Office of the Historian

824.01/977

Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, by the Ambassador in Mexico (Messersmith)

[Mexico City,] June 17, 1944.

Mr. McGurk in the Department called me on the telephone this morning at 10 a.m., Mexico City time, and gave me the information which is contained in the appended memorandum97 which I prepared immediately afterward. Mr. McGurk said that I was to give Dr. Padilla, the Minister of Foreign Relations, this information and that I should convey that the Department believes that his initiative in his note addressed to the other American Republics was a happy one and that we would be willing to go along with him in further procedure to bring about a common attitude in relation to Bolivian recognition on June 23. In the absence of the Minister, Dr. Padilla, I called on Dr. Tello,98 the Oficial Mayor of the Foreign Office, who I know has [Page 467] full instructions from the Minister regarding the Bolivian situation. I gave to him the appended memorandum covering the substance of Mr. McGurk’s conversation with me this morning and left with him quite informally and not as an official document a copy of the appended memorandum for his adequate guidance …99

Dr. Tello said that he was much pleased and that he would immediately inform their Ambassador in Chile1 by telegraph to inform the Chilean Government that from the information which the Mexican Government had, 11 of the American Governments …99 had already indicated a willingness to recognize the present Bolivian Government on June 232 and that the Mexican Government would appreciate hearing from the Chilean Government in the event that it was ready to proceed on that day. Dr. Tello said that he would send a similar telegram to Cuba, Peru and Nicaragua.

Dr. Tello said that he would send a telegram to their Ambassador in Uruguay3 to inform the Uruguayan Government of the attitude of the 11 states with respect to recognition and to ask what the position of the Uruguayan Government was and to express the hope that they would have no objection to our going forward on that basis. Parenthetically, he said that if Uruguay felt that it was in a special position, he hoped it would not object to the other American states’ going forward on June 23 …99

With respect to Costa Rica and Paraguay, in view of the attitude of the other American Governments already known, he expressed the hope that they would be able to go along with respect to recognition as of June 23, even if they have not had any relations up to now with Bolivia.4 Parenthetically, I remarked that probably the failure of Costa Rica and Paraguay to reply was due to the fact that they have not had any diplomatic relations with Bolivia for some time. He was not sure about this but he would look it up. In any event, he did suggest that they would go along even if they have not had any relations with Bolivia for some time.

With respect to El Salvador, he said that they would send a telegram along the same lines as to Chile and try to overcome any objection that El Salvador may have to going along with recognition on June 23 …99 before the election.

Dr. Tello, on behalf of Dr. Padilla, said that the Minister appreciated very much this collaboration with us in this important matter and assured me that the telegrams in the foregoing sense would go [Page 468] forward immediately and this was in accord with instructions he had from the Minister.

He said that he would keep me currently informed of any information which they get.

  1. Not printed.↩
  2. Manuel Tello.↩
  3. Points appear as in the original.↩
  4. Luis Rodríguez.↩
  5. Points appear as in the original.↩
  6. A marginal note initialed by Mr. McGurk reads, “No, I corrected this.”↩
  7. Mariano Armendáriz del Castillo.↩
  8. Points appear as in the original.↩
  9. A marginal note reads, “I corrected this.”↩
  10. Points appear as in the original.↩