<--PREV Doc #657  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #659 Document #658; April 22, 1958 To Arturo Frondizi Series: EM, AWF, International Series: Argentina The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, Volume XIX - The Presidency: Keeping the Peace Part IV: Recession and Reform; February 1958 to May 1958 Chapter 9: "The problems inherent in this job"   Dear Mr. President: It is with great pleasure that I convey to you through the Vice President of the United States, Richard Nixon, my sincere greetings and congratulations upon the occasion of your inauguration as President of Argentina. I am very sorry that I was unable to accept the kind invitation to attend your inauguration personally.1 Your inauguration, Excellency, marks without a doubt a key event in Argentine history, and a moment of hope and anticipation for the future. The re-establishment of constitutional government following free and exemplary elections has been watched with warm and sincere admiration by all the people of the Hemisphere. It is, therefore, with special pleasure that I send you these words of greeting on this occasion. I am impressed with the similarities in ideals and principles which mark our two nations, and the importance and necessity of close relations between them for the strength and peace of the Hemisphere. I know that Argentina shares with the United States its cherished belief in the dignity of the individual and in the sanctity of personal civil liberties. Not only do the peoples of our two countries share similar ideals and principles, but their historic development contains many striking similarities, and both look to the future with the same determination to build for our children a more secure and fruitful life. I know also that Argentina shares our earnest desire to realize an effective international cooperation dedicated to the achievement of peace and justice. It is with these thoughts that I should like to assure you of the hope and desire of the United States to expand and strengthen cooperation between our two countries in the years to come in order further to secure their steadfast friendship for the benefit of the peace and prestige of the Americas. May I extend to you and your countrymen on this happy occasion the best wishes of the people of the United States for a successful and fruitful administration and my personal best wishes for your good health and well-being.2 Sincerely 1 For background on U.S.-Argentine relations see no. 116; NSC meeting minutes, Feb. 28, 1958, AWF/NSC; and State, Foreign Relations, 1958 - 1960, vol. V, American Republics, pp. 460 - 74. On February 23 Arturo Frondizi, leader of the leftist wing of the Civil Radical Union party and an exponent of economic nationalism and government control of industry, had assumed the presidency of Argentina in the first democratically elected government since the overthrow of Juan Domingo Perón in September 1955. Frondizi had invited Eisenhower to attend his inauguration in order to form a permanent "personal link" between Argentina and the United States. Eisenhower, in a reply drafted by State Department officials, had declined the invitation and had told Frondizi that Nixon would head the U.S. delegation (Frondizi to Eisenhower, Mar. 26, 1958; and Eisenhower to Frondizi, Apr. 17, 1958, both in AWF/I: Argentina; see also Dulles to Eisenhower, Apr. 16, 1958, ibid.; and NSC meeting minutes, Feb. 28, 1958, AWF/NSC). In preparation for Nixon's good will trip to eight Latin American nations, Eisenhower would also send personal greetings to the leaders of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela (all letters are in AWF/I). For more on the Vice-President's trip (April 27 - May 15) see no. 711; State, Foreign Relations, 1958 - 1960, vol. V, American Republics, pp. 222 - 48; and Richard Milhous Nixon, RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (New York, 1978), pp. 228 - 38. 2 Eisenhower would write President Frondizi in June regarding U.S.- Argentine relations, and Frondizi would visit the United States in January 1959 (Eisenhower to Frondizi, July 1, 1958, AWF/I: Argentina; see also Frondizi to Eisenhower, June 4, 1958, ibid.; and State, Foreign Relations, 1958 - 1960, vol. V, American Republics, pp. 527 - 35). Bibliographic reference to this document: Eisenhower, Dwight D. To Arturo Frondizi , 22 April 1958. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, ed. L. Galambos and D. van Ee, doc. 658. 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/658.cfm <--PREV Doc #657  |  Memorial Commission Home Page  |  Second Term Table of Contents  |  Presidential Papers Home Page  |  Doc#  |  NEXT--> Doc #659

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