812.6363/9–248
The Ambassador in Mexico (Thurston) to the Secretary of State
No. 1469
Sir: The Wolverton Committee left Mexico City this morning by air on its return trip to the United States. Yesterday it attended the opening of the Mexican Congress, and was received last evening by President Alemán in a private interview at which no member of this Embassy was present.
Yesterday also the Committee came to the Embassy at my urgent request. I stated to Mr. Wolverton on this occasion that whereas customarily Congressional committees went abroad on missions of their own devising and on which they were free agents with whom the representatives of the Foreign Service could maintain close contact, the circumstances of the Committee’s visit to Mexico were somewhat different, since its members had come here as the guests of Pemex and had been somewhat closed off from that association with the Embassy which I believed would have been mutually beneficial. Consequently, I stated, I would be grateful if the Committee would be so good as to inform me of the developments that had presumably taken place during its visit. In reply, Mr. Wolverton very kindly outlined the activities of the Committee since its arrival, as already known to and reported by the Embassy in earlier despatches, and then requested my opinion with respect to the feasibility of a plan whereunder United States credits would be extended to Pemex on condition that American private petroleum interests be permitted to operate in Mexico. I stated that such a plan might be feasible but that I would like very much to know what proposal along those lines had been made to the Committee by Senator Bermúdez. During the two hours of our meeting, I was not given a clear answer to this question, although I and members of my staff endeavored several times to ascertain the nature of the Mexican proposals. A memorandum describing this meeting is attached hereto.1
I escorted Mr. Wolverton to the airport this morning and learned from him at that time that a press release regarding the visit had been prepared last night and has been delivered to the press for publication [Page 610] tonight.2 I was permitted to read this release at the airport but was not given a copy of it. My hasty reading of the document indicated that it is probably innocuous.
In view of the unwillingness of the Committee to inform the Embassy of the precise nature of the proposal made to it by Pemex and of the data supporting that proposal which it is known with some degree of certainty was also submitted to the Committee, I requested Senator Bermúdez, whom I brought back from the airfield in my car, to furnish me this data. He stated that he would gladly do so and that a set of the necessary documents would be typed up and delivered to me within the next ten days. Upon its receipt, it will be forwarded to the Department, together with the Embassy’s comment.
Respectfully yours,