Presidential Papers, Doc#1324 Personal and confidentially To Edward John Bermingham, 1 March 1955. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower
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Document #1324; March 1, 1955
To Edward John Bermingham
Series: EM, AWF, Name Series ; Category: Personal and confidentially
The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XVI - The Presidency: The Middle Way
Part VII: "Nothing could be worse than global war"; January 1955 to May 1955
Chapter 15: Searching "for an honorable peace"

 

Dear Ed: I have delayed answering your letters of February eleventh and February twentieth until I could get a little background information on the question of loans to Mexico.1

The State Department tells me that, contrary to your information, no loan of $110 million was made to Mexico during the Rio Conference. Additionally, they believe that such a loan to Pemex would set a dangerous pattern to governments elsewhere in the world to follow the pattern of Mexico and expropriate foreign oil interests.2

As you probably know, our loans to Mexico are done through the auspices of the Export-Import Bank, the International Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the United States Treasury. It is my understanding that the World Bank has recently extended a substantial credit for the Mexican Pacific Railroad and that the Export-Import Bank has recently authorized a smaller disbursement on one of its railroad credits.3 Perhaps the discussions leading to these loans were carried on at Rio; I do not know.4

However, in a matter like this, I am sure you realize I can only rely upon the judgment of people trained in such dealings and completely familiar with all aspects of the situation. This I must do, despite the fact that I value and respect your knowledge of the Mexican situation.5

I have also the excerpt from Alex Makinsky's letter of the fifteenth; I sincerely hope his gloomy prognosis will not prove accurate.6

To turn to pleasanter things, I had today a nice letter from George, telling me that he will be able to come to a stag dinner on March fifteenth, at which time we are having a number of people from Wyoming and thereabouts.7 I look forward to seeing him again.

Mamie joins me in warm regard to you and Kay. As ever

1 See no. 1286 for background. Bermingham had written on February 11 regarding credits issued to Mexico by the Export-Import Bank and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank); he thought the credits should have been issued as loans to Pemex, the oil company nationalized in 1938 by Mexico (AWF/N). For Bermingham's February 20 letter see n. 6 below.

2 Secretary Dulles had told Eisenhower that he was "not aware of any such loan" or "of any great pressure from the open regular channels for a loan to Pemex." He thought "this was largely [Pemex's Director General Antonio] Bermudez' project" and that Bermudez "had political ambitions, perhaps not wholly shared by [Mexican President Ruiz] Cortines" (Memorandum of Conversation, Feb. 14, 1955, Dulles Papers, White House Memoranda Series). Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs Herbert Hoover, Jr., would tell Eisenhower that no such loan had been negotiated, adding that the State Department did "not consider that the United States Government should, in any event, make a loan to or for the benefit of Pemex. Such a loan," Hoover said, "would afford dangerous encouragement to governments elsewhere in the world to follow the pattern of Mexico and expropriate foreign oil interests" (Hoover to Eisenhower, Feb. 7, 1955, AWF/I: Mexico). For U.S. Ambassador Francis White's assessment of the situation see State, Foreign Relations, 1955-1957, vol. VI, American Republics: Multilateral; Mexico; Caribbean, pp. 682-83; see also NSC meeting minutes, Mar. 11, 1955, AWF/NSC.

3 On August 24, 1954, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development had authorized a loan of $61 million for railroad equipment (Progress Report on United States Objectives and Courses of Action with Respect to Latin America [NSC 5432/1], Jan. 19, 1955, AWF/NSC). Between November 15, 1953, and April 15, 1954, the Export-Import Bank had authorized $54 thousand for textile machinery in the form of exporters' credits (State, Foreign Relations, 1952-1954, vol. IV, The American Republics, pp. 54-55). For loan authorizations of the Export-Import Bank between May 1 and December 1, 1954 see ibid., pp. 100-101; for the period from December 1, 1954 to July 14, 1955 see State, Foreign Relations, 1955-1957, vol. VI, American Republics: Multilateral; Mexico; Caribbean, pp. 6-13.

4 National Security Council discussions regarding U.S. policies toward Mexico in preparation for the Rio Conference are in NSC meeting minutes, Sept. 3, 1954, AWF/NSC. For positions taken at the Rio Conference regarding the Export-Import Bank and the development of Latin American countries through private initiative and private financing see State, Foreign Relations, 1955-1957, vol. VI, American Republics: Multilateral; Mexico; Caribbean, pp. 366-68, 500-501, 664, 673.

5 For developments see Eisenhower to Dulles, June 14, 1955, AWF/D (no. 1472).

6 Coca-Cola executive Alexander Makinsky, who often sent his opinions of the European political scene to Bermingham, had written that the Paris Accords would never be implemented because, with the exception of Adenauer and his immediate associates, Germany was against the idea of rearmament. Opposed to a German army controlled by either the East or West, the forces supporting reunification before rearmament would be too powerful to overcome, Makinsky thought (Bermingham to Eisenhower, Feb. 20, 1955, AWF/N; on the Paris Accords see no. 1198).

7 For background on Bermingham's son see Galambos, NATO and the Campaign of 1952, no. 730.

Bibliographic reference to this document:
Eisenhower, Dwight D. Personal and confidentially To Edward John Bermingham, 1 March 1955. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1324. World Wide Web facsimile by The Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission of the print edition; Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/1324.cfm

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