148. Letter From the Under Secretary of State (Ball) to the Ambassador to Portugal (Anderson)1
Dear George:
I greatly appreciated your letter of January 28, 1964, enclosing the report of your recent conversation with the Foreign Minister.2
I am delighted to hear that you are contemplating a trip to the Portuguese areas of Africa. I definitely concur in such a visit and look forward to receiving from you a first-hand report of your impressions of these areas.
I note that you intend to take one of your Attachés along with you on the trip. In the interest of broadening the knowledge within the Embassy of these territories, I believe it would be advantageous for you also to take along with you one of the officers from your political section. I believe that you would find such an officer of great value to you on your trip as well as after you return.
It is true that the days since the trip to Lisbon last August and September3 have been very full, but this does not mean that there is any lessening of my interest in Portugal’s problems in Africa. I’ve read your telegrams with great interest and have been pleased not only by their high quality, but also by the success you’ve had with Franco Nogueira. Now, if you’ll just get him to pull those F-86s out of Guinea, as he promised to do, we shall be impressed indeed!4
Sincerely,
- Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1964-66, POL 1 PORT. Confidential; Personal. Cleared by Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Tyler.↩
- See Document 147.↩
- For documentation, see Foreign Relations, 1961–1963, vol. XIII, Documents 357, 358, and 360.↩
- Telegram 493 from Lisbon, December 6, 1963, reported Noguiera’s promise. (National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1964-66, POL 30 ANG)↩
- Printed from a copy that indicates Ball signed the original.↩