CR–2. Editorial Note
President-elect Echandi of Costa Rica made an informal visit to Washington, March 26–29, 1958. On March 27, he attended a luncheon in his honor with President Eisenhower at the White House. Under cover of a memorandum of March 26, Secretary Dulles sent President Eisenhower a briefing memorandum on talking points for his luncheon with President-elect Echandi. (Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, International File) Echandi also met with Dan Throop Smith, Deputy to the Secretary of the Treasury, and Assistant Secretary Rubottom. Memoranda of his conversations with Smith and Rubottom are printed herein. He met briefly with Vice President Nixon and also with C. Allan Stewart, Deputy Director of the Office of Middle American Affairs, on March 28. Memoranda of these conversations are filed under Department of State decimal number 718.11/3–2858. The Costa Rican Minister-designate of Economy and Finance, Alfredo Hernández Volio, and Minister-designate of Agriculture and Industries, Jorge Borbón Castro, [Typeset Page 388] who accompanied Echandi, met with World Bank directors; and Echandi met with Export-Import Bank officials. Documentation on these meetings was not found in Department of State files.
Echandi left Washington for New York on March 29. He also visited Boston, where he met with United Fruit Company officials; and Texas, where he arranged a cattle sale to Costa Ricans. No documentation on these meetings was found in Department of State files. Echandi returned to San José on April 16. He had a news conference on his trip at San José, April 19, which the Embassy reported in despatch 592, April 23, 1958. (718.11/4–2358) For additional information concerning Echandi’s visit, see the Department of State Bulletin, April 14, 1958, page 614.