890E.01/196a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Diplomatic Agent and Consul General at Beirut (Wadsworth)
247. OWI62 has requested, apparently at your suggestion, obtaining official statement from the Department regarding election new Lebanese President. This seems possibly undesirable to us, in view of nonissuance of such statement following recent Syrian elections. However, you may, in your discretion, make suitable statement for public release to the effect that this Government has followed recent developments in Syria and Lebanon with close and sympathetic attention, and that it welcomes the successful reestablishment of constitutional governments in those States as a further important step toward the fulfillment, under the banner of the United Nations, of the aspirations of the Syrian and Lebanese peoples for sovereign independence.
- Office of War Information.↩