711.3227/1

The Assistant Secretary of State ( Berle ) to the Assistant Secretary of War for Air ( Lovett )

My Dear Mr. Lovett: Your letter of December 7, 1943,1 regarding the question of negotiating post-war civil and military aviation agreements with Brazil, has been read with a great deal of interest in the Department and has been discussed at length with Secretary Hull.

We have had further conversations with Colonel Brownell,2 and the matter has also been discussed with the Secretary of State on several occasions. The Department agrees that this appears to be a propitious time to approach the Brazilian Government; Ambassador Caffery is scheduled to make a quick trip to Washington in the very near future, at which time the matter will be taken up with him personally. In the meantime, I should like to refer to the lettered paragraphs of your letter of December 7.

(a)
The question of a civil air agreement with Brazil already has been taken up with the Ambassador at Rio de Janeiro. In an instruction from the Department dated November 10,3 certain aspects of the problem were outlined and the Ambassador’s comments were requested.
(b)
Ambassador Caffery’s reply,4 recently received, stated: “I am in accord with the Department and General Walsh as to the timeliness of reaching agreement with Brazil on these matters.” It is quite probable that the negotiation of a definite civil air agreement with Brazil in the near future would not be inconsistent with any broader United Nations agreement which might be concluded later, but we agree that this is a question which needs further consideration before final decision. Meanwhile, we are presently drafting a proposed civil air agreement which will give the Embassy at Rio de Janeiro a good [Page 544] idea of the points which should be covered, and will enable it to discuss the matter in more detail with the Brazilians.
In the last part of your paragraph (b) reference is made to an agreement “which would insure to American companies the same right as Brazilian companies may have of using airfields constructed in whole or substantial part by United States funds, and also securing for us such additional commercial air rights in Brazil as may be feasible.” I believe both these points will be covered adequately in the proposed agreement now being drafted, but aside from this, and after informal consultation with the War Department, we instructed the Embassy at Rio de Janeiro several months ago to present an aide-mémoire 5 to the Brazilian Government. If accepted, this would protect the provisions of the decree law under which the A. D. P.6 airports were constructed, as well as generalizing the use of these airports to all duly authorized American air carriers. This aide-mémoire is now being studied by the Brazilian authorities although, of course, the proposed civil air agreement will go even further.
(c)
The Department naturally will be glad to get the views of the War Department on the proposed commercial agreement. Close collaboration with the Civil Aeronautics Board in the final drafting of this agreement is also contemplated.
(d)
The Department will be very much interested in your views regarding the securing of certain military rights in Brazil, and I understand that a letter from the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Secretary of State is likewise being drafted on this subject. The Department agrees that any military agreement should be separate from the civil agreement, although there is of course the possibility that these two agreements could be negotiated concurrently.
(e)
It is possible that some of the suggestions contained in the draft of the letter of November 28 to Ambassador Caffery, prepared by General Walsh, Mr. Satterthwaite, and Mr. Walmsley,7 cannot be covered in the proposed agreement. While the proposed joint aeronautical commission is an interesting suggestion, it is not certain whether such a body might function effectively. There is no precedent for the organization of a formal commission in bilateral air navigation agreements, and there is some question whether delegation of needed powers to such a commission would be practicable. The Department’s tentative draft of a civil air agreement makes provision for close collaboration between the authorities of the two parties to the agreement, without setting up a formal body.

With regard to your expressed doubt as to the necessity for granting extensive reciprocal rights to Brazil, the Department feels that this is a delicate point and that the closer we come to a formal statement of reciprocity in the agreement, the more we can expect to receive from Brazil. Ambassador Caffery’s comments on this subject are as follows: [Page 545]

“In regard to an air agreement in general, the Air Minister8 and Brigaderio Gomes9 have both expressed approval of the principle of reciprocity. Brigaderio Gomes, however, again raised …10 his objections to inland routes for foreign carriers … As the Department correctly appreciates, few if any Brazilians are aware of the fact that as matters now stand Brazil may be denied reciprocal rights for those Brazilian airlines it desires to have enter the United States. The exclusion of Brazilian airlines desiring to fly to the United States would obviously have a serious effect on our aviation interests.”

It is true that the Department of State and the Civil Aeronautics Administration have already taken steps to provide for certain training of Brazilian aviation technicians, and the proposed negotiations will include a reference, either in the agreement or in the interpretative exchange of notes, which will make additional provision for such training and which should be an added bargaining point for us.

Within a very short time the Department expects to be able to furnish you with a copy of the draft, now being prepared, of the proposed civil agreement. At such time I hope that we can discuss this, matter further, as well as the proposed military agreement.

Sincerely yours,

Adolf A. Berle, Jr.
  1. Not printed.
  2. Col. George A. Brownell, Executive Officer, Office of the Assistant Secretary of War for Air.
  3. Instruction not printed.
  4. Despatch 13726, December 6, 1943, Foreign Relations, 1943, vol. v, p. 648.
  5. Not printed.
  6. Aviation Development Program of the United States Army.
  7. Not printed. Livingston L. Satterthwaite and Walter N. Walmsley, Department of State Foreign Service Officers, were instrumental in the drafting of a letter for the signature of the Commanding Officer of the United States Army Forces in the South Atlantic, Maj. Gen. Robert L. Walsh, which was addressed to the United States Ambassador in Brazil, Jefferson Caffery.
  8. Joaquim Pedro Salgado Filho.
  9. Brig. Eduardo Gomes, Commander of the Second Air Zone, Brazilian Air Force.
  10. Omissions in this paragraph indicated in the original letter.