724.3415/3941: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Argentina (Weddell)
68. Your 101, July 19, 1 p.m. Please tell Dr. Saavedra Lamas that the views he has been good enough to send us both through your cable under reference and through the Argentine Ambassador in Washington this morning, have been received with the utmost satisfaction and that we have given them the most careful study. Tell him, furthermore, that we find ourselves whole-heartedly in sympathy with the broadminded approach which he is demonstrating in his efforts to secure peace. With the specific opinions which he expresses relating to the cooperation of all the American republics and to the reasonable elasticity of the conciliation formula presented, we are in complete accord. You should point out to him, however, that we fear very much that were the formula now to be made public as is intimated in the last paragraph of your cable under reference, it might be exceedingly difficult to obtain the subsequent cooperation of certain other republics in supporting that formula before the Government of Bolivia. We are strongly of the opinion that the best method of insuring success of the initiative which Dr. Saavedra Lamas has undertaken is to attempt to obtain the confidential acceptance by the Bolivian Government of the principles involved in the formula and then confidentially seek the cooperation of the other republics of the continent in presenting such formula officially to the Governments of Bolivia and Paraguay before publicity is given to it. We are primarily concerned with the success of the movement initiated by Dr. Saavedra Lamas in obtaining peace, and in our judgment continental [Page 154] public opinion can be more successfully rallied in favor of the formula if the Governments of the other American republics are called upon for their cooperation before the formula is made public than if they are requested to lend their support to a formula of peace already made public.
For your strictly confidential information, the reference to the Chilean Government in the last paragraph of your cable8 is not clear. It is most earnestly to be hoped that the Chilean Government will urge the Bolivian Government to accept the formula presented, but the Department has been confidentially informed by the Chilean Government that it is under the impression that it has been rigorously excluded from these peace negotiations and it has intimated that if this policy is persisted in the negotiations will necessarily prove unsuccessful. The Chilean Government has been urged to press upon the Bolivian Government the desirability of accepting the formula and it has been emphasized that the Chilean Government will, of course, be requested to cooperate with the other American governments as soon as some confidential agreement in principle has been reached.
Please cable the Department at an early opportunity whether you understand that Dr. Saavedra Lamas has approached the Chilean Government in the matter.
- See infra.↩