812.50/8–2444

President Roosevelt to the President of Mexico (Avila Camacho)

My Dear Mr. President: It is with great pleasure that I have received a report prepared by the War Production Board on the 1944 Program of Industrial Projects for Mexico,52 as developed by the Mexican-American Commission for Economic Cooperation. This report is a concrete expression of the broad economic strategy on which you and I agreed during our meeting at Monterrey in April 1943, and subsequently when we took action to establish the Commission. The 1944 program is a carefully planned and realistic step toward strengthening the Mexican economy, and it is clear that improved conditions in Mexico will in turn strengthen the overall war effort of the United Nations. It is a source of great satisfaction to me, as I am sure it is to you, to see this tangible proof of the esteem and close economic ties that underlie the military alliance of our two countries.

Now that the 1944 program has been approved and the preparation of a longer range program is well advanced, a closer first-hand exchange of views between your Government and the War Production Board would be of benefit. To this end, I have asked Mr. Donald M. Nelson, Chairman of the Board, to visit Mexico. Mr. Nelson has been working in close cooperation with the Secretary of State, the Foreign Economic Administrator and the Coordinator for Inter-American Affairs of this Government,53 and is in a position to discuss the sound development of the economic relations between our two governments, and to crystallize further the broad concept outlined at Monterrey.

I have asked Mr. Nelson to hand this letter to you, and I want to use this opportunity to convey at the same time my high and warm regard and best wishes, both for your country and for you personally.

Very sincerely yours,

Franklin D. Roosevelt
  1. Not found in Department files.
  2. Nelson A. Rockefeller.