711.35/9–1249
The Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs (Miller) to the Chargé in Argentina (Mallory)
Dear Les: I was terribly sorry not to have had a chance of seeing you before you left for your post, particularly since I understand we nearly saw each other one day in New York. In any case, I am delighted that you are down there and am sure that you will find it a challenging and highly satisfactory assignment.
I had an opportunity for a full review of the Argentine situation with Ambassador Bruce who, incidently, was most laudatory of your work. I hope that we may be entering into a more constructive phase of relations with Argentina, and, for my part, I believe that we should be ready to meet them halfway at any time.
I also had a most interesting luncheon meeting with Remorino the other day which you should know about. Until last week I had only seen Remorino once very briefly when he called on me on July 26 simply for the purpose of paying his respects. Last week he came in for the purpose of presenting Messrs. Juncosa Seré1 and Brignoli2 [Page 510] to me and during the course of an otherwise purely formal meeting, he dropped a hint that he would be glad of an opportunity to tell me what had transpired in re Bramuglia.3 Therefore, I invited him to lunch with me and he did so last Friday.
He immediately went to the heart of the subject and told me with complete frankness about the unsatisfactory state of affairs that had existed by virtue of Bramuglia’s suppression of the Washington Embassy’s reports, particularly when such reports referred to a cooperative attitude on the part of the United States. He explained Bramuglia’s attitude on the ground of the latter’s aspirations for the presidency and his desire to build himself up in the eyes of the Argentine people as the only friend of the United States. (Somewhat inconsistently, he also at another point attributed Bramuglia’s attitude to the latter’s disappointment over the lack of ECA purchases.) In any event, Remorino said the matter came to a head when Perón in June made a bitter attack on the United States in connection with the Anglo-Argentine agreement. Remorino was astounded about this because the Department had acted in a most friendly and understanding manner about the agreement and Remorino had sent in a full report to this effect. He therefore requested permission from Bramuglia to go to Buenos Aires on consultation and Bramuglia did not answer his telegram. Thereupon Remorino sent a telegram to the President stating that he was on his way and he told me that at this stage he fully expected that he would be replaced in Washington.
On his arrival in Buenos Aires Remorina went directly to Perón and showed him his file of telegrams. Perón hit the roof and the next day he had both Remorino and Bramuglia in together at a meeting which Perón prefaced by the statement that one or the other was lying and he intended to find out which one was. He thereupon requested Remorino to read the telegrams in the presence of Bramuglia and, according to Remorino, this was the most unpleasant thing that he [Page 511] had ever been asked to do. The upshot of this was that Bramuglia made certain remarks to Remorino which the latter characterized as being “not very complimentary to me,”* The question then arose as to whether they would try to get Bramuglia to stay on and Perón personally ruled out any such efforts and also ruled out any effort whatever to save the face either of Bramuglia or of the Argentine Government. Perón instructed Remorino in this connection to go back to Washington and “tell them up there that I apologize; that I made a terrible mistake but it was because I was misled. When I make a mistake the best thing to do is to recognize that I made it and try to make amends. There is no use trying to save face.”
I told Remorino that this statement was of transcendental importance to me as showing the good faith of the Argentine Government and that I and the rest of us in the Department are prepared to cooperate in every appropriate way. Remorino said that he and the President both feel that Argentina’s future lies with the United States and only with the United States and they are going to work in this direction. With Bramuglia out of the way the Embassy and the Foreign Office will now be in harmony and it should be possible to work along this line. As to Paz, he indicated only that Paz would not play a decisive role in policy-making. Remorino also said that on some future occasion he would like an opportunity of telling Mr. Acheson what he told me. Unfortunately, it will not be possible to arrange for an appointment with the Secretary until around the middle of October but I will try to do it then.
In the meantime, in your discretion, it might be desirable for you at some appropriate opportunity to mention to the President that I have received his message from Remorino and that I am profoundly impressed by this decisive demonstration of his friendship and good faith and that more than ever I look forward to an opportunity of meeting him in person. I hope that this will be some time in the early part of February when I intend to make a trip to Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina.
With kindest regards,
Sincerely yours,
- Julio M. Juncosa Seré, Director-General of the Argentine Ministry of Economy, was a member of the U.S.-Argentine Joint Committee on Commercial Studies; concerning the establishment of this Committee, see footnote 1 to the memorandum by Mr. Atwood, May 19, p. 500.↩
- José Julio Brignoli, Director of the Exchange Department of the Argentine Central Bank, was a member of the U.S.-Argentine Joint Committee on Commercial Studies.↩
- Juan Atilio Bramuglia, Argentine Minister for Foreign Affairs and Worship, had resigned and been replaced on August 13 by Hipó1ito Jesus Paz; further information on the resignation of Mr. Bramuglia, based on conversations held by Ambassador Bruce with President Perón and Messrs. Bramuglia and Remorino, was transmitted to the Department in despatches No. 563, August 15, and No. 569, August 18, from Buenos Aires, neither printed (835.021/8–1549, 8–1849). In the former document, Ambassador Bruce observed that it had been common knowledge for some time that Mrs. Perón was not favorably disposed toward Bramuglia, but had favored Remorino to whom she once offered the position of Foreign Minister. Ambassador Bruce also concluded, following his talk President Perón on August 13, that the latter in deciding to dismiss Bramuglia might not have sufficiently discounted the personal intrigues and ambitions of certain people.↩
- and thereupon resigned, [Footnote in the source text. Presumably, these words had been inadvertently dropped from the text in the original.]↩