839.00/2682c
The Chief of the Division of Latin American Affairs, Department of State (White) to the Appointed Commissioner in the Dominican Republic (Welles)
Dear Sumner: Referring to my letters of June 30th32 I enclose herewith a copy of the English and Spanish text of the agreement as [Page 36] actually signed by Messrs. Velasquez, Vasquez and Peynado on the third instant,33 together with a copy of their reply to my letter of June 30th and my further reply of July 3rd.34 This closes the correspondence so far and gives you a complete set of all documents and papers exchanged.
It is understood that the agreement is to be considered as confidential until your arrival in Santo Domingo and such time thereafter as you may consider advisable. The Dominicans, on their part, have asked that your going to Santo Domingo should not be published for a few days and as that coincided also with the Secretary’s desire, no announcement as yet has been made, although the Secretary is perfectly willing that it should be announced as soon as the Dominicans are ready to have it done.35
Your commission has been duly signed by the President and the Secretary. It appoints you Commissioner with the rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary
“to represent the President of the United States in the Dominican Republic for the purpose of investigating and reporting upon political conditions in the Dominican Republic, and for the purpose of ascertaining the views of the Dominican people with respect to an appropriate agreement with the United States, as a result of which the military forces of the United States may be withdrawn from the Dominican Republic.”
I should state that Peynado and Velasquez were rather insistent that Article I of the Convention should state that “the Dominican Government hereby validates all the executive and departmental orders”, etc., and not that “the Dominican Government hereby recognizes the validity of all the executive and departmental laws.”… I refused to make the change in question and they signed the agreement as it stood. …
Sincerely yours,
- Not printed.↩
- English translation supra; Spanish text not printed.↩
- Ante, pp. 28, 31, 32.↩
- On July 11 the Department announced in a press release that a tentative plan of evacuation had been agreed upon with the Dominican leaders and that Mr. Welles had been appointed Commissioner to represent the President in the Dominican Republic. On July 12 the Dominican leaders (Velasquez, Vasquez, Brache, and Peynado) sailed for Santo Domingo. (File no. 839.00/2539a.)↩