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The United States and Chile during the Second World War: the Diplomacy of Misunderstanding *

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Michael J. Francis
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Extract

During most of 1942 the United States Department of State attempted to cajole, flatter, or force the Government of Chile to break diplomatic relations with the Axis powers. The reluctance of both Chile and Argentina to join the other Latin American countries in severing relations with Germany, Italy, and Japan soon reached the level of a major foreign policy controversy, and United States officials became incensed at Chile's ‘timidity’ in joining the crusade against fascism. The misunderstanding between them, this analysis will argue, stemmed from the nature of the situation and of the parties involved.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , May 1977 , pp. 91 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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References

1 Mecham, J. Lloyd, The United States and Inter-American Security, 1889–1960 (Austin, 1961), p. 211.Google Scholar

2 Documents cited by number are from the United States National Archives, Department of State, Washington, DC. The citation of these documents is sufficient to locate them although the author has not attempted to describe each document in terms of authorship or address because he feels that these citations are usually misleading due to the diplomatic practice of having them signed by, and sent to, the highest ranking official of the entity involved. For example, all messages to the Department of State are sent to the Secretary of State although he very well may not see the document, and all messages sent from the Department are signed by the Secretary who may know nothing of the contents of the message. For the same reason, the author's citations from the Foreign Relations of the United State: (FRS) series only uses the volume and page number.Google Scholar

3 For an account of this meeting, see Francis, Michael J., ‘The United States at Rio, 1942: the Strains of Pan-Americanism,’ Journal of Latin American Studies, 6, 1 (05 1974).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 e.g., with the exception of the Communist paper El Siglo, the major newspapers in Chile were not advocating a quick break in relations. 710. Consultation (3)/650: telegram, Embassy in Santiago to S/S, 17 Feb. 1942.Google Scholar

5 825.00/1528, Bowers' letter to President, 15 Dec. 1942.Google Scholar

6 ‘El General Ibáñez y los Estados Unidos,’ El Mercurio, 17 Dec. 1941.Google Scholar

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20 FRS, 1942, VI, p. 39.Google Scholar

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22 Ibid, p. 29.

23 825.24/732/2. memo, 19 Dec. 1942. The list included 48 40-mm. anti-aircraft guns instead of the 20 27-mm. guns originally specified, 50 more 20-mm. anti-aircraft guns, 18 P 43 pursuit planes, 18 dive bombers, 12 75-mm. howitzers, 12 motor torpedo boats, and other supplies.Google Scholar

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50 725.00/18: telegram, Embassy in Santiago to S/S, 8 July 1942.Google Scholar

51 Some Ambassadors may hate the country or the government to which they are assigned but Bowers' memoirs certainly refute any possible reasoning along these lines.Google Scholar

52 This same situation can be found in a reading of many of the memoirs written by former Ambassadors. It is particularly obvious, and at times the phenomenon is directly discussed, in Gaibraith's, John KennethAmbassador's Journal (New York, 1969) which deals with Galbraith's two years as Washington's representative to India.Google Scholar

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58 Unlike his counterpart in the United States, the Minister of the Interior in Latin American countries has responsibility for internal order.Google Scholar

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66 Ibid, p. 198.

67 Ibid, p. 800.

68 Ibid, p. 805.

69 Ibid, pp. 809–10.

70 Ibid, p. 901.

71 710. CONSULTATION 3/855A, memo, no date.Google Scholar

72 FRS, 1944, VII, p. 684.Google Scholar

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75 A most interesting account of how this resignation was finally precipitated is in May, Ernest R., ‘The “Bureaucratic Politics” Approach: U.S.-Argentine Relations, 1942–47’, in Cotler, Julio and Fagen, Richard R., eds. Latin America and the United States: The Changing Political Realities (Stanford, 1974), p. 149–50.Google Scholar

76 This account is based on FRS, 1944, VII, p. 691–700.Google Scholar

77 Ibid, p. 695 and FRS, 1945, IX, p. 756–7.

78 Ibid, 1945, IX, p. 767.

79 Ibid, p. 769.