811.34553B/7–2446
The British Embassy to the Department of State
Memorandum
Azores
Under instructions from the Foreign Office, Mr. Sichel61 had a conversation with Mr. Dunham62 on the 22nd of July. Mr. Sichel said [Page 1009] that the Foreign Office had received a short report from H. M. Ambassador in Lisbon of his conversation with Mr. Culbertson, General Kuter, and the U.S. Ambassador, during the course of which the American officials informed H. M. Ambassador,—
- (a)
- that the Portuguese authorities at Santa Maria were applying the agreements of April [May] 30th in a way which was very disagreeable to the United States Government and necessitated direct recourse by the Americans to Dr. Salazar; and
- (b)
- that the U.S. Government were anxious to pursue with Dr. Salazar the large political and strategic questions in connection with further long-term arrangements.
Mr. Sichel told Mr. Dunham that the Foreign Office had expressed surprise that the U.S. authorities had given them no warning of Mr. Culbertson’s and General Kuter’s pending visit to Lisbon, and, furthermore, that they had given no indication of the instructions under which the U.S. officials were opening their conversations with the Portuguese Government.
Mr. Sichel said that while His Majesty’s Government have, of course, no intention or desire of intervening in any way in the American-Portuguese discussions at Lisbon, they are naturally very closely interested in the outcome of the discussions regarding long-term issues and hoped, therefore, that the State Department would be prepared to inform them generally of the nature of the instructions given to Mr. Culbertson and General Kuter, and that the State Department would also arrange for His Majesty’s Government to be kept informed of the course of the discussions in Lisbon. His Majesty’s Government are naturally anxious that the American-Portuguese conversations on the long-term issues should be successful.
Mr. Dunham replied that Mr. Culbertson had already been given instructions to keep the British Embassy in Lisbon fully informed on the progress of the American-Portuguese discussions.
His Majesty’s Government have received a communication from Dr. Salazar asking what is the point of view of His Majesty’s Government regarding the wish of the United States Government to resume negotiations on the long-term issue. In the absence of information as to the intentions of the United States Government, His Majesty’s Government sent Dr. Salazar an interim reply to his communication, stating that his enquiry was receiving urgent consideration but that there was little that His Majesty’s Government could usefully say until they are more fully aware of the views of the United States Government and of the nature of the representations made by the U.S. representatives in Lisbon.