Office of the Historian

492. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Canada1

Washington, July 19, 1961, 2 p.m.

47. Your 1098, June 30, and 31, July 11.2 Dept regrets that it has so far not reached a decision resolving viewpoints of interested agencies but matter has been under active consideration and you may so inform FonMinGreen. Dept hopes to be able to furnish a more definite reply at an early date.

Dept appreciates considerations set forth by Canadian Govt but hopes FonMin realizes this not simple problem for us and appreciates our desire to be as helpful as possible in political situation he faces.

Rusk
  1. Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1960–63, 399.731/7–1961. Confidential. Drafted by Yingling.↩
  2. In telegram 1098, Ambassador Merchant described a meeting with Canadian Assistant Under Secretary and Legal Adviser Marcel Cadieux, in which Cadieux expressed the hope that the United States would soon reply to the May 15 aide-memoire. The Canadian Government had gotten encouraging results from its survey, but feared that unless action were taken, momentum would be lost, “defections” might occur, and a country not canvassed might take unilateral action. There were also pressures from Canadian fishing interests for unilateral action. (Ibid., 399.731/6–3061) In telegram 31, Ambassador Merchant noted that on July 11 Foreign Minister Green had asked again for a reply concerning Canada’s note. (Ibid., 399.731/7–1161)↩