835.00/10–1546
The Ambassador in Argentina (Messersmith) to the Secretary of State
No. 1004
[Received November 1.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to a secret memorandum instruction dated September 11, 1946,34 stating that the Acting Secretary of State transmits for the information of the officers in charge of our Missions in the American Republics, a copy of a memorandum on the Argentine situation which was prepared at the request of the President and submitted to him for his consideration. The memorandum instruction states that the President has approved alternative “C” on Page 28 as a course of action to be followed.35
To this instruction is attached a memorandum entitled “Memorandum on the Argentine Situation”, which Assistant Secretary Braden transmitted to me with a covering letter of July 30, 1946, stating that the President had asked him to give him a written report on our Argentine policy. The President, in a memorandum dated July 22 addressed to Mr. Acheson as Acting Secretary, stated that he had read this report and that it seemed to him “that we should stick to specification ‘C’ on Page 28 of the alternative courses of action—that backs up the Secretary of State in his statement of April 8 as set out on Page 23”.
On the receipt of the letter from Assistant Secretary Braden dated July 30 transmitting this “Memorandum on the Argentine Situation” which he had submitted to the President, it was given careful study by me, and I found it necessary to transmit a secret despatch, No. 583, of August 15, 1946, to the Department, entitled “Observations on our Relations with the Argentine and with particular Reference to a Memorandum prepared by Assistant Secretary Braden for President Truman”. In this despatch I stated that while the memorandum in some respects was useful, it was altogether inadequate as a presentation of the Argentine situation, in some respects incorrect, and that it did not take into account major phases which had to be considered in our relations with the Argentine. I will not enter into detail with respect to the comment which I made on this memorandum in my despatch No. 583, of August 15, as the despatch is available in the Department. I wish, however, to call particular attention to the [Page 326] comment on the memorandum prepared by Assistant Secretary Braden which is contained on Pages 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 of my despatch.
The Department will therefore appreciate my surprise when we received in this Embassy the instruction of September 11 under reference, with which is transmitted a copy of this memorandum originally submitted by Assistant Secretary Braden to the President, and concerning which I had made completely objective and altogether well-founded comment in my despatch No. 583, of August 15. The memorandum was transmitted without any revision and without taking any note of my despatch No. 583.
I consider that this is a matter of primary importance for several reasons. In the first place I do not see the reason why a memorandum on the Argentine situation is transmitted to our Chiefs of Mission at this particular time.
In the second place, I could see the purpose of sending such a memorandum on the Argentine situation to our Chiefs of Mission in the other American Republics if it presented a complete and adequate and up-to-date picture of the situation in our relationships with the Argentine, and this the memorandum as submitted to our Chiefs of Mission does not do.
The memorandum as transmitted would leave the impression that the President has approved the memorandum as a whole, although the covering instruction simply states that the memorandum was prepared at the request of the President and that “the President has approved alternative ‘C’ on Page 28 as a course of action to be followed”. There is nothing new in this, for our policy has been based on the statement of the Secretary of April 8, 1946, and there has been no question, so far as I know, of any change in that statement.
Another factor which has to be considered in this connection is that this memorandum is being sent out by the Department as an official document with the impression that it has the approval of the President and it is therefore a document which, for our Chiefs of Mission will be considered for their guidance. In view of the inadequacies of the memorandum as a presentation of the Argentine problem I think that this is most unfortunate.
. . . . . .
I therefore respectfully request the Department’s consideration of either recalling the memorandum on the Argentine situation referred to in this despatch or substituting it with a memorandum which adequately takes into account the observations made in my despatch No. 583, of August 15, 1946. The Department will appreciate that I have no other course than to make this recommendation as the Chief of this Mission who is responsible to the Department for objective and [Page 327] complete reports on developments in the Argentine situation from this post and I would be failing in my duty if I had not and do not again bring to the attention of the Department the inadequacies of the memorandum originally transmitted to the President.
Respectfully yours,