033.1110 Wallace, Henry A./279
The Ambassador in Ecuador (Long) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 5.]
[Here follow details of Vice President Wallace’s visit in Ecuador.]
All told, everything connected with the Vice President’s trip was felicitous. There were no disagreeable incidents so far as I am aware. It was, however, necessary, out of deference to the constituted authorities, to eliminate from the list of persons usually invited, some who were thought to be political enemies of Dr. Arroyo’s33 administration and others who had gone to the pains of snubbing the Arroyos in the past.
In addition, it was necessary to omit from the list of persons invited to the party the Honorable Galo Plaza, one of the most enthusiastic admirers of America, who lived in our country for about eight years, during which time he came to understand our way of thinking. As the leader of a certain group of younger men and organizer of the American School, it would have been natural to have invited Mr. Plaza to the reception but this was omitted, not because there was the slightest fear that he would do anything to mar the occasion but merely because the Ecuadoran President, or his immediate friends, dislike the younger group in general and some of the leaders, including Mr. Plaza, in particular. As between incurring the wrath of high officials in the Administration and incurring that of some of the leaders of the opposition, it was deemed to be preferable to take no chance [Page 73] of casting any cloud over the highly successful visit of our Vice President.
It is to be reported that the Ecuadoran Government promulgated a decree on April 14 providing for the printing of 60,000 ordinary postage stamps and 60,000 airmail stamps commemorating the visit of the Vice President. The decree ordered that the stamps should bear the words “Bienvenido Wallace—Abril 15 de 1943.”
The attitude shown by the press towards the Vice President’s visit was characterized by extreme cordiality on the one hand and on the other by expressions of hope that the visit would serve to help solve some of Ecuador’s problems, as indicated by the enclosed representative press clippings.
The attached enclosures are noted below.34
Respectfully yours,