42. Memorandum of conversation, January 24, between President Kennedy and Ambassador Muller1
SUBJECT
- Farewell Call of Ambassador Muller on the President.
PARTICIPANTS
- The President
- Ambassador Walter Muller of Chile
- Angier Biddle Duke
- Taylor G. Belcher, Director, West Coast Affairs.
Ambassador Muller opened the conversation by referring to his regret at having to leave Washington after a very satisfactory and pleasant tour of duty. In reply to the President’s question, he said that he was returning to take up his private business again after an absence which in some ways had been too long. He had undertaken the assignment as Ambassador for a maximum of two years and had hoped to be able to get back to his personal affairs sooner but that the advent of the Alliance for Progress and the prospects of a visit by President Alessandri had persuaded him to stay on. He said he felt the Alliance program was now well started as far as his country was concerned [Typeset Page 94] and that with the very successful completion of the Presidential visit, he could leave in good conscience.
The President asked the Ambassador for his views regarding the situation in Chile in the next two years, particularly leading up to the elections. The Ambassador stated his belief that the Left Wing in Chile had suffered serious reverses as a result of the recent events in Cuba and that he had heard on good authority that Senator Allende was no longer confident of winning the election as the candidate of the Popular Front. The President expressed gratification upon hearing this opinion but emphasized how much more important it was that we weaken the appeal of the Left in Chile through the effective carrying out of the reforms that were now beginning in Chile. He added that he well understood, from U.S. experience, how difficult it was to institute tax reforms. The Ambassador spoke at some length regarding those measures which had already been taken emphasizing particularly the successful housing [Facsimile Page 2] programs already carried out by CORVI and Mr. Belcher mentioned the recently concluded IDB loan to the Trade Unions in Valparaiso and Vina del Mar for low-cost housing.
The President expressed his hope that the Ambassador would continue to interest himself in Chilean-U.S. relations and the Ambassador responded that the President could be assured that he would be a vocal, unpaid Ambassador of the U.S. in Chile. The President reiterated his continued deep interest in Latin American progress, saying that Europe enjoyed the luxury of the limelight attention, but that in many ways Latin America was much more important to us, more important than Africa, for example.
After an exchange of pleasantries during which the Ambassador was able to say goodbye to Mrs. Kennedy, the Ambassador took his leave.
NOTE: During a brief conversation prior to his meeting with the President, while discussing the political situation in Chile, Ambassador Muller made the interesting comment that Eduardo Frei Montalva, as leader of a Christian Democratic centered coalition “would not make a bad president”. He added that he could not foresee any possibility of the Christian Democrats joining with the FRAP in the 1964 elections. More likely was the possibility of the recently announced PDC-Padena coalition becoming a focal point for dissident Radicals and Socialists.
- Farewell call on the President. Official Use Only. 2 pp. DOS, CF, 725.00/1–2463.↩