DEPARTMENT OF STATE Memorandum of Conversation
DATE: July 24, 1950
SUBJECT: Mr. Rockefeller\'s interest in Latin American Affairs
PARTICIPANTS: Secretary Acheson Mr. Nelson Rockefeller, former Assistant Secretary of State Mr. Willard F. Barber, Acting Assistant Secretary for ARA
COPIES TO: S U S/S ARA Mr. Miller ARA Mr. Barber \(2\) EC Mr. Clark ARA/E Mr. White Embassy Rio informally
Mr. Nelson Rockefeller said that he had spoken briefly with President Truman earlier in the day suggesting a statement praising the cooperation of the Latin American countries in the Korean crisis. As a peg for the statement, he recommended that the President urge ratification of the Charter of the Organization of American States. \(The Charter was sent to the Senate by the White House in January 1949, and Department officers appeared before the Committee subsequently.\)
I told Mr. Rockefeller that I had just sent a letter to Senator Connally urging favorable action. Mr. Rockefeller felt certain of support from Senator Vandenberg, whom he had recently visited.
In response to my inquiry as to Senator Vanderberg\'s health, Mr. Rockefeller said that he had hoped that the Senator would be able to visit Mr. Vandenberg, Jr. \(employed by Mr. Rockefeller in his Brazilian corporation\) at Rio in order to get a change and rest.
Mr. Rockefeller mentioned his recent visit to Brazil and the favorable attitude of Senhor Freitas-Valle. The elderly Foreign Minister, Senhor Fernandes, is not as enthusiastic.
Mr. Rockefeller had an idea that it might be helpful for some of us here to say something publicly about Brazil\'s long-range economic development plan \(SALTE plan\). This was left for Mr. Barber to follow up. The latter observed that last week a new 25-million-dollar credit for Brazil for the Volta Redonda Steel Mill project had been approved by Export-Import Bank. Regarding a Minas Gerais loan, Mr. Rockefeller found it hard to tell whether the Export-Import Bank or the World Bank was the proper place to apply.
In summary, Mr. Rockefeller said that, since Mr. Miller\'s public statement on the coffee situation and the outbreak of the Korean war, Brazilian- United States relations had considerably improved. Mr. Rockefeller added that in his opinion Ambassador Johnson was doing a fine job.
ARA:WFBarber:meb