Office of the Historian

839.415/92a: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Dominican Republic (Warren)

Washington, February 4, 1944—8 p.m.

51. For the Ambassador and not for discussion with local officials. The Department is of the opinion that at the time of the Dominican Centennial celebration2 it would be salutary for Dominican Haitian relations if a monument were to be erected by the Haitian and Dominican Governments on the border symbolizing peace and friendship between the two nations.

In this connection the Department would like to know: What are the plans for Haitian participation in Centennial? What invitations to Haiti have been extended? What would be probable reaction of Trujillo3 and Lescot4 to the erection of such a monument? Would a meeting at the border be possible? Would Trujillo consider making a personal invitation to Lescot? Should the first gesture come from Trujillo or Lescot?

Please telegraph your views to the Department and to Port-au-Prince as to the feasibility of carrying out this proposal. It is important to keep in mind the desirability of any act which would improve relations between the two countries.

A similar message is going forward to Port-au-Prince.5

Hull
  1. Scheduled to take place between February 23 and March 3, 1944, to commemorate the first centennial of the proclamation of the independence of the Dominican Republic.↩
  2. Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina, President of the Dominican Republic.↩
  3. Elie Lescot, President of Haiti.↩
  4. Telegram 34, February 4, 8 p.m., not printed.↩