711.3512Anti-War/17: Telegram
The Ambassador in Argentina (Bliss) to the Secretary of State
[Received 11:55 p.m.]
79. This afternoon during a call on President Irigoyen to bid him good-bye I brought up the subject of the anti-war treaty. He distinctly gave me to understand that his mind was made up; that the treaty was not one which appealed to him as a means of bringing about universal peace. He dwelt for some time on President Wilson’s aspiration to create a League of Nations as a means for the prevention of war, and said that he had gladly responded to it but that when he realized the League was incapable of accomplishing President Wilson’s idea he had withdrawn from it. As President of Argentina, he said further, he would welcome any suggestion from [Page 231] the United States which might be made for a meeting of the powers for establishment of peace; his feelings toward the United States were most friendly but he felt that, although he was quite sympathetic to the theory presented by the anti-war treaty, it did not offer the possibilities for realizing universal peace which had always been the ideal and the policy of Argentina.
The foregoing is, in brief, the position the President took, and although I endeavored to controvert it I do not feel that I made any impression which would cause a change in his attitude.
After the interview, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, who was also present, insisted that the President’s attitude should not in any way be interpreted as a lack of consideration for the United States. Both President Irigoyen and he were most amicably disposed toward the United States, but they did not wish to be parties to a movement which in their view would not realize the ideals which Argentina has always held.
This morning I also had a talk with Senator Molinari and gathered that his objection to Argentina’s adhering to the anti-war treaty is based on United States policy of intervention in the Caribbean republics. I set forth the points contained in your No. 46, October 25, 3 p.m., and argued them with him for over an hour, but his attitude appears to be dominated by sentiment that our position is equivocal as long as United States troops remain in Nicaragua.
To make this unfavorable report is a deep disappointment to me, but I am satisfied that in view of President Irigoyen’s well-known tenacity no further representations on my part in the immediate future would cause him to change his mind. I pee no reason, therefore, why I should delay my sailing longer. As I expect to reach Washington about the middle of December I shall report the matter in more detail then.