Office of the Historian
  1. Home
  2. Historical Documents
  3. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, The American Republics, Volume XI
  4. Document 407

832.76/10–1746

The American Ambassador in Brazil ( Pawley ) to the Brazilian Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs ( Leão Gracie )

secret
No. 134
Rio de Janeiro , September 16, 1946.

Excellency: I have the honor to refer to a recent conversation which I have had with His Excellency, the President of the Republic, and to now propose an understanding, subject to the approval of Your Excellency, providing for the operation of the supplemental naval radio station at Recife by the Navy of the United States of America based upon the following provisions:

The radio station, which is located on the Ilha das Cobras near Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil and which occupies 175.06 hectares of land shall be operated by the Navy of the United States of America for a period of ten years in the interest of the defense of this hemisphere and with the joint concurrence of the Government of the United States of Brazil and the Government of the United States of America. The date of commencement of operation shall be on the date that the suggested agreement becomes effective. The right of tenure enjoyed under this agreement by the Navy of the United States of America will include full right of access to the radio station as well as the right to make any change in the equipment or the facilities of the station as may be deemed desirable or necessary by the Navy of the United States of America.

The station at Recife, within the limits of its current existing capacity, will furnish to the Government of the United States of Brazil the same high frequency radio bearing services for search and rescue purposes as are provided to the Government of the United States of America. When and as alerted to specific cases by the Government of the United States of Brazil, it will maintain continuous watch as necessary to furnish high frequency direction finder bearings to ships or aircraft in actual or potential distress.

In further return for the use of the radio station, the Government of the United States of America will turn over to the Government of the United States of Brazil the fixed installations and the equipment of the high frequency radio direction finder stations at Bahia and Belém. It will further agree to maintain this equipment in operating condition for a period of three months following the effective date of approval.54 Any instructions necessary to initiate [Page 456] the operation of these stations will be provided by the Navy of the United States of America and so long as the latter shall operate the radio station at Recife it will make available to the Government of the United States of Brazil advisory assistance in the maintenance and operation of the stations at Bahia and Belém.

This agreement may be extended for periods of five years by the mutual agreement of both Governments and it may be terminated by request of either Party at any time prior to the date of expiration.55

I take this opportunity [etc.]

William D. Pawley
  1. In a letter of October 7, 1946, from the Assistant Secretary of State to the Secretary of the Navy, the concurrence of the Brazilian Government was indicated (832.26/10–746).↩

  2. A marginal note in the original reads: “In taking receipt of a hecto of this desp. & encl. from Mr. Braddock on Nov. 4, 1946, Commander William M. Laughlin stated that according to the Naval Attaché, Rio, formal transfer of the Bahia and Belém stations had taken place on Oct. 8, from which date the three-month period for maintenance, as provided in ¶4, would therefore begin to run.

    11/4/46. D. B[raddock]”

    ↩