810.34/2–2847
The Secretary of the Navy (Forrestal) to the Secretary of State
My Dear Mr. Secretary: The Navy has been holding a number of excess combatant ships, including four (4) Light Cruisers and thirty-three (33) Destroyer Escorts, for eventual transfer to certain South American countries after enabling legislation is passed.
HR 6326, known as the Inter-American Military Cooperation Act, [Page 104] was presented to Congress last year;9 but due to the fact that it was presented late in the session (June 7, 1946), Congress adjourned without taking action on it. This Bill was sponsored by the State, War and Navy Departments. The Secretary of State supported the bill before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
If such legislation is to pass this year, it should be introduced shortly. If it is not desired to transfer the ships concerned to the Latin American Republics, the Navy should terminate the expense involved in the maintenance of the ships. An early decision as to future policy in this regard is, therefore, highly desirable.
In this connection, it appears probable that if it should be decided that the United States will not transfer such ships to the Latin American Republics, they will in many cases be obtained from other sources.
Sincerely yours,
- See Inter-American Military Cooperation Act: Hearings Before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, 79th Cong., 2d sess., on H.R. 6326, May 28, 29, 1946. For a letter from President Truman with which he submitted to the Congress the bill entitled “The Inter-American Military Cooperation Act”, May 6 (H. Doc. 548, 79th Cong.), and statement by the Secretary of State at Hearings before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, May 29, see Department of State Bulletin, May 19, 1946, p. 859, and ibid., June 9, 1946, p. 1001.↩