Office of the Historian

387. Letter From the Counselor for Political Affairs of the Embassy in Italy (Torbert) to the Director of the Office of Western European Affairs (McBride)0

Rome, September 29, 1958.

Dear Bob: I enclose a couple of copies of a memorandum of a conversation1 which Gus Velletri had last week with his principal Vatican contact regarding a somewhat mysterious approach. As far as we can find out, the personalities mentioned make it at least entirely possible that such a course of events took place. I realize that it could very well be that we may never be able to find this out for a fact. It would be exceedingly useful to us in the maintenance of our contacts to be able to give our people the best possible interpretation of this maneuver and of our intentions, if any.

In this connection, I made an abortive effort in the spring of 1957 to put up another trial balloon on the subject mentioned in this memorandum.2 I am a strong believer that we should whenever possible re-open the question of representation as I am convinced we would be the gainers by a regularized establishment here. From brief conversations I believe this view is shared by the Ambassador and others in the Embassy. If at any time you determine that we could be helpful by originating any reports or recommendations in this sense I should be glad to see what could be done.

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You may wish to discuss the attached with Burke and Bob Murphy, and we would of course be glad of any comment as promptly as possible since we have already received one follow-up inquiry.

Sincerely,

H.G. Torbert, Jr.3
  1. Source: Department of State, Italian Desk Files: Lot 68 D 436, Vatican Foreign Relations. Secret; Official–Informal.↩
  2. Document 386.↩
  3. No documentation on this effort has been found.↩
  4. Printed from a copy that bears this typed signature.↩