817.00/6355: Telegram
The Chargé in Nicaragua (Hanna) to the Secretary of State
[Received 8 p.m.]
177. My 138, May 16, 11 a.m. The Minister for Foreign Affairs says that President Moncada intends to constitute the National Board of Elections which is to supervise the municipal elections on the first Sunday in November, the additional registrations for which should be made in the beginning of September. The President will appoint a Nicaraguan as temporary president of the board with the understanding that he will vacate the position if the Department desires to name an American as president of the board.65 The supervision will be in accordance with the Dodd law.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, who is one member of the present board, thinks that effective American supervision cannot be had under the Dodd law and that American supervision is not desirable unless it is effective. I concur in this opinion. He says this situation will be adequately corrected at the next session of the Nicaraguan Congress. President Moncada would prefer permanent supervision but if the Department deems supervision impracticable for municipal elections he wishes it in any event for congressional and presidential elections.
- A memorandum dated July 27, 1929, prepared for Assistant Secretary of State White by the Chief of the Division of Latin American Affairs states: “It was the Department’s hope that Doctor H. W. Dodds, the author of the 1923 Law, would be willing to accept appointment as Chairman of the National Board of Elections and to undertake the redrafting which his original law now appears to require. Unfortunately, however, Doctor Dodds does not feel that he can again interrupt his duties at Princeton.” (817.000/6383½)↩