103–XMB/8–2950

The Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs ( Miller ) to the Ambassador in Argentina ( Griffis )

confidential

Dear Stan: I am sending you today a long telegram1 about the proposed Mexican loan to be announced later this week. There is one thing that I could not put in the telegram because of the system of distribution of telegrams in the Department and to other agencies, with which you are familiar.

Before wiring you this morning I talked to Walter Sauer to make sure that they agreed that you might in your discretion talk to Cereijo. During the course of the conversation he told me that everything was going well with the loan negotiations. He then added that he personally saw no reason why, after a few months of operations under the credit for the commercial arrears, the Bank and the Argentines could not [Page 734] work out another credit for new imports. I know that Bill Martin2 is of the same opinion. Therefore, I think it in order for you to tell Cereijo personally and confidentially for me that if all goes well in the political and economic field between the U.S. and Argentina, he can look forward to sympathetic consideration, perhaps as early as next February, to an application for farm machinery credits.3 While I cannot guarantee the outcome and while the course of events (including statements about the third position) may complicate our life, I think that we can work something out.4 Best regards,

Sincerely yours,

Edward G. Miller, Jr.
  1. No. 135, not printed.
  2. William MeChesney Martin, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury; Chairman, Export-Import Bank, 1946–1949.
  3. In a memorandum, dated August 8, of a conversation between Sr. Brignoli and Ambassador Fletcher Warren (Director, as of September 1, of the Office of South American Affairs), Mr. Birgfeld indicated that the Argentine Government wished to apply to the purchase of agricultural equipment those portions of the $125 million credit unused for the settlement of commercial arrears. “[Sr. Brignoli] was informed that such a proposal would have to be submitted to the National Advisory Council, that the Bank was not in a position to consider this proposal in view of the criticism to which it had been subjected by Congress and in view of the proposed congressional investigation, and that furthermore it would be impracticable for the bank to permit the use of any of these funds for new machinery or equipment without careful study in view of the numerous interested U.S. exporters who had already been informed that the credit was solely for the purpose of liquidating past due accounts.” (103–MB/8–850)
  4. According to enclosure 1 to despatch No. 327 from Buenos Aires, September 1, 1950, this letter was translated for Minister Cereijo by Ambassador Griffis during a conversation on that day. (835.10/9–150)