835.01/9–944
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Mexico (Messersmith)
Dear Friend Messersmith: I have read with much interest and care your letters of September 7 and 985 regarding the position of Dr. Padilla with respect to the issuance of a statement on the Argentine situation.
I believe that I understand the delicate internal political situation with which the President and Foreign Minister are confronted. However, in view of the fact that Mexico is a belligerent and that the groups of the Left which have been severely critical of Padilla are very strong and outspoken in their support of our stand against Argentina, I find it difficult to understand why a declaration of policy with respect to Argentina by Dr. Padilla would provoke internal political attacks. On the contrary, it would seem that this is an issue by means of which he might be able to rally very strong support. I note that it is your view that since Padilla has now made an informal statement to the press on the Argentine problem he will probably find a further convenient opportunity to make a more formal statement in support of our stand. It would seem, therefore, that Padilla is also aware that on the Argentine issue there is little danger of creating domestic political difficulties either for himself or for, the President.
I want to make it perfectly clear that I have nothing but the warmest feelings of friendship and admiration for Dr. Padilla. There will be no difference in my feelings regardless of his views on the hemispheric situation as it relates to the policies of fascism and the lawless, vicious practices and methods that go with it. The single, basic point that I have stood on and now stand on, together, as I believe, with most of the other American governments, is that the [Page 353] present lawless, fascist regime in Argentina is a real menace and danger to this hemisphere and that therefore all the American nations can well afford to say so and to act in concert accordingly. It is to. my mind the very height of absurdity to try to coax back into the family of American republics an unprincipled government that has adopted fascism and made its country its abiding place, on the theory that by so doing we shall restore purity and decency and integrity to the very doctrines of unity which this fascist regime has done its best to destroy. Unless we keep pure and undefiled those doctrines and policies of our hemispheric unity and solidarity and the sound principles underlying the great cooperative organization built up during the years before Pearl Harbor, the whole idea of hemispheric cooperation will become undermined and discredited and will soon be abandoned by respectable nations. As I have said, and repeat, the danger is manifest and unless we guard against it it will in all probability spread up the continent.
Since I continue to believe that a strong statement by Padilla would be most helpful, I suggest that you discuss this matter with him once more before you leave, in the hope that he will see his way clear to making the kind of declaration that he is so well qualified to make. I am convinced that it would have a salutary effect throughout the hemisphere and would strengthen rather than weaken his own position in Mexico.
With best wishes,
Sincerely yours,
- Neither printed.↩