Office of the Historian

List of abbreviations, symbols, and code names

Editor’s Note.—This list does not include standard abbreviations in common usage; unusual abbreviations of rare occurrence which are clarified at appropriate points; and those abbreviations and contractions which, although uncommon, are understandable from the context.

  • A, Airgram
  • AAF, Army Air Forces
  • AB, Assistant Secretary of State (Benton)
  • A–Br, Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs (Braden)
  • Aerovias Q, Cuban Airline
  • Abwehr, Foreign Intelligence Service of the High Command of the German Armed Forces
  • AC or A–C, Assistant Secretary of State (Clayton)
  • ACC, Allied Control Commission
  • AD, Acción Democrática (Democratic Action Party in Venezuela)
  • ADP, Airport Development Program (of the United States)
  • AFL or AF of L, American Federation of Labor
  • Agri, Department of Agriculture
  • a.i., ad interim
  • AMAA, Assistant Military Air Attaché
  • Amb, Ambassador
  • AmEmb, American Embassy
  • ANLA, Agencia Noticiera Latino-Americana (news agency in Mexico City)
  • AP, Associated Press
  • APRA, Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana (Peruvian Party of the People)
  • ARA, Office of American Republic Affairs, Department of State
  • Arg, Argentina
  • ARP, American Republics Projects
  • AsstSecy, Assistant Secretary of State
  • ATC, Air Transport Command
  • AV, Aviation Division, Department of State
  • B, biplane
  • BA, Buenos Aires
  • BA, Division of Brazilian Affairs, Department of State
  • Baires, Buenos Aires
  • BDC, Bolivian Development Corporation
  • Bol, Bolivia, Bolivian
  • Braz, Brazil
  • Brit, British
  • BS, Bolivianos
  • CAA, Civil Aeronautics Administration
  • CAB, Civil Aeronautics Board, Department of Commerce
  • CAB, Division of Caribbean Affairs, Department of State
  • CAUSA, Compañía Aeronáutica Uruguaya (Uruguayan Air Company)
  • CCA, Division of Caribbean and Central American Affairs, Department of State
  • CCT, Confederación Costarricense de Trabajadores (Costa Rican Confederation of Labor)
  • CDC, Caribbean Defense Command
  • CFB, Combined Food Board
  • CGCDC, Commanding General, Caribbean Defense Command
  • CGT, Confederación General de Trabajadores (General Confederation of Labor)
  • c.i.f., cost, insurance, and freight
  • CIO, Congress of Industrial Organizations
  • CIPA, Carretera Internacional del Pacifico (International Road of the Pacific, Guatemala)
  • cirins, circular instruction
  • cirtel, circular telegram
  • Col, Colombia
  • com, committee
  • conf, confidential
  • CP, Division of Commercial Policy, Department of State
  • CPA, Civilian Production Administration
  • CPA, Division of Central America and Panama Affairs
  • CPD, Committee for Political Defense (Emergency Advisory Committee for Political Defense)
  • Cr, Cruzeiros
  • CRC, Combined Rubber Committee
  • CTAL, Confederación de Trabajadores de América Latina (Latin American Confederation of Labor)
  • CTC, Confederación de Trabajadores de Cuba (Confederation of Cuban Workers)
  • CTC, Confederación de Trabajadores de Colombia (Confederation of Colombian Workers)
  • cwt., hundredweight
  • Depcirtel, Department circular telegram
  • Deptel, Department telegram
  • Deptstel, Department’s telegram
  • desp, despatch
  • DNC, National Coffee Department (Brazil)
  • EACPD, Emergency Advisory Committee for Political Defense
  • Ec, Ecuador
  • ECEFP, Executive Committee on Economic Foreign Policy
  • ED, Division of Investment and Economic Development, Department of State
  • Emb, Embassy
  • Embgam, Embassy airgram
  • Embtel, Embassy telegram
  • Embstel, Embassy’s telegram
  • ES, Division of Economic Security Controls, Department of State
  • Eximbank, Export–Import Bank of Washington
  • Ex-Imp, Export–Import Bank of Washington
  • FAMA, Flota Aérea Mercante Argentina (Argentine Mercantile Air Fleet, joint governmental and private company)
  • FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation
  • FCC, Federal Communications Commission
  • FEA, Foreign Economic Administration
  • FLC, Foreign Liquidation Commissioner
  • FN, Division of Financial Affairs, Department of State
  • f.o.b., free on board
  • FoMin, Foreign Minister
  • FonMin, Foreign Minister
  • FonOff, Foreign Office
  • FP, Division of Foreign Service Personnel, Department of State
  • Ger, German
  • IA, Division of Special Inter-American Affairs, Department of State
  • IADC, Inter-American Development Commission
  • IDPLC, Interdepartmental Proclaimed List Committee
  • IIAA or OCIAA, Institute of Inter-American Affairs, United States Government instrumentality
  • ILH, Division of International Labor, Social and Health Affairs, Department of State
  • ILO, International Labor Office
  • info, information
  • instr, instruction
  • IPC, International Petroleum Company
  • IPIMIGEO, Pan American Institute of Mining Engineering and Geology
  • IR, International Resources Division, Department of State
  • IRCA, International Railways of Central America, Guatemala
  • IT&T, International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation
  • JBUSMC, Joint Brazil–United States Military Commission
  • JCS, Joint Chiefs of Staff
  • LAB, Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano
  • LADE, Líneas Aéreas del Estado (State Air Lines, an Argentine Government owned and operated transport company)
  • LP, Division of Lend–Lease and Surplus War Property Affairs, Department of State
  • MA, Division of Mexican Affairs, Department of State
  • MA, Military Attaché
  • MAA, Military Air Attaché
  • MinFonAff, Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • mm., millimeter
  • MNR, Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (Nationalist Revolutionary Movement of Bolivia)
  • mytel, my telegram
  • NAC, National Advisory Council on International Monetary and Financial Problems
  • NARBA, North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement
  • NCB, National City Bank of New York
  • Niact, communication indicator requiring attention by the recipient at any time of the day or night
  • NR, National Revolutionary Party in Argentina
  • NWC, Division of North and West Coast Affairs, Department of State
  • OA or PBY, Navy patrol bombing plane
  • OA–IO, observation plane
  • ODT, Office of Defense Transportation
  • OES, Office of Economic Stabilization
  • OFAR, Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations, Department of Agriculture
  • OFD, Office of Financial and Development Policy, Department of State
  • OFLC, Office of Foreign Liquidation Commissioner
  • OIC, Office of International Information and Cultural Affairs, Department of State
  • OIT, Office of International Trade, Department of Commerce
  • OPA, Office of Price Administration
  • OS2U, Scout observation, “Kingfisher”, plane
  • Pan, Panama
  • Panagra, Pan American Grace Airways
  • Panam, Pan American Airways
  • par, paragraph
  • PCM, Partido Communista Mexicano (Mexican Communist Party)
  • PED, Petroleum Division, Department of State
  • PEMEX, Petróleos Mexicanos (Mexican Petroleum Company, a government instrumentality)
  • Per, Peru
  • pgh, paragraph
  • PICAO, Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization
  • PIR, Partido de la Izquierda Revolutionary (Party of the Revolutionary Left in Bolivia)
  • PL or P/L, Proclaimed List
  • PLUNA, Primeras Líneas Uruguayas de Navegación Aérea (First Uruguayan Air Navigation Lines)
  • PRA, Public Roads Administration
  • PRC, Partido Revolucionario Cubano Auténtico (Cuban Authentic Revolutionary Party)
  • Pres, President
  • PRI, Partido de la Revolución Institutional (Party of the Institutional Revolution in Mexico)
  • PRM, Partido de la Revolución Mexicano (Mexican Revolutionary Party)
  • PSP, Partido Socialista Popular (Popular Socialist Party in the Dominican Republic and in Cuba, Communist)
  • RDC, Rubber Development Corporation of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation
  • reDepcirtel, regarding Department circular telegram
  • reDepinstr, regarding Department instruction
  • reDeptel, regarding Department telegram
  • reEmbtel, regarding Embassy telegram
  • remytel, regarding my telegram
  • reourtel, regarding our telegram
  • reps, representatives
  • reur, regarding your
  • reurlet, regarding your letter
  • RFC, Reconstruction Finance Corporation
  • RL, Division of American Republics Analysis and Liaison, Department of State
  • RPA, Division of River Plate Affairs, Department of State
  • rptd, repeated
  • RUME, Ruta Militar de Emergencia (Emergency Military Route in Guatemala)
  • SAMF, Syndicate of Action and Railroad Worker Betterment in Guatemala
  • SAMI, Subsidiary of the Pan American Grace Company concerned with radio
  • Scadta, Sociedad Colombo-Alemana de Transportes Aéreos (Colombia-German Association for Air Transportation)
  • SCEP, Special Committee on Enemy Property
  • SD, State Department
  • SD, Sicherheitsdienst (Security Service of the National Socialist Elite Guard in Germany)
  • Sec, Secretary of State
  • Secy, Secretary of State
  • SHADA, Société Haitiano-Américaine de Développement Agricole (Haitian-American Society for Agricultural Development)
  • SPA, Office of Special Political Affairs, Department of State
  • STF, Sindicato de Trabajadores Ferro-carrileros (Union of Railway Workers in Guatemala)
  • SWNCC, State–War–Navy Coordinating Committee
  • TACA, Transportes Aéreos Centroamericanos, S.A. (Central American Air Transport Company)
  • TACA, Líneas Aéreas Taca de Colombia (Taca Air Lines of Colombia)
  • TVA, Tennessee Valley Authority
  • UK, United Kingdom
  • UN, United Nations
  • UndSecy, Under Secretary
  • UNO, United Nations Organization
  • UNRRA, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
  • UP, United Press
  • ur, your
  • urdes, your dispatch
  • urgam, your airgram
  • urtel, your telegram
  • Urug, Uruguay
  • USAAF, United States Army Air Forces
  • USAFSA, United States Air Force, South Atlantic
  • U.S. Cy., United States currency
  • V–E Day, Victory-in-Europe Day
  • V–J Day, the day of Japanese capitulation
  • Wash, Washington, D.C.
  • WFO, War Food Order
  • YPFB, Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (Bolivian Petroleum Company, a government monopoly)