21. Letter From the Deputy Under Secretary of State (Murphy) to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (Hensel)1
Dear Mr. Hensel : I refer to my letter of November 15, 1954,2 which requested information from the Department of Defense indicating the size and scope of the program of grant military assistance [Page 218] planned for Latin American countries during the next fiscal year. It is hoped that the information requested can be provided in the very near future, so that an agreed interdepartmental decision on the type of Latin American program to be proposed to the Congress can be reached prior to the anticipated commencement about April 15 of Congressional hearings on foreign military assistance legislation.
The program of grant assistance now being conducted for Latin American countries was developed on the initiative of the Department of Defense, which indicated to the Department of State and to the President, in letters of October 31, 19513 and December 5, 1951,4 respectively, that it would be highly desirable from a military standpoint that designated Latin American countries make available specified military units for the performance of hemisphere defense missions in accordance with current United States military planning. According to the Department of Defense, the selected Latin American countries could, provided they were furnished adequate equipment and training, supply forces capable of executing such missions, which otherwise would necessitate the diversion of substantial United States forces to the area in time of war.
Latin American countries have been included in the program since 1951 only after a determination by the Defense Department and a finding by the President that defense plans required the other country to participate in missions important to the defense of the Western Hemisphere. Only in a minority of cases, limited to Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, when the provision of grant assistance was considered essential in furtherance of specific United States objectives in the Central American area, has the State Department initiated a recommendation that the eligibility of the other country for grant assistance be established. Even in these cases, however, conformity with the overall hemisphere defense objectives has been established.
The Department of State believes that the Latin American grant assistance program should continue during the next fiscal year to be directly contingent upon the finding by the Defense Department of a United States military requirement for Latin American military [Page 219] units capable of executing hemisphere defense missions, unless the most exceptional conditions, such as those now existing in Guatemala, dictate that assistance on a broader scale be provided. The views of this Department regarding the initiation of a program for Argentina, or increases in existing programs for other countries, as mentioned in the Department’s letter of November 15, 1954, will be developed only on the basis of such a military finding.
In the exceptional instance of Guatemala, it is believed that the eligibility of that country for any grant assistance in addition to that agreed upon for an infantry battalion in the hemisphere defense program should be established by a Presidential finding, in accordance with Section 401 of the Mutual Security Act, that the provision of such assistance is important to the security of the United States. The question of additional military assistance for Guatemala is under consideration and may be the subject of a separate communication to the Defense Department.
The Government of Paraguay has requested grant military assistance necessary for the development of a combat engineering battalion for hemisphere defense. This request raises the question of whether the provision of grant assistance to Paraguay and perhaps other Latin American countries for the development of combat engineering battalions would be justified from the United States military point of view in terms of hemisphere defense planning. The Department of State would appreciate receiving the views of the Defense Department with regard to the advisability of providing this type of assistance, as part of the hemisphere defense program, to Paraguay, Guatemala, Bolivia, and especially to Colombia, which believes it should receive additional grant assistance necessary to perform a broader role in hemisphere defense, on the ground that Colombia was the only Latin American country which contributed military forces for active combat in Korea.5
Sincerely yours,
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 720.5–MSP/4–155. Secret. An earlier version of this letter was attached to a memorandum from Holland to Murphy, dated March 23, summarizing the letter and recommending that Murphy sign it. (Ibid., 720.5–MSP/3–2355) In a memorandum to Holland, dated March 29, however, Jamison informed the Assistant Secretary that Murphy’s office had returned the proposed letter to Defense “with the comment that it would be preferable to delay its transmittal until we have had an opportunity to review Defense’s reply to our letter of November 15, 1954.” Jamison’s memorandum reads further as follows: “Although Mr. Murphy’s office indicated that the Defense reply was sent to Secretary Wilson for signature on March 24, it is now March 29 and we have yet to receive it. The attached letter raises new considerations not dependent upon a reply to the November 15 letter, specifically that related to additional aid for Guatemala and the related suggestion regarding combat engineering battalions. It is therefore recommended that you call Mr. Murphy and urge that he sign the letter. You might indicate that we have previously received informal assurances from Defense that a reply to our letter would be forthcoming but that these promises have never materialized.” A handwritten, unsigned notation on the memorandum indicates that the letter was sent back to Murphy. (Ibid., 720.5–MSP/3–2955)↩
- Foreign Relations, 1952–1954, vol. iv, p. 176.↩
- Not printed, but see ibid., 1951, vol. II, p. 1027.↩
- Printed as an enclosure to a letter from Defense to State, ibid., p. 1032.↩
- A letter from Secretary of Defense Wilson to the Secretary of State, dated August 12, states that Wilson concurred in the views of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the establishment of engineer battalions in any Latin American country was inadvisable from the military point of view. It also states, however, that the Department of Defense encouraged “assistance in the economic field, which would provide the economic development and maintenance of public works and roads which link their surface communications network.” (Department of State, Central Files, 720.5–MSP/8–1255)↩
- Printed from a copy which bears this typed signature.↩