be represented. The Assembly will be able to discuss all matters regarding the preservation of peace, and can make recommendations to the Council. (The Secretary at this point stressed to the group the need for secrecy regarding the points he was making.)

The Secretary said that the conversations were getting along nicely except for the unavoidable delays required for full discussion and the time required for instructions to come from Moscow. The Chinese talks should take only a few days. As soon as the talks are finished we plan to send the document to each of the other nations and to lay it before the public. The Secretary then planned to invite the representatives of all the republics of the Western Hemisphere, to give them the document, to talk it over with them, to answer their questions and to explain any obscure points. He hoped that a general conference might be held not later than November. He said that he welcomed the opportunity to talk to them as we had talked candidly to each other for eleven years at other conferences.

The Secretary then asked Mr. Armour whether he had any further points to make. Mr. Armour said that we might wish to emphasize that the United States felt that the Inter-American System should be maintained and strengthened. The Secretary said that was just what he had been trying to say: that we are trying to preserve on a world wide basis the principles developed in this hemisphere. The countries of the hemisphere must stand together. There is a need for talking these matters out. The Secretary then asked whether anyone wished to ask any questions.

The Salvadoran Ambassador then got up and referred to the newspaper squib this morning saying that the Ambassadors yesterday had merely been talked to. Dr. Castro said that we all knew that this was completely untrue, that never in all of his experience with the Secretary had he failed to have an opportunity to make any comments he might desire. He then praised the Secretary’s work at Montevideo and referred to the change of spirit in inter-American relations after that Conference. He said that he hoped that the general conference on international organization would be held at Washington.

The Secretary said that the seat of the Conference had not been decided, but he indicated the hope that it might be held in this country. He thanked Dr. Castro for his remarks. The Secretary then emphasized the supreme importance of cooperation. He referred to his bitter disappointment that the Argentine Government had been seized by force by Fascists and other dangerous elements at such a critical moment for the hemisphere. He said that we were asked to put our arms around this crowd and to recognize it but that it would not promise better conduct in return. If we who have kept pure the ideals of fair play and cooperation do not continue to refuse to recognize those who have not, it will be the end of Pan Americanism.

8. Sent with circular instruction of September 23, 1944, to diplomatic representatives in the American Republics except Argentina; instruction not printed.
9. Anselmo Capello.
10. André Liautaud.
11. Enrique A. Jiménez.
12. Hector D. Castro.
13. José T. Barón.
14. Carlos D. Chopitea.
15. Enrique López-Hérrarte.
16. Jorge Hazera.
17. Alberto Sevilla Sacasa.
18. Sixto E. Durán-Ballén.
19. Capt. Juan Da Costa.
20. See Foreign Relations, 1934, vol. v, pp. 183–185.
21. For text of the U.S. draft presented at the Dumbarton Oaks Conversations, see p. 653.
22. For text of the Covenant of the League of Nations, see Foreign Relations, The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, vol. xiii, p. 69.