811.248/3–645: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Chargé in Portugal ( Crocker )
Washington
, March 9,
1945—6 p.m.
388. The ATC draft agreement containing the changes quoted in your telegram no. 510 of March 622 is satisfactory subject to the following provisions:
- 1.
- The Portuguese Government will liberally interpret paragraph 1, section 4, which reads “they shall be unarmed and crews shall be civilian”. If it is understood that the “Civilian Crews” will actually be unarmed, military personnel in uniform as explained in Deptel 344 February 23 to Madrid repeated to Lisbon, there would be no objection by ATC or the War Department.
- 2.
- Paragraph 2 of draft reads in part “will not land at Santa Maria unless in emergency cases considered in the existing agreement”. If the liberal interpretation mentioned in your reference telegram allows ATC to operate into Lisbon with all aircraft presently authorized to land at Santa Maria there would be no objection.
- 3.
- Section 3 of the draft reads in part “United States Government agrees to render all aid necessary to the Portuguese Government”. This statement is too broad. The State and War Departments and ATC are agreeable to giving all possible assistance and support to any requests for necessary machinery and materials, but no assurance can be extended regarding their immediate availability.
If these questions can be solved to your satisfaction by assurances of liberal interpretations, or alteration of the text of the draft, you are authorized to conclude the negotiations by a simple exchange of notes containing the draft agreement.
Please communicate the foregoing to Payne.
Grew
- Not printed.↩