835.00/2528a: Circular telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Diplomatic Representatives in the American Republics Except Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile
The Acting Secretary released the following statement concerning Argentina at his press conference today:
“The foreign policy of the United States since the beginning of the war ha£ been governed primarily by considerations of support to [Page 260] the prosecution of the war. That applies to our relations with any country. That is the single uppermost point in our policy and must remain so.
Prior to February 25, the Argentine Government had been headed by General Ramírez. On January 26, 1944, his Government broke relations with the Axis, and indicated that it proposed to go further in cooperating in the defense of the Western Hemisphere and the preservation of hemispheric security.
Suddenly, on February 25, under well-known circumstances, General Ramírez abandoned the active conduct of affairs. This Government has reason to believe that groups not in sympathy with the declared Argentine policy of joining the defense of the Hemisphere, were active in this turn of affairs.
The Department of State thereupon instructed Ambassador Armour to refrain from entering official relations with the new regime pending developments. This is the present status of our relations with the existing Argentine regime.
In all matters relating to the security and defense of the Hemisphere, we must look to the substance rather than the form. We are in a bitter war with a ruthless enemy whose plan has included conquest of the Western Hemisphere. To deal with such grave issues on a purely technical basis would be to close our eyes to the realities of the situation.
The support by important elements inimical to the United Nations war effort of movements designed to limit action already taken could only be a matter of grave anxiety.
The United States has at all times had close ties with Argentina and the Argentine people. It has consistently hoped, and continues to hope, that Argentina will take the steps necessary to bring her fully and completely into the realm of hemispheric solidarity, so that Argentina will play a part worthy of her great traditions in the worldwide struggle on which the lives of all of the American countries, including Argentina, now depend. The policies and types of action, present and future, which would effectuate this full cooperation are fully known in Argentina, as in the rest of the Hemisphere.”