CH–29. Memorandum of Conversation, by the Counselor of Embassy in Chile (Krieg)1
SUBJECT
- Disarmament and Rearmament
PARTICIPANTS
United States
- The President
- Secretary Herter
- Ambassador Howe
- Mr. Rubottom
- Gen. Goodpaster
- Mr. Hagerty
- Col. Waltere
- Mr. Krieg
Chile
- President Alessandri
- Foreign Minister Vargara
- Sr. Walter Muller, Chilean Ambassador to the U.S.
President Alessandri opened the conversation by stating that all educated men must be grateful for the tremendous efforts and sacrifices being made by the United States on behalf of the entire free world. He said he desired to cooperate fully with the United States and felt it essential to this end that he explain frankly his points of view on various pending problems.
Disarmament—President Alessandri then said that, in contrast with some Latin American countries, Chile was a genuine democracy like the United States, the United Kingdom and other western European countries; Chile was proud of its democratic traditions, but as a consequence was more vulnerable than certain countries to the onslaught of Communism. He said he fully recognized that the principal responsibilities for the welfare and progress of Chile lay with the Chileans themselves; at the same time, he recognized the need for foreign help and capital.
President Alessandri then stated that military expenses were a heavy burden to the nation’s economy, holding back the government’s efforts to develop the country economically. He intimated that he was less concerned about the present level of expenditures than he was about the possibility of future increases. In some countries, he said, the Government was dependent upon the military for its continuance in office and the civil authorities were therefore forced to yield to the demands of the military for needless armament. For this reason, President Alessandri said, he attached great importance to disarmament [Typeset Page 282] and requested President Eisenhower to put the weight of U.S. influence behind the disarmament conference which Chile has called for and to help make the conference a success.2
[Facsimile Page 2]President Alessandri said he thought that the possibilities for holding a general disarmament conference were good, but he believed it better to have a preliminary meeting which would include all South American countries except Bolivia and Paraguay and with the addition of Mexico and the United States to prepare the way for a larger conference. He said that several countries had already accepted the invitation but that Peru, Venezuela and Colombia had not yet replied to the Chilean initiative. He said that he would like to have U.S. assistance in assuring the success of the conference.
Aggression
President Alessandri said he believed it would be most helpful if the United States would make a public promise to come to the aid of a victim of aggression without waiting for action on the part of the OAS. He said this would help a great deal to halt the armaments race. President Alessandri also suggested that an agreement be worked out among the American States (but not others) for recognition of the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice in accordance with Article 36 of the Court’s statute. This too, he thought, would be a useful step forward in the direction of the limitation of armaments.
Rearmament
Turning to a new subject, President Alessandri said that he hoped the United States would find it possible to provide credit for the reconditioning of one additional destroyer and one additional submarine for Chile. He confessed that this might appear to be inconsistent with his previous statements regarding disarmament but the reason for the request was that Chile had larger responsibilities for hemisphere defense due to its geographic situation than certain other countries. He said the Chilean forces were small in size and that both Peru and Argentina had been buying more naval vessels. He suggested that the United States military aid program be coordinated so that we would not give assistance to countries which squandered their resources on the purchase of foreign equipment. In other words, he explained, those who don’t waste money on unnecessary purchases should get more aid. He felt that these principles were consistent with United States principles and would work to the advantages of all.
President Eisenhower said that he was interested in President Alessandri’s remarks and would like to ask two questions. The first was, [Typeset Page 283] what portion of the Chilean budget was devoted to defense? President Alessandri replied that it was 14% and went on to say that he would suggest to the department conference that [Facsimile Page 3] the definition of military expense be unified since many other countries currently hid military items in their budgets so as to disguise their expenditures. Chile had not only done this, but he had put an end to this practice when he was Minister of Finance several years ago.
President Eisenhower replied that exclusive of pensions and payments to veterans, the United States spends 56% of its budget on national defense. The President hastened to add that he did not say this in a bragging way but merely to indicate how very sympathetic he was to President Alessandri’s objectives.
President Alessandri suggested that the problem of armaments be viewed as a problem of protesting the rear guard of the United States. He also expressed the thought that funds saved from armaments could be used for economic development and that this would help to combat Communism.
President Eisenhower said that he fully agreed and asked what effect the success of the disarmament conference would have on Chile’s intention to purchase more naval vessels. President Alessandri replied that Chile’s desire to acquire additional vessels was a result of recent purchases by the Peruvians. President Eisenhower repeated his question about the effect of a successful disarmament conference on Chile’s desire to purchase naval vessels, and President Alessandri replied that it would have a direct effect.
President Alessandri went on to say that when he came to power he was under great pressure to acquire additional armaments because of incidents with Argentina in disputed areas. President Eisenhower said he would like to take that opportunity to comment on his meetings with the Presidents of Brazil and Argentina. The President said that while they had been less emphatic than Alessandri, he was convinced that both were sincere in their desire for disarmament. Both had stressed their devotion to inter-American friendship, and Frondizi had specifically expressed the hope that the boundary disputes with Chile would soon be settled. While it was true that Frondizi had wanted more modern arms, his purpose in so doing was to reduce his defense expenses in half by having smaller, more efficient forces.
President Eisenhower then said he would like to come to the second of his two questions. He asked President Alessandri whether the latter believed that each nation had a right to decide its own level of defense for internal and basic defensive purposes. President Alessandri replied that each nation did indeed have the right to decide on its basic defensive requirements, but he saw this as no bar to mutual agreements for the limitation of armaments. [Facsimile Page 4] He stressed that Chile was exceptionally [Typeset Page 284] vulnerable, that Chile would not attack anyone, but that certain elements in Peru and Bolivia harbor revengeful feelings toward Chile as a result of 19th century conflicts.
President Eisenhower said that he had no intention of denying the basic right of self-defense to any nation but pointed out that economic development would be greatly stimulated by an agreement on disarmament. He said he felt it would prevent any tendency to push disputes to an extreme. He concluded this phase of the discussion by saying that he was strongly favorable to the principles set forth by President Alessandri and suggested that the two Foreign Ministers study the problem of the preliminary disarmament conference for ten countries.