740.0011 E.W./2–1345: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Uruguay (Dawson)
71. Referring to Wright’s23 telephone conversation with you this morning, the purpose for the call was simply to make certain that there had not been some delayed message stating that Uruguay had subsequent to your no. 114 decided to take some action similar to the Colombian one. We felt we must protect ourselves by this call, owing to the fact that the signing ceremony will be this afternoon and great embarrassment would have resulted had Uruguay in the interim taken some action, the sense of which had not yet been communicated to us through telecommunications delays.
It is the Department’s understanding that Congress will convene on February 19. If Uruguay takes the step during the first week of that session, its adherence to the United Nations declaration could be sufficiently early to get under the wire. As stated previously, we did not wish to press Uruguay to be present at the February 14 signing, fearing that, with Congress about to convene, the necessary action might well be more conveniently taken by that body in a few days.
- James H. Wright, Chief, Division of North and West Coast Affairs.↩