740.0011 European War 1939/24201
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Secretary of State
The Chilean Ambassador called to see me this afternoon at my request.
I told the Ambassador that to my great regret I was becoming uneasy with regard to certain indications which I had recently received regarding the basic question of Chile’s foreign policy. I said that when the Ambassador had recently returned from his exceedingly helpful and useful visit to Santiago the Ambassador by direction of the President of Chile had stated to the President and the Secretary of State and to myself that President Ríos desired the Government of the United States to know that if President Roosevelt felt it necessary for the security of the United States and for the defense of the Western Hemisphere, Chile was prepared to go to “any lengths including a rupture of diplomatic relations with the Axis powers”. In reply to this statement the President had said to the Ambassador that the Government of the United States did in fact believe that a rupture of relations with the Axis powers by Chile was imperatively required for the security of the United States and for the defense of the Western Hemisphere. This message had been transmitted by the Ambassador to the President of Chile. The President had invited President Ríos to [Page 33] visit Washington and President Ríos had officially accepted the invitation.
Since that time I had received information which led me to believe that the Government of Chile had no present intention of breaking relations with the Axis powers and no indication whatever had been given that this rupture of relations would be undertaken before the visit of President Ríos to Washington.
Speaking, I said, primarily in the interest of close and friendly relations between Chile and the United States, but also with due regard for the position of Chile and for the dignity of the Chilean Government, I could not refrain from emphasizing to the Ambassador my belief that the rupture of relations with the Axis powers as definitely promised by the President of Chile should take place prior to the visit to Washington of President Ríos. I said I was sure the Ambassador would agree that if the President of Chile visited Washington and subsequently broke relations with the Axis powers, the argument would be advanced by Axis propagandists and by opponents of the Chilean Government that this step had been taken as a result of pressure brought to bear upon him by the United States Government or even the argument might be advanced that undue and illicit influence of one kind or another had had its part in such decision. More than that, I said, this would be the first occasion in the history of our two countries when a President of Chile had visited the United States. I felt it in the highest degree important that the reception accorded President Ríos by the people of the United States should be in the highest degree enthusiastic and sincere and that I knew the Ambassador would understand that if the President of Chile visited the United States while Chile still maintained relations with the Axis powers, public opinion in the United States would not be nearly so enthusiastic nor favorable as if Chile had taken this step prior to the President’s visit.
I said I could not help but feel that these questions were of such fundamental importance that the Ambassador himself would wish to emphasize them to President Ríos. I said I felt that the Ambassador’s personal communications to the President of Chile would be peculiarly valuable at this time in order to counteract what I feared was bad advice tendered him by certain persons who were determined to move in every possible way to prevent a rupture of relations between Chile and the Axis nations.
The Ambassador said that he agreed with every word I had said to him and that as a matter of fact he had written only a few days ago directly to President Ríos pointing out the very same arguments that I myself had advanced. The Ambassador said that President Ríos had definitely and officially committed himself to the President of the United States to break relations with the Axis powers. The [Page 34] Ambassador had been the intermediary in making this communication to President Roosevelt. If this commitment were not carried out, the Ambassador would immediately resign his post since he would never agree to represent a chief of state who failed to carry out his official commitments. …
The Ambassador said that in view of our conversation he would again write immediately a personal letter which would reach the President of Chile directly. He emphasized his own belief that nothing could be more fatal nor more disadvantageous for Chile than the failure on the part of President Ríos to break relations before he undertook his visits to Washington and to Rio de Janeiro.