232. Memorandum of Conversation1
SUBJECT
- United States-Brazil Relations
PARTICIPANTS
- Ambassador Roberto Campos of Brazil
- ARA/P—Mr. J. F. King
This is chapter 2 of the memcon on my talk with Campos.2 In urging the Ambassador to believe there is no calculated campaign by USG to blackguard the Brazilian government in the US press, I told him that our line to the press has been that we are waiting for action on the Goulart Administration’s promises, not just the rephrasing of old promises. I said you had made this very point to Henry Raymont just yesterday evening. So this morning Henry called me to report that Campos had got him out of bed to pick his brains. Henry was at a loss to figure out what was going on, but he wondered why Campos was so upset.
Before I could digest this, Marcilio Moreira, second secretary at the embassy, called to discuss the “very dangerous situation that is blowing up just at the moment when we see most hope for definite improvement of relations.” He mentioned that the Rio papers have been playing AP and UPI stories from Washington which comment darkly on the state of US-Brazil relations.
More important, Moreira said Campos is beginning to feel shut out of USG and that “he can’t get through to anybody anymore.” He mentioned [Page 488] in this connection that Rusk failed to telephone Campos as the Secretary had promised he would, and that Dillon has kept him waiting “weeks and weeks” for an appointment. “It looks like a policy decision to ignore the ambassador,” said Moreira.
He added that Campos is going to Brazil January 2 and that if he comes back here without any word on his interim aid request or a general improvement of relations, Campos is finished as Ambassador. USG, said Moreira, was responsible for getting Campos fired once “and you saw what happened. I don’t think you would want it to happen again.”
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.32/12-2662. Official Use Only. Drafted by King on December 27.↩
- See Document 233.↩