<--PREV Doc #1643  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1645 Document #1644; September 12, 1960 To Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes Series: EM, AWF, International Series: Guatemala The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XXI - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part X: Ending an Era; August 1960 to January 1961 Chapter 23: "To keep the Free World free"   Great and Good Friend: I wish again to express my appreciation for your friendly letter of August twenty-third delivered personally into my hands by your Ambassador, Carlos Alejos.1 I am indeed pleased to renew the personal exchange of views I first enjoyed with you during your visit to Washington in February, 1958.2 Your frank and comprehensive comments on the present situation in Guatemala have been studied with interest and sympathy by officials of this government.3 Your letter further confirms my conviction that the countries in this Hemisphere face, individually and collectively, a very definite threat to our democratic way of life and to our American system that requires our constant vigilance and resolute action. From the very inception of our independence we in the Americas have recognized that we share a common destiny and that a threat from without to any one of us is a threat to all of us. This firm belief and our determination to uphold it was overwhelmingly confirmed at San Jose just a few days ago. Your timely efforts in alerting others to the most recent threat to the American system merit special commendation.4 I have noted with particular satisfaction your account of your efforts to provide the benefits of economic and social justice to the Guatemalan people without sacrificing democratic freedoms and practices. This is particularly important since it describes exactly that which distinguishes our system from the doctrine some now are seeking to impose in this Hemisphere. This insidious doctrine proposes that our peoples must relinquish their personal freedom and their individuality in order to achieve the material progress we seek. In response to this challenge, our representatives at the meeting of the Committee of Twenty-One in Bogota have proposed that the forces of domestic action and of international cooperation working hand in hand can achieve the economic and social advancement of our people without sacrificing the fundamental human rights and freedoms which we have achieved and preserved at great costs. As an immediate demonstration and as tangible evidence of our sincere devotion to this objective I recommended, and the Congress of the United States approved, the authorization of $500 million for this purpose.5 It would indeed be a tragedy for us all and a great triumph for Communism if your country having once freed itself of the Communist yoke should again find that yoke reimposed.6 You may be sure that the needs of Guatemala, both for the immediate and for the long term, will be given prompt and sympathetic attention by my Government, which has responded willingly in the past to Guatemalan needs. As you know, just a few days ago approval was given of a total of $9.6 million in loans and credits by the Export Import Bank and by the Development Loan Fund.7 Active consideration is being given to other loan requests already filed with our leading institutions. Regarding your current situation, I suggest that through your Ambassador here in Washington you provide the specific details of the needs for special assistance referred to in your letter to me. Ambassador Alejos has shown himself to be a most energetic and conscientious representative of your government and he is already well acquainted with those officials charged with the responsibility of handling such requests and the procedures involved.8 Again, I would like to assure you of my sympathy and of my deep concern over the enormous difficulties you are facing so resolutely. I extend to you my cordial best wishes for your personal health and happiness, together with my wish for the continued prosperity and peace with justice of the Guatemalan people.9 With assurances of my highest esteem, Sincerely 1 Eisenhower had met with Guatemala’s Ambassador Alejos on September 1. After reading Ydígoras’s letter about Guatemala’s serious economic and political difficulties (AWF/I: Guatemala), Eisenhower had told the ambassador that he would consult with the State Department and send a more substantive reply soon. Eisenhower had also remarked that the United States was interested in doing all it could to cope with Castro and Communism and that he appreciated Guatemala’s efforts to do the same (Memorandum of Conversation, Sept. 1, 1960; see also Herter to Eisenhower, Aug. 31, and Eisenhower’s interim reply of Aug. 31, all in ibid.). The State Department drafted this reply to the President. 2 Eisenhower had met with Ydígoras in Washington on February 25, 1958 (President’s daily appointments). 3 Ydígoras had stated that Guatemala’s general economy had continued to deteriorate as coffee prices fell, creating a dire fiscal crisis, even after his government had reformed the economy on an austerity basis (for background see no. 981). Communist and pro-Castro forces had taken advantage of the situation, he said, and were attempting to overthrow his government. Ydígoras had asked for an additional $20 million in aid from the United States in order to carry out reforms and stem Communist influence. He had offered to provide a detailed request either through Guatemala’s ambassador in Washington or by a special mission (Ydígoras to Eisenhower, Aug. 23, 1960, Herter to Eisenhower, Sept. 10, 1960, both in AWF/I: Guatemala). Eisenhower had asked Herter to have the State Department prepare a reply to Ydígoras’s "terrific exposition" of the attempt to make Guatemala a "Communist beachhead" (Telephone conversation, Eisenhower and Herter, Sept. 10, 1960, Herter Papers, Telephone Conversations; for previous discussions of Communist penetration see no. 404). 4 The sixth and seventh meetings of the Consultation of the American Foreign Ministers had been held consecutively at San José, Costa Rica, August 16 - 30 (State, Foreign Relations, 1958 - 1960, vol. V, American Republics, p. 638). Eisenhower was referring to Guatemala’s presentation of its problems with Cuba before the Inter-American Peace Committee (see State, Foreign Relations, 1958 - 1960, vol. V, American Republics, Supplemental Microfiche GT-31, n. 3). At the conclusion of the conference the delegates had signed the Declaration of San José, which condemned extra-continental intervention in the hemisphere (New York Times, Aug. 29 and 30, 1960; see also Rabe, Eisenhower and Latin America, pp. 165 - 66). 5 The Committee of 21 had met in Bogotá, Columbia, September 5 - 13, 1960. The delegates had passed the Act of Bogotá, which cited Latin America’s need for social and economic reforms. U.S. officials had begun to implement the program at the conference even though Congress had not yet given final authorization for what came to be known as the Social Progress Trust Fund (P.L. 86-735). See Congressional Quarterly Almanac, vol. XVI, 1960, pp. 216 - 18; on the fund see no. 1580, and for additional background see Rabe, Eisenhower and Latin America, pp. 141 - 44, 165 - 66. 6 On communism’s influence among Guatemala’s political rulers in the decade between 1944 and 1954 see Galambos and van Ee, The Middle Way, no. 870. 7 See State, Foreign Relations, 1958 - 1960, vol. V, American Republics, Supplemental Microfiche, GT-31, n. 2, and on further loan negotiations see ibid., GT-30. 8 Ambassador Alejos would meet with the President on November 3, 1960, to discuss Guatemala’s need for budgetary support and for highway construction loans. Eisenhower would respond that general budgetary support might set a precedent for continuing requests and that he preferred to help with specific development loans (Memorandum of Conversation, Nov. 3, 1960, AWF/I: Guatemala). 9 For later developments in Guatemala’s political situation see the additional correspondence in AWF/I: Guatemala, and Eisenhower, Waging Peace, p. 613. Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes, 12 September 1960. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 1644. 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/second-term/documents/1644.cfm <--PREV Doc #1643  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #1645

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