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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Argentina’s foreign policy during World War II is often believed to have been one of indifferent, or even pro-Axis, neutrality from the very onset of hostilities in Europe. Passions aroused by the Axis leanings of the government leaders during most of the period of American belligerency have tended to obscure the fact that the attitude of the Argentine government during the period preceding the fall of France was unquestionably favorable to the Allies. Previous writers have neglected this period, and have tended to skip directly from the Panama Conference in September, 1939, to the capitulation of France, following which Argentina adopted a policy of strict neutrality, and thus have given the erroneous impression that Argentina’s position on hemispheric neutrality was the same throughout the war.
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3 This proposal has been mentioned by only a few writers. See: Guerrant, Edward O., Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor Policy (Albuquerque, 1950), p. 148 Google Scholar; Langer, W.L. and Gleason, S.E., The Challenge to Isolation 1937–1940 (New York, 1952), pp. 608–610 Google Scholar; and Peterson, Harold F., Argentina and the United States 1810–1960 (New York, 1964), p. 403 Google Scholar. Both Guerrant and Peterson err in placing the time of the initial proposal after the German conquest of the Lowlands.
4 Argentina, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto (cited hereafter as AMREC), Dirección de Investigaciones, Archivo y Propaganda, Informaciones Argentinas, 32 (15 Sept. 1939), p. 2 Google Scholar (cited hereafter as Informaciones Argentinas).
5 Italian Ambassador Gabriele Preziosi to Foreign Minister Ciano, Buenos Aires, 28 Aug. 1939, in: Italy, Ministero degli Affari Esteri, I Documentici Diplomatici Italiani, 8a Serie, 1935–1939 (Rome, 1952-), XIII, 237Google Scholar (cited hereafter as DDI(8)).
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29 Ciano to Missions in Latin America, 21 Sept. 1939, ibid., p. 221.
30 Ciano to Italian amb. (Madrid), 21 Sept. 1939, ibid., pp. 221–222.
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39 Preziosi to Ciano, 1 Dec. 1939, DDI(9), II, 332–333.
40 Ibid.
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47 AMREC, Memoria 1939/40, I, 91.
48 U.S. Amb. Norman Armour (Buenos Aires) to Hull, 16 Dec. 1939, FR, 1939, V, 98, 101.
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50 Armour to Hull, 12 March 1940, FR, 1940, I, 708.
51 La Prensa, 2 April 1940, p. 12.
52 Ibid., 13 April 1940, p. 12.
53 Armour to Hull, 11 April 1940, FR, 1940, I, 719.
54 Armour to Hull, 12 April 1940, ibid., pp. 724–725.
55 La Prensa, 13 April 1940, p. 12; Italian charge (Buenos Aires) to Ciano, 13 April 1940, DDI(9), IV, 50.
56 El Mercurio (Santiago), 10 April 1940, p. 3.
57 Preziosi to Ciano, , 20 Sept. 1939, DDI(9), I, 209 Google Scholar; 1 Nov. 1939, II, 50.
58 Melo disclosed this information to the Peruvian Minister of Commerce who in turn discussed it with the Italian minister in Lima. Italian min. (Lima) to Ciano, 30 Oct. 1939, ibid., II, 38. Ambassador Preziosi confirmed the report in subsequent discussions with Melo. Preziosi to Ciano, 1 Nov. 1939 and 8 Nov. 1939, ibid., II, 50, 99–100.
59 Hull to Armour, 15 April 1940, FR, 1940, I, 720.
60 Armour to Hull, 19 April 1940, ibid., pp. 743–744.
61 Ibid.
62 Ibid.
63 Armour to Hull, 22 April 1940, ibid., pp. 748–750.
64 Memorandum of Conversation by the Under Secretary of State, 22 April 1940, ibid., p. 745.
65 Ibid.
66 Ibid.
67 Hull to Armour, 24 April 1940, ibid., pp. 752–754.
68 Armour to Hull, 25 April 1940, ibid., pp. 754–755; Hull to U. S. amb. (Rio de Janeiro), 27 April 1940, ibid., pp. 755–756.
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84 ibid., pp. 764–765; La Prensa, 13 May 1940, p. 12.
85 N. Y. Times, 14 May 1940, p. 12.
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87 See Congressional Record, 10 May 1940, pp. 5913, 5924–5925, 5928.
88 German min. (Montevideo) to For. Min., 14 May 1940, DQFP, IX, 336.
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