Papers relating to the foreign relations of the United States, 1929, Volume III

838.00 Commission of Investigation/1

President Hoover to the Secretary of State

Washington , September 25, 1929.

Dear Mr. Secretary: The Haiti situation which you mentioned to me has flowed into the White House doors, as the accompanying correspondence will show.²¹

From this correspondence, but not related to anything it says, I am wondering whether we would not be well advised if we were to set up a commission of three or five highly important citizens to go ahead and to reexamine the whole of our policies in connection with that country; this not to be in the nature of a detailed investigation of our conduct, but with view to determining what our course shall be for the future.

I think we shall have a large amount of congressional attack and detailed complaint such as represented in this correspondence coming forward during the next few months, and I am myself in great doubt as to whether this Administration wants to pledge itself to undertake to take on the indefinite policies of the last Administration in connection with this island. In any event, we would greatly clarify the entire atmosphere by some such action as this.

Yours faithfully,

Herbert Hoover

21. Not printed.