324. Letter From the Secretary of State to George S. Messersmith1
Dear George: I was glad to have even a moment to see you in Mexico City and regret that my crowded schedule did not permit enough time for an extended talk with you. This made your letter of December 8, 1958,2 all the more welcome, and your remarks concerning my health and my work were deeply appreciated.
[Page 859]Your own well-being has been a source of concern to me, and I was glad to learn from Dick Rubottom and Bob Hill that you have gradually recovered from your operation and are regaining your strength.
Your letter summarizing the trends in Mexico over the last two decades was most interesting. Having passed on to us views based on your own incomparable experience in Latin America, you may be interested in knowing that the problems which you raised are giving us considerable concern here. For this reason, I was especially glad to be able to meet President Lopez Mateos even during the crowded period of the inaugural ceremonies. It is much too early to judge the kind of administration he will give Mexico, and not even a president can control all developments which effect a country, but I was encouraged by my private conversation with the President as well as by the caliber of the men he has appointed to his Cabinet.
Discussions on the possibility of U.S. financial assistance to Mexico have been carried out sporadically over a number of months. I assure you that whatever action is ultimately taken on our part will be in accord with sound fiscal practices and our basic national interests.
With best wishes,
Sincerely yours,
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 110.11–DU/12–858. Personal. Drafted by Rubottom. The source text contains the following typed notation: “Sent to Embassy, Mexico City, for hand delivery.”↩
- In this letter, Messersmith, who had been Ambassador to Mexico from 1941 to 1946, stated that during the last 2 years of President Ruiz Cortines’ administration, the “quiet steady current of sound action from 1940 to 1956 began to deviate rapidly to the left and showed itself in consistently greater intervention by government in business and the setting up of bases of dangerous social situations.” Moreover, because of the direction of the Mexican Government’s policies, “our interests are really threatened and the prestige of our country is really in danger.” The United States could, however, prevent the “bastion to the south” from disintegrating further, concluded Messersmith, by abstaining from grants and sticking to “sound legal policy”, which would induce López Mateos “to follow a sound conservative course.” Messersmith sent his letter to the Secretary under cover of another letter addressed to Assistant Secretary Rubottom, in which he stated in part the following: “In view of the character of this letter [to the Secretary], I would like very much and think it desirable that it should be for the Secretary’s eyes and yours only.” (Ibid., Rubottom Files: Lot 60 D 553, Mexico 1958)↩
- Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩