710.Peace/1

The Ambassador in Mexico (Daniels) to the Secretary of State

No. 2764

Sir: I have the honor to report that the Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, in conversation at the Foreign Office this morning, said it had been reported to him by the Mexican Ambassador at Washington that President Roosevelt had requested the latter to approach President Cárdenas regarding the possibility of an Inter-American Peace Conference. The plan, according to Ambassador Nájera, was to afford an opportunity to revise certain of the inter-American treaties and to suggest others that would improve the peace machinery of the American continent but, in no manner, did the plan contemplate the question of the Chaco.1

President Cárdenas had authorized Señor Ceniceros to reply that he was most happy to cooperate in the matter. According to the latest information received by him from Washington, however, the Acting Minister said that a formal letter from President Roosevelt to President Cárdenas was not expected until there had been time to sound out some of the other interested countries as well.

Respectfully yours,

Josephus Daniels
  1. For correspondence concerning the Chaco dispute between Bolivia and Paraguay, see pp. 7 ff.