FOREIGN RELATIONS) 19 5 0, VOLUME I


United States representatives should be: The Commander in Chief,
Caribbean Command; The Commander in Chief, Atlanticý and a rep-
resentative from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
  The Secretary of Defense requests your views.
Recommendation:
  That the Secretary sign the attached letter.'

  2 The Department of State's reply was contained in a letter to Secretary
of
Defense Johnson by Acting Secretary of State Webb, dated December 2, 1949,
which read in part as follows:
  "The Department of State agrees that the proposed meeting should take
place
and sees no objection, from a political point of view, to 'the division of
responsibil-
ity for the defense of the area which is envisaged by the British Chiefs
of Staff
as outlined in your letter." (810.20 Defense/10-2649)
Discussions on the subjects under reference commenced in the following year,
although at a lower level than mentioned in the above memorandum.


720.56/1-2650: Circular atrgram
    The Secretary of State to Diplomatic Offices in the American
                              Republics

CONFIDENTIAL             WASHINGTON, January 26, 1950-8:20 a. m.
  The Department has supplied the Embassies of the other American
republics, in Washington, with a statement explaining the applica-
bility of the Mutual Defense Assistance Act of 1949,1 to other Ameri-
can republics. The Department has transmitted this statement in an
informal and routine manner, in order to provide necessary infor-
mation to the Latin American governments, without implying that
this Government is in any way soliciting orders for armament at this
time.
   Although copies of the statement have been transmitted informally
to Embassies of the Caribbean countries, in Washington, the Depart-
ment is not inclined to give favorable consideration to any requests
from countries in that area for significant quantities of armament,
so long as present disturbed conditions prevail. The Caribbean coun-
tries have received copies of the statement because of the possibility
that conditions in that area may have improved 'by March 1, the dead-
line which it has been necessary to impose on the receipt of requests
from other American republics. In that event, it may be possible to
give favorable consideration to requests for small amounts of equip-
ment, particularly equipment which those countries require to main-
tain in operable condition the armament they already possess.2

   1Approved October 6; 63 Stat. 714.
   2For the text of airgram 141 to Havana, April 26, see vol. ii, p. 661.


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