811.34553B/1–3046: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Portugal ( Crocker )
103. Article 3 of the Santa Maria Agreement2 with the Portuguese provides for a termination of the use of the field 6 months after the end of hostilities, but also provides for an extension of its use up to 3 additional months. It is our interpretation that the 6 months period would end March 2, that being 6 months after V–J Day. Please inform the appropriate Portuguese authorities immediately that we shall wish to avail ourselves of the extension provision in Article 3. You may explain that redeployment and other plans in connection with our occupation of Germany and Japan will not have been completed by March 2 and it is for that reason that we are availing ourselves of the provision in Article 3.
- For text of agreement between the United States and Portugal relating to air transit facilities in the Azores effected by exchange of notes November 28, 1944, see Department of State, Treaties and Other International Acts Series No. 2338; United States Treaties and Other International Agreements, vol. 2 (pt. 2), p. 2124.↩