112. Editorial Note

Officials in the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs believed that the historic nature of the occasion of the Presidents meeting in [Page 441] Panama would be enhanced by the issuance of a declaration signed by them all which reaffirmed hemispheric solidarity and expressed their faith in the principles of the Organization of American States, In a memorandum of May 8 to Holland, Lyon, Bernbaum, Neal, Memminger, and Hilton, Ambassador Dreier wrote, “In view of the general state of international relations in the world, characterized by changing tactics in the cold war and such steps as the recent emphasis upon reorganization of NATO, it would seem essential that some declaration of policy, even of the most general sort, should emanate from the meeting of American Presidents.” (Department of State, Central Files, 362/5–856)