824.24/956a
The Secretary of State to the Secretary of War (Stimson)
My Dear Mr. Secretary: Subsequent to the overthrow on December 20 of the Bolivian Government, this Department has received from officials of the War Department requests for an expression of its views concerning the question of shipments to Bolivia of military equipment under the provisions of the Lend-Lease Agreement concluded with that country on December 6, 1941.91
According to that agreement, armaments and munitions of war may be transferred from the United States of America to the Republic of Bolivia. These are not commercial exports but matériel furnished by the Government of the United States to the Bolivian Government. It is the considered opinion of this Department that in the present circumstances, due to the absence of a recognized government in Bolivia, no military equipment of any kind should be sent to that Republic under the provisions of the Lend-Lease Agreement until such recognition is duly accorded.
I shall appreciate it if you will be good enough to convey this information to the appropriate officials of the War Department.
Sincerely yours,
- For correspondence on the negotiation of the lend-lease agreement, see Foreign Relations, 1941, vol. vi, pp. 422 ff.↩