Office of the Historian

ES–44. Message from the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Mann) to Colonel Oscar Osorio1

Washington, December 2, 1960
Dear Friend:

I believe you will be pleased to know that the United States will soon recognize the provisional Junta Government of El Salvador.2

I wanted to express my appreciation for the time which you so kindly gave to Allen Stewart and to let you know that our delay in recognition was not based on the belief that the highest officials of the Government are anti-democratic. Rather, it was based on our concern that the confusion in so many minds between genuine reform and Communist dictatorship might permit a gradual increase in the political power of Communists, through organization of the campesinos and the like, to the point where constitutional, democratic government in El Salvador would no longer be possible.

I know that you share this continuing concern. You can count on us for whatever assistance we can appropriately render, consistent with our international obligation, to help the Salvadoran people achieve a stable democracy within a framework of economic progress and a greater degree of social justice.

With every good wish,

Sincerely yours,

Thomas C. Mann
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 716.02/12–260. In a memorandum to Mann dated November 30, attached to the source text, Merchant stated that “if the President approves prompt recognition of the junta in El Salvador, I feel strongly that whoever communicates to the junta our decision should see Osorio and tell him that . . . we have done so on certain assumption, i.e., that elections will be held within x months, that necessary steps will be taken to prevent the government falling under the control of Communists or Castro elements, and that the junta is interested in preserving traditionally friendly relations with the United States Government.” Mann’s letter did not convey the essence of Merchant’s request, but Osorio had already given the requisite assurances to Allan Stewart in San Salvador on November 21, according to Stewart’s memorandum to Mann, dated December 2, reporting on his visit to San Salvador; see footnote 1. A partially legible notation on Merchant’s memorandum possibly refers to that meeting.
    The source text for Mann’s letter is an unsigned carbon copy. No record of its delivery was found in Department of State files.    ↩
  2. See telegram 232, Document ES–43.↩