Office of the Historian

839.51/10–2444: Airgram

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

Washington, November 2, 1944—5:10 p.m.

A–431. The Department is interested in obtaining the Embassy’s views regarding the likelihood of the retirement of Dominican dollar bonds, referred to in the Embassy’s telegram 464 of October 24. Is it anticipated that the Chase loan and budgetary surplus would be used to repay the Export Bank credit, and to reimburse U.S. citizens’ claims, or would they be devoted exclusively to retirement of the dollar bond issues?

The Department would also appreciate receiving the comments of the Embassy regarding the effects which might result from the termination of the 1940 Convention both with reference to (1) a need for a new basic Treaty and (2) such subjects as were covered in the 1940 Convention and accompanying notes as pension and claims payments.36

As these questions may not become matters for discussion between the two governments for some time, pending the outcome of the application for a Chase loan, it is suggested that for the present they [Page 1032] should be considered within the Embassy alone and not discussed with the Bondholders’ representative or with Dominican officials.

Stettinius
  1. In a memorandum dated October 28, not printed, Willard Barber, Assistant Chief of the Division of Financial and Monetary Affairs, noted that termination of the 1940 Convention would 1) leave a gap in treaty relationship concerning general political and economic matters, and 2) revive the following problems, some of which were covered by the Convention’s accompanying exchanges of notes: (a) Abolition of the Office of Bondholders Representative and of the Office of Deputy; (b) pension payments to United States citizens formerly employed in the Customs Receivership; and (c) annual payment of $125,000 for the reimbursement of claims of United States nationals. This memorandum was addressed to officers in the Division of Caribbean and Central American Affairs, the Legal Division, the Division of Research and Publication, and the Division of Commercial Policy. (893.51/10–2444)↩