437. Telegram 2301 From the Embassy in Jamaica to the Department of State1
2301. Subject: Peace and Love, Pedge. Reference: State 135953.
1. Upon receipt of State 135953, I was absolutely speechless, a rare state of affairs here in Kingston, and flabbergasted with the contents therein. I have been in constant contact with Manley, exchanged two notes just yesterday, turned down his offer to accompany him alone into the hills to review the troops, discussed visa problems and Kingston’s now-departed DCM, set up some public relations for the two of us on Monday, and God knows what else. In other words, the dialogue is continuous. At no time has Manley mentioned the contents of the reftel and the whole thing smelled fishy to me.
[Page 1118]2. By the time I had built myself into a proper rage (it didn’t take long) and called Manley on the telephone, in spite of the fact that the helicopter was outside to take him to the troops with their engines running, I asked him just what the hell was going on, reminding him of our long standing commitment to each other that any problem that might exist between the two of us personally or our governments would be thoroughly aired between the two of us before going out to the appendages of the bureaucracy.
3. Shouting at Manley, I read excerpts from the reftel and he was absolutely at a loss for words, a fault he seldom shares with me, uttering a series of oaths in which it was clear he didn’t have a clue what I was talking about. I explained to Manley that no document left this Embassy suggesting the government was going Communist or anything like it, and certainly wouldn’t without my having an in-depth discussion about his ideology, and in fact the newly arrived political officer, William T. Breer’s current input (Kingston A–122, June 21, 1973) had moved our assessment of his government more toward a middle-of-the-road position.
4. Manley really didn’t care what I said since it hadn’t occurred to him that we [s]hafted him as referred to by Fletcher. Muttering and cursing about one of the Bobbsey Twins, Sir Egerton Richardson, who, like the proverbial snake, is apparently pretty tough to kill, he informed me he would have Richardson appear before him at four this afternoon and would demand some form of explanation and would report rpt report back to me.
5. I was still shouting, the rotors could be heard in the background and there was little more to be said at this point, so Manley wound up with the appropriate quote, “for God’s sake, peace and love, pedge.”
6. Comment: There is really nothing humerous about this event. The Department, as well as Embassy personnel, and particularly my successor, should be aware that in external affairs there exists the usual lack of discipline and representations made in Washington on behalf of Kingston quite often do not reflect the policies of the government. It is imperative that the Chief of Mission here maintain a one-on-one relationship with the Prime Minister with specific understanding by the Dept that many things t’ain’t necessarily so until the Ambassador or the Prime Minister have had a chance to go over the problems. Documenting this, Manley said to me that if the contents of the reftel had been true, his immediate action would have been to telephone me first in order to attempt to straighten things out.
7. Manley is a lousy liar, I know him too well. It is obvious he had no prior knowledge of these events. What a way to start a day!
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Summary: De Roulet reported on a telephone call he made to Manley after learning of Ambassador Fletcher’s July 11 visit to the Department.
Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Country Files—Latin America, Box 786, Jamaica, Vol. I. Confidential; Immediate; Exdis. All brackets are in the original except “[s]”, added for clarity. In airgram A–122 from Kingston, June 21, the Embassy transmitted an assessment of Manley’s record, concluding that the Prime Minister was “clearly committed to a policy of moderate redistribution.” (Ibid., RG 59, Central Files, 1970–1973, POL 15–1 JAM) In telegram 2370 from Kingston, July 18, De Roulet reported on a July 17 meeting with Manley and emphasized the importance of a direct channel of communication between the U.S. Ambassador and the Jamaican Prime Minister in order to avoid misunderstandings between the two countries. (Ibid., Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Country Files—Latin America, Box 786, Jamaica, Vol. I) Telegram 135953 is published as Document 436.
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