800.24/9–1145

The Secretary of State to the Diplomatic Representative in the American Republics Except Argentina and Panama

Future Military Cooperation With the Other American Republics

Sirs: Reference is made to Department telegrams of August 11, 4 p.m. and August 22, 3 p.m.46 concerning a document on future military [Page 250] cooperation with the other American republics drafted by the State, War, and Navy Departments and accepted by the President in July. A copy of this document is enclosed.

It will be noted that the document sets forth general principles to guide the State, War, and Navy Departments in their policy of providing indoctrination, training, and equipment for the armed forces of the other American republics. The document thus is the next logical step after the agreement by the three Departments to hold staff conversations, in that it provides the manner in which the conversations are to be implemented and the responsibilities of the three Departments in their implementation. On the Department rests the responsibility of passing on basic plans and projects for carrying out these plans submitted by the War and Navy Departments. It is the Department’s further responsibility to request such adjustments in approved projects as may be necessitated by unforeseen political developments. The Chiefs of Diplomatic Missions are charged with the responsibility of guiding the senior representatives of the War and Navy Departments in the various American republics: on all matters the Chiefs of Diplomatic Missions may deem to be of a political nature or such as may affect our foreign relations.

The War and Navy Departments will shortly submit for the approval of the Department an interim project47 for the implementation of those staff conversations whose results have so far been studied. In making its decision the Department considers it important to ascertain the probable effect upon the financial structure and political conditions of the other American republics of carrying out the recommendations of the staff conversations. In the absence of final proposals by the War and Navy Departments, it is requested that the Embassy base its opinions upon the recommendations resulting from the staff conversations. The Embassy is accordingly requested, if it has not already done so, to study this question and report its conclusions to the Department.

As is mentioned in the enclosed document, it is the intention of the three Departments to seek new legislation to carry out the policy and program of military cooperation with the other American republics. Until such legislation can be enacted the provisions of the Surplus Property Act and of other applicable laws will be used for this purpose.

Very truly yours,

For the Secretary of State:
A. M. Warren
[Page 251]
[Enclosure]

Proposed Joint Statement by State, War and the Navy Departments To Be Approved by the President 48

This document embodies a statement of policy governing the provision by the United States of indoctrination, training and equipment for the armed forces of the other American republics.

When, at the outset of the present World War, the United States confronted the necessity of encompassing the defense of the Western Hemisphere against the aggression of the Axis nations, an important factor prejudicial to the cooperation of the American republics in that defense was that their military forces, in most cases, had received their training from the armed forces of Germany or Italy or other non-American nations according to the standards and procedures of those non-American nations, and had been equipped by those same non-American nations in accordance with their own equipment standards. Not only would the coordination of the respective armed forces of the American republics for the defense of the Hemisphere have been made difficult by the diversity of standards, procedures, and equipment thereby established; but, what was far worse, important elements in the armed forces of the American republics had been indoctrinated in the alien ideals espoused by aggressor nations, and had been imbued with an admiration for the war-making methods of these nations. An important and time-consuming element in making possible inter-American military collaboration for the prosecution of the war was the necessity of eliminating this Axis influence on the armed forces of the American republics.

With the prospective conclusions of the present war, it has been established as a matter of inter-American policy in the Act of Chapultepec49 that the American republics will hereafter engage in close military collaboration for the military defense of the Hemisphere against any threat that may arise in the future. It is clear that, on the basis of this policy now established, the United States must take measures to prevent such a situation as confronted it at the outset of [Page 252] this war from again arising to hamper and jeopardize the common defense.

In so far as possible, the military establishments of the American republics should be organized in accordance with common tables of organization; they should be equipped with types of equipment based on common tables of equipment; their training should be based on common military doctrine, and their governing military methods and practices should follow common lines of procedure. Since the United states has recognized military leadership in the Hemisphere and is the only considerable producer of military equipment among the American republics, the United States should act forthwith to obtain the agreement of the other American republics to the adoption by them of United States military doctrine, United States military methods and procedures, and United States standards of military equipment. Such agreement would envisage the dispatch by the United States of military missions to the other American republics to indoctrinate and train their armed forces; the provision of facilities in the United States for the indoctrination and training of representatives of the armed forces of the other American republics; the making of appropriate joint plans among the American republics for the defense of the hemisphere; and the provision to the armed forces of the other American republics by the United States of arms, ammunition and implements of war conforming to the types used by the armed forces of the United States.

The United States has conducted and is conducting a series of exploratory conversations with the military staffs of the other American republics looking toward the realization of the policy and of the measures outlined above. The United States is therefore confronted with the imminent necessity of carrying out that policy and putting those measures into effect.

It is recognized that in carrying out such a program of military collaboration, involving the equipping and training of the armed forces of the other American republics, there are considerations of a political and economic nature affecting the broad foreign policy of the United States in the field of its inter-American relations that must be recognized.

With this in view, the Departments of State, War and the Navy will be guided in all matters of military cooperation and execution of the policy and measures enunciated above by the following general principles:

(1)
The cooperation of the United States will not be extended to any other American republic so as to provide it with a military establishment that is beyond its economic means to support.
(2)
Training and equipment shall not be made available by the United States to the armed forces of any other American republics [Page 253] where there is good reason to believe that they may be used for aggression or in order to threaten aggression, against one of its neighboring American republics, thus prejudicing the primary objective of inter-American unity.
(3)
In accordance with the democratic principles that the United States represents and upholds throughout the world, and on which its moral credit is largely based, every effort shall be made to insure that the training and equipment afforded by the United States to the armed forces of the other American republics shall not be used in order to deprive the peoples of the other American republics of their democratic rights and liberties.

It is clear that the program of collaboration envisaged above is a program for the military defense of the Hemisphere and, consequently, falls within the field of responsibilities of the War and the Navy Departments. It is equally clear that measures taken in accordance with the program envisaged above will bear importantly on the foreign relations of the United States, with American and non-American nations alike. Consequently, the Department of State, being responsible for the conduct of the foreign relations of the United States, has a concurrent and coordinate responsibility with the War and the Navy Departments in the carrying out of the program envisaged above. So that the State, War, and Navy Departments may be in a position to meet their respective responsibilities as indicated above, all plans shall be made and all measures in the carrying out of this program shall be taken with the approval of the War and Navy Departments in respect to defense policy, and with the approval of the Department of State in respect to foreign policy.

In order to realize this division and coordination of responsibility among the three departments, it has been agreed that:

(1) The War and Navy Departments shall assume the initiative (based on bilateral and subsequent military staff conversations) in preparing the basic plans for indoctrinating, training, and equipping the armed forces of each of the other American republics in accordance with the policy set forth above. These plans, set forth in such detail as is practicable, shall be submitted to the Department of State and no action shall be taken to put them into effect until this department has indicated that they are not in conflict with this government’s foreign policy.

(2) For the carrying out of basic plans so approved or so agreed upon, the War and Navy Departments will prepare and submit in writing at three-month intervals (or at such other intervals as may be mutually agreed upon) projects for implementation. Pending the completion and approval of the final plans the War and Navy Departments may from time to time present for approval interim projects. When the Department of State shall have indicated that these projects for implementation are not in conflict with this Government’s foreign policy, the War and Navy Departments shall be free to proceed under them until their completion, except that if unforeseen political developments arise which call for adjustments or modifications, the Department [Page 254] of State may call these developments to the attention of the War and Navy Departments and request that the appropriate modifications or adjustments be made.

American Ambassadors or Chiefs of Diplomatic Missions in the other American republics shall be charged with rendering all possible assistance in carrying out the policy and program envisaged above, and all senior representatives of the War and Navy Departments dispatched to any of these republics pursuant to this program shall be guided by the Ambassador or Chief of Diplomatic Mission with respect to any matters he may deem to be of a political nature or such as may affect our foreign relations.

The State, War, and Navy Departments recognize that it will be desirable to obtain, at the earliest possible date, Congressional authorization and legislation for the provision by the armed forces of arms, ammunition, and implements of war to the other American republics in accordance with the policy herein set forth. They agree that they will seek such authorization and such legislation forthwith. However, they recognize the desirability of proceeding with the program herein set forth with the least possible delay for the following reasons:

(1)
Unless the opportunities outlined above are made available to the other American republics shortly, they may be expected to accept similar offers from and make commitments to representatives from non-American countries, thus creating obstacles to the realization of the defense program envisaged by the United States.
(2)
In the exploratory conversations already held or being held between the military representatives of the United States and representatives of the armed forces of the other American republics, the United States has indicated its willingness to cooperate in the indoctrination, in the training, and in the equipment of the armed forces of those republics. So that its good faith may not be questioned, it must not now hesitate to proceed with concrete proposals and measures for the indoctrination, training, and equipment of the armed forces of the other American republics.

It is agreed that the State, War, and Navy Departments will avail themselves so far as possible of the provisions of the Surplus War Property Act and other applicable laws in carrying out the policy and program herein outlined, pending the provision of specific legislation for that purpose. It is further agreed that the provisions of the Lend-Lease Act will be utilized only on certification of the War or Navy Department, as the case may be, that the transfer or other action proposed to be taken is for the defense of the United States, in accordance with the provisions of the Lend-Lease Act as amended and in accordance with applicable presidential directives. The State, War, and Navy Departments agree that this paragraph shall supplant the statement of Lend-Lease policy contained in Joint Chiefs of Staff document JCS 629/4.50

  1. Circular telegram of August 22, not printed.
  2. Presumably the interim plan referred to by the Secretary of War, supra.
  3. This statement, drafted by the State–War–Navy Subcommittee on Latin America, was approved by President Truman by memorandum from Potsdam, dated July 29, 1945 (SWNCC 4/12). It is generally referred to as SWNCC 4/10, July 7, 1945, “Statement of Policy Governing the Provision by the United States of Indoctrination, Training and Equipment for the Armed Forces of the Other American Republics.”
  4. Agreement Between the United States of America and Other American Republics contained in the Final Act of the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace, signed at Mexico City, March 8, 1945, effective the same date; for text, see Department of State, Treaties and Other International Acts Series (TIAS) No. 1543, or 60 Stat. (pt. 2) 1831; for documentation on the Conference see ante, pp. 1 ff.
  5. Not printed.