U.S. POLICY CONFUSES LATINS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00475R000100400011-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 30, 2013
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: May 2, 1964
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12/30 : CIA-RDP73-00475R000100400011-1
MAY 2 196A
WASHINGTON STAR
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INTERPRETIVE REPORT
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1;y GEORGE SHEI-ZMAN ,
Staf Staff ?Ve4cr
The feeling is growing in 1
Latin America that the Kennedy
"grand design" for the hemis-
phere died with the late Presi-
dent.
Pragmatism?or an emphasis
on "practical" action?is the
new watchword for United
States policy south of the border
. under President Johnson. With
almost liturgical monotony,
!diplomats intone the word in
every conversation about how to
? achieve the larger aims of
!United States policy ? in this
1hemisphere.
I, ? This new vogue came in with
;Thomas C. Mann, Assistant
Secretary of State for Inter-
Are?nricen Affairs, ? special as-
I sis,.ant to the President, co-
ordinator of the Alliance for
Progress and President John-
son's designated "one voice" 'on
policy for Latin America. After
, more than 20 years in Latin,
'American affairs as a career
diplomat, Mr. Mann has a pas-
:sicn for quiet practicality?what
he himself calls pragmatism.
?- The trouble is that after five
ono:11,11s in office neither Presi-
dent Johnson nor Mr. Mann has.
0
pe ;takeovers in six Latin American
countries?Argentina, P e r u,
'Guatemala, Ecuador, Domini-
!/ can Republic and Honduras.
-
Recognized 6 Governments 1
?'!? Officials point out that INIrd
;?Kennedy was confronted with!
!' military takeovers or semi-
yet laid out how this ultra-North American diplomacy has1 And in all six he ended up
practical approach fits into a ' changed under Mr. Johnson, recognizing the new govern-
consistent over-ail policy for the ; that the substance remains theiMents and in giving them vary-
Americas. Mr. Mann appears to same. - e 'ing amounts of aid. t
have a phobia about public 1 The twin 'testing grounds are The more hostile critics even '
pronouncements. He is to give the United States' attitudes to-!maintain that the United States
his first major policy speech on rward.'?LaIM American dictaton4 suffered a loss of prestige in the'.
May 13?on the Alliance for ships and the Alliance for Prog-ilicnnedy handling of the Peru-
Progress?but he has still to ress. In both areas the image is: vian coup d'etat in July, 1062.
'hold a bona fide press confer- somehow spreading of a laconieji e ostentatiously ' suspended
ence. . p r e s i d e n t reneging on his diplomatic and aid tics and then
predecessor's y o u t h f u 1 and unceremoniously restored them
?
Confusion Growing
. dynamic sponsorship' of stable some months later?after the
. military junta had defied him
The result is. growing cent u- representative democracy.
sion in Latin America over the '? and maintained itself M power.
! But most thoughtful observers
distinction betWeen ends and
means in North American pot- Educated Latins are the first agree that by the end of his life
icy. Sober critics do not quibble to adroit that this criticism haPresidelq Kennedy had devel-
Cataelysinic impact
over the need for the United
States to use pragmatic means
to cope with infinite variety in a
a highl y-charged emotiona.:! oPed his own pragmatism for.
content. In a continent where; handling unconstitutional goy-
political power rests far more! env:lents. His administration
tumultuous continent. But they on individual personalities that deve'c'Ped ? what has been In-
are beginning to believe that on institutions, the assassinatior1beled, the
the overriding concentration on of John F. Kennedy had a ca -? promises." That rule tied Unit-
these means hides a vacuum of taclysmic inapact. !ed States diplomatic recognition
and economic aid to pledges by.
thinking ? about any over-all In three short years Mr:
ruling juntas to restore repre-
'framework f o r hemispheric 'Kennedy?with the help of ai
relations. ? attractive wife?had become, a sentative democracy through ,
kind of matinee idol for thene".7 elections in a given time ;
Pundits already are contrast- kind
Even today perio n e meantime t
inc the johnson "opportunism"
juntas would guarantee full civil
with the Kennedy "idealism" the visitor from the North
.
which guided United States ceiuged witn touching, ? oescrip s e ?
policy, under the ? late President. tions of how the life of the North Amserican POwer
They reject the official United whole southern continent ?
;1 implicit in this approach was
States line that only the style of tually halted during those fu-
? ? - the understanding that North
neral days in November. 1odny,1American power alone can only
, ,the Kennedy image of leader- i
!Shorten?not end?interludes of
ship lives on as a Pw?verfui "illegal" government in Latin !
.'political force.
'America, It rested on the belief
.."So, Johnson started out with :I' that military takeovers, though
, ,two strikes against him," des-Hdisagreenble. and even bazar-
paried one . long-time North!. dous-, are not always disastrous.
:American resident. '"He has to broke with that "neo-imperi-
,compete with a dead idol. Edu-n alist liberaliSm" in both halves
,cated people here will tell YOU of the hemisphere which main-
that it is still too early to pass;! tains that the North American
!judgment on Johnson. But down;
!deep they feel that he will nev-
er measure up to Kennedy."
big stick is itself powerful
enough to sustain democratic
governments in countries still
United States diplomats spend;! without either the traditions or
a good part of their time softlyll psychology essential for mature
batting down a number of::?democracy..
myths which have grown out, of:
this idolatry.- The chief one is
that President Kennedy. was so,
wedded to idealism that he
ejected compromises with
? !governments ? who came to
!power by overthrowing consti-
tutional 'governments in Latin
1.4merica. ?? ? ? I
" ? .
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nRciassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12/30: CIA-RDP73-00475R000100400011-1