REMARKS BY THE HONORABLE ADLAI STEVENSON, UNITED STATES AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS, BEFORE THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, WASHINGTON, D.C., MONDAY, JUNE 26, 1961

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01676R000800090019-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 16
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 9, 2003
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: June 26, 1961
• Content Type: PREL

AwRrogr Release 20
JUNE 26, 1961
0ali6 090090019-
01'-(0)189 I1 iii ~ 11,1hhI~ )11
NO. 445
REMMAfKS BY
THE HONORA113LE ADLAI STEVENSON,
UNITED STATES A! ,ASSAY:? t TO THE UNITED NATIONS,
BEFORE THE. NATIONAL PRESS CLUB,
WASHING TON, B. C . , MONDAY, JUNE: 26, 1961.
THE CHAIRMAN (Mr. Cosgrove': C n` :_.r: i en, if we may, we will begin
the meeting.
Contrary to unconfirmed re por-;,rr, 1 have it on good authority that
Adlai Stevenson is not runn_inr, for President of South America. (Laughter)
After the coun';do;:n or coup ;. ;;* la2 ;; .fall? Mr. Stevenson learned
that one doesn't real ' r aay e to be I.e vIctorI ous candidate to win.
Besides his o,n appoin na nt a A ,bca -I.;ador to the UN, his law practice
was practically dls o3_:ved b-d ,...; ,co ,,ynw :ppo,?.nvzr.ent by President
Kennedy. You will recd vivo ;.,one of at the head table today with
the other dI tin ;uIs .c;d f:ueots I would like you to meet at this time.
On my left is Hi:; ' ;celIer.,~ , 'r:ho is also the Vice Dean of the
Diplomatic Delegation, Fernando Q rc'.c:r yer, the Ambassador of Peru,
(Applause)
On my right i.s Hip. Excellency the Ambassador of Chile, Walter
Muller. (Applause)
On my left is His Excellent.; he Ambassador of Argentina, Dr. Emilio
Donato del Carril. (App l.:ausc )
On my ri (5-ht is .1-11s Excellency the Ambassador of Venezuela, Dr. Josh
Antonio Mayobre. (Applaue )
On my left is His Excellency the Ambassador of Ecuador Dr.
Alejandro T. Ponce L. (Applause) ,
To the right is Charge d'AffaI_res of Colombia, Dr. Ignacio Mesa.
(Applause)
On my left is Charge d'Af&aires of Paraguay, the Honorable Persio
da Silva, (Applause)
To the right is the Counselor of Bolivia, representing the Ambassa-
dor, Mr. Julio A. Eguino L. (Applause)
To my left is Charge d'Affaires ad interim and Minister Counselor of
Brazil, the Honorable Alfredo Bernarde3. (Applause)
On my right is the Secretary of Labor, whom I'm very happy to have
with us today, the Honorable Arthur J. Goldberg. (Applause)
To the left is the Governor of Puerto Rico and a member of the Club,
Luis Munoz Marin. (Applause)
To the right is the Chairman of the Latin American Subcommittee on
Foreign Relations, the Honorable Wayne Morse. (Applap4e),
On my left
~~
1
~
~
1
/b
JUN 4 oApwved For Release 2003/01/2 : CIA-RDP80BU ~
00u 00090019-7
 Approved For Release 2003/01/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R000800090019-7
2- v 1 i.:"
rtyy :ei , is th Secretary General of the O--gar ..:ration or American
Dr. Jos A. M'-oora, (Applause)
-,ht is ;r,e Honorable Thomas Morgan ei r vrrnsylvan:i._i,
,..
_rrr of the ! orei,;n Affairs Committee. (ApplausE
' der Secretary o' Labor (,ht iionorabit,
essor, by the way, is from Harvard, the ucon rnics Section.
on the left, another member of the tour, j-1., ufessor Lincoln Gordon.
z ;;our with the Ambassador.
,they member of the tour, the Director of New Service. U. S.
to the.Unlted Nations, Mr. Frank Carpenter. 'Applauser
the left is t ze Acting Secretary of State r.'o, internationa:l
.tio. Affairs, the Honorable Woodruff Wallner (Applause)
the right is the Director of the office of E ,3r, Coast Affai
errt f State, Mr. Harvey Wellman. (Applause) Mr. Wellman a
:crab e Roger `Oubby. (Applause)
1ne lei t 113 L ie vrl s
Wirtz--as one of the law partners. (Laug,hte .,) (Applause)
rt atr ht is tie Assistant Secretary of State ;.'or Public Affair:,
have Senator MIusKie of Maine and Senator iVict; :rthy of Mi.nnesr)ta
ressma't John iirademas of Indiana. (Applause
have i:i the audience a number o!' guests i ' u _ ike you tro meet .
`::.master General, J. Edward Day. :.Applause)
form me Senator Kefauver is .sere too. w . had planned to have
in at the head table, but he is here with u somewhere.
efauver. (Applause)
member ~~. the law firm Is Under SecretE : of Labe': --oh,
Nn. ton 1''Iinow.
dark. (i~..iught:-.'.r
tillC7:i'~ 3'~Uar, -x. _-Lair,
i the a.icons a delegation i'rorn tha. S~ +th American
ey are '=ere with the OA studying ?,rye rilianza f c r Progress .
r4 ssrran 3oi; Uook of Ohio is aisc with u s t~ a,y. (Applause)
the Residen Commissioner of Puerto Hic-o, . , t ernos-i:sern,
s t 1 nr~r.t r ago. ,,his tour 1-ncluded tcn .ations end altrros
~u
;l:ssance to th+ same area that he had made a rip as a private
--n< A,ioassador Stevenson returnee ~'x, [a a i9-da,,, diplomatic
Approved For Release 2003/01/29 : CIA-RDP80B0167GElQQOa$JOA90019-7
 . Approved For Release 2003/01/29 : CIA-RDP80B01676R000800090019-7
-3- PR 445
AMBASSADOR STEVENSON: It's 17,000 miles.
THE CHAIRMAN: I'm corrected, it's almost 17,000 air miles. I don't
want to undersell anyone here today.
? And in asking the Ambassador to make this special mission part of
the Alliance for Progress, President Kennedy emphasized that our
cooperation in this Hemisphere should not only be in the economic and
social fields. He said, "We need to explore methods of obtaining
closer relationships in the cultural field as well as between our
schools and universities, our teachers and students, our scientists and
artists, our writers and thinkers, in short each manifestation of the
diversity of the culture and tradition of our peoples."
And continuing the President said, "I think there are few people
in the United States better qualified than Adlai Stevenson to examine
and discuss all these possibilities. I'm sure that his journey will
contribute immeasurably to our preparations for the Montevideo conference
and the strengthening of the inter-American system."
Gentlemen, those are the President's words and I think we have with
us today a man who really needs no introduction. Adlai Stevenson is
well known to all of us. You know his background and his history and
his qualifications for his present assignment. It is my pleasure to
present to you now the Honorable Adlai Stevenson, the United States
Ambassador to the UN. (Standing ovation)
AMBASSADOR STEVENSON: Mr. Chairman and ladies and gentlemen, I
hope you don't know my, qualifications for this trip. (Laughter)
Perhaps I should have said "Ladies and gentlemen and fellow
Democrats, since this is a more agreeable reception than I ever expected
to get at the Press Club. (Laughter)
I also didn't overlook the delicacy and the potential value of your
introduction of the law firm. (Laughter)
The time may come, boys, when we will have to go back to work
again. (Laughter) (Applause)
I have successfully evaded the Press Club for a good many years and
this time you caught me by cable. It's bad enough to be exposed to the
United States press and all of the experts on any given area of public
interest, but here toda I have not only the press but also Senator
Wayne Morse. (Laughter)
Who probably knows more about Latin America than I shall ever know;
Congressman Thomas Morgan, before whose committee I am about to appear
at 2:30 this afternoon, if I get out of here alive. (Laughter)
And the Ambassadors of all the countries that I have visited,
including finally my old and esteemed friend who honors me by his
presence here today, Dr. Mufioz Marin, Governor of Puerto Rico. And,
finally, I have even two Illinois colleagues, Arthur Goldberg and Ed Day.
Approved For Release 2003/01/29 : CIA-RDP80B01676R000800090019-7
 Approved For Release 2003/01/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R000800090019-7
s.z know, when I came home I thought that thir;~j~ were a little
ned in Latin America. but when I came back to find that the
ri t. 1_me Unions were turtling down the Secretary of Labor's attempt
_3id us1n~T the Taft-Hartley Act and the President was proceeding
i :,oke it after he succeeded in getting the advice of Arthur Goldberg,
t: only report that the affairs of Latin America .re in pretty good
(Laughter) (Applause)
reminded of the distinguished scholar on th` trip, one of
i:'.e Presidents of Uruguay, who said to me, aftez we had concluded
_rternoot, of conversation with the collegiurn that ;overns that
_-~y , "G~:overrior Stevenson, If you feel a little b-','.
depressed, just
.,ber what a great Spanish writer once said. He :aid that Spaniards
=~ttie all of the problems of the world except tI eir own country's."
titer )
ybe it wasn't a Spanish writer after all. (Tx. o:i.ghter)
~t b:.:fc:^e I left on this Journey at the in.,tar se of the President,
to a big; dinner in New York and Bcb Hope was- r..7ere and he turned
;:::aid, ":,'(y friend, Adlai Stevenson, is about to lave for South
to visit our. friends and he will be back the sarne day." (Laughter)
all, I want to assure you that that is not the :ase, that our
were very f'rier,dly, and it took me 16 days ti get home.
..emembcr very well a year ago, plus, when __ m ae a long trip
-shed diplomats, a leader, the Foreign Minist~.r of one of the
pit ~, one of the Republics of Latin America, whc said, You know,
-, id la;/:3 you had a policy called the good nei Tibor policy. Well,
that because we al,.-,ray., the ught of you a.: th, neighbors and we
t
':rd. (Ltd. L.i~ilt .nr)
r:rus say ;;::at this time I came away wlUh Lie impression that,
America is not only an enormous problem for the United States
rat they understand its problem perhaps better ' han it did when
led there before. But it's not Just a problem for the United
It's a problem for the world, for Latin dnez -ca.
r. our ,journey, we covered some l(,ODO miles an visited all of
. ;way , General Stroessner is clearly in cc unand. His leader-
ship is short: of a to?alitarian police state by far. But he seems
reluctant, -although I"m very hopeful that these views will be dispro.ed
in the near future, t,- fulfill his pledges of democratization and some
{observers believe that some subversive, at least ;,;ommt;:rlst forces, are
more powerful than appears to be the case. But I hay>ve great hope for
raguay.
chile continues to enjoy its broad traditional, ancient devotion
to democratic institutions. The relative success of "clessandrl in
controlling inflation has reduced one serious source of social dis-
content, but other sources remain in the continuing economic stagnation
and the need for positive action on land reform. A cangerous sign was
the swing of peasants and votes this spring to the e:'t,reme left for the
,'first time, at the same time that the moderate Radia:_ Party was gaining
puooort in the urban centers.
3olivla, of cour3e, is in an acute and dangerous state. ?resident
I?az Estenssoro, a man of vigor and purpose, I felt, __s maintaining his
authority but by a tenuous thread. Vice President Lechin has been
unwilling so far to announce his firm support for th- new stand against
the Communist mine workers and the student leaders. The basic crisis of
govern mental authority is now being played out in strange and wonder-
country, with the little army supporting the Pre. ident but w: th
uncertainty whether he can sufficiently dom-` nat the situation to
rm '.;ie private miners and peasant armies and 'o .fide enough
bility so that the long awaited and perfectly fea ible economic
~lopment can go forward.
In Peru, political circles are preoccupied with the 19b2 Presidential
~..icctIon. While the present regime of President Pra.,o and of its
distinguished Prime Minister Pedro Beltran is strong, there is not yet
clear certainty that their coalition of moderate and conservative and
anti-Communist elements and the left wing of the Apr:_sta party will be
a,-)1e to agree upon a candidate for the next election.
i`,- present, the anti-government front runner wo.tld appe-:r to be
I4?ernando Belaunde, an attractive and vigorous younger man wh) is pr,----
occupied with.many large plans for internal developm:nt of his
I'asclnating country, but says, for example, that he .cows sonc} .iii.*.:t, about
:ru but nothAOOroAAV.,or Release 2003/01/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R000800090019-7
 Approved For Release 2003/01/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R000800090019-7
-7- PR 445
Cuba, and avoids foreign policy controversy. While the government is
trying to make social improvements in housing and land settlement with
some success, there has been as yet, no successful basic, fundamental
attack on the vicious tax and land reform problems. But the government
recognizes this necessity, as in so many of the countries of Latin
America.
Here, too, therefore, the present relative calm, except in the
universities, probably conceals-some explosive undercurrents. But we
and Western ideals have no firmer friends than the present government of
Peru.
In Ecuador the government is headed by President Velasco Ibarra,
Who seems confident that there is no Communist problem in his country
and that if there is he can deal with it by the force of his personal,
peaceful philosophy and he is a great scholar and also by his extra-
ordinary personal popularity. The student leadership in this
interesting country has recently been captured from the Communists for
the first time in 16 years. And the program of the government to
improve domestic conditions is good and timely, in view of the country's
badly disordered economy.
The present leadership in Colombia is, of course, excellent. But
the stability of the regime depends now on finding a conservative
presidential candidate to carry on in the period 1962 to 1966, in
accordance with the curious bipartisan national front arrangement
which was worked out in 1958 to stop the violence and which replaced
the dictatorship at that time. Bandit type violence remains a major
problem in several outlying provinces of Colombia, now aggravated by
Communist infiltration.
The domestic program of President Lleras Camargo is precisely in
accord with the Act of Bogota, and the thinking underlying the Alliance
for Progress.
You will want to know something about the obvious questions that
always interest us. Communist penetration, and so on, have increased,
I believe, in vigor and effectiveness since my more leisurely journey
through these countries in 1960. This is marked especially in four
groups: the university students, the professors, the school teachers,
and the labor unions. Urban slum dwellers, especially where there is
severe unemployment, are also ready victims and hitherto unorganized
rural areas, of which outstanding examples are northeastern Brazil and
rural areas in Chile and Colombia and Ecuador.
A good deal of propaganda material is being imported from Cuba.
Several governments commented on activity by Cuban agents, sometimes with
the help of Cuban diplomatic missions. The Cubans appear, however, to
be becoming increasingly cautious about gunrunning and blatant abuses
of diplomatic missions for subversive purposes. I must tell you I was
followed on this journey or preceded by two or three diplomats from
Cuba. It sort of reminded me of those truth squads that the Republicans
had. (Laughter)
Approved For Release 2003/01/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R000800090019-7
 Approved For Release 2003/01/29 : CIA-RDP80B01676R0008Qa0.090019-7
e1. FR Lu
1, remember saying at a diplomatic banquet somewhat to the amusement
of the audience, in the campaign I think of 1956 when the truth squad
arrived at the airport about the same time that I did, that they bore
-xaetly the same relation to the truth that the fire engine did to the
they would extinguish it If they could. (Laughter)
I'he theme of these gentlemen, and very accomplished senior diplomats
the Cuban Foreign Service they were, was generally to interrogate the
eign Ministers and the Presidents of the countries that I just visited
to their view on nonintervention and on self-determination. I must
all vividly the responses that some made who will have to be nameless
,,ecause I don't want to embarrass them. One of them told me that he had
laid, "Yes, we believe in self-determination in this country and we be-
tieve that self-determination means the right of the people to choose all
the time. Have you those conditions in Cuba?" Another one said, "Yes,
believe in those principles of the American system, of the American
ructure, but we also believe in all of the other principles of the
American system."
think these kinds of responses are indicative of the feeling that
revails among the thoughtful leadership in most all of Latin America.
she alignment of Cuba with the Communist movement has greatly added
the appeal of Communism, however, since it can now take on the guise
an indigenous Latin American revolutionary movement. There is very
despread popular sympathy for the proclaimed goals of the Cuban revo-
.ution. including land reform, popular education, social equality, the
=lenmoval of foreign business influences, and defiance of the Yankee
lossus. The failure of the April invasion attempt gave added impetus
Communist Castro penetration since It seemed to imIly immunity of left
xtremism in Latin America from United States retaliation. There is
Little popular appreciation of the Sovietization of the Cuban regime.
,atin America thinks of Cuba as -- by and large, the common ordinary
people think of Cuba as a social reform, as a social revolution, whereas
4e think of it as Communism. They are unaware for the most part, I felt,
its establishment as a police state apparatus of terror or the other
erversions of the original revolutionary objectives of Mr. Castro.
Much more intensive action in evidently needed to promote the demo-
eratic cause in intellectual savants in Latin America? Ministers in
several countries canmented once again on the absence of cheap paperback
translations into Spanish and into Portuguese of United States classics
and of important nonfiction, contemporary works, including my own.
( Laughter)
Which I am happy to say I do have Spanish translations in most
ies and I seem to be very well known. I'm not sure whether they read
them just the day before I arrived or not, but they point to the can-
trast with the highly subsidized and widely distributed editions that we
have all encountered in our travels abroad of Marx, Lenin, of Mao Tse-
ung and other Communist writers.
Far more, as we find now, as you probably know, aiistributed all over
h America, do-it-yourself handbooks on how to be a guerrilla war
f1.g-iter
Approved For Release 2003/01/29 : CIA-RDP80B01676R000800090019-7
 Approved For Release 2003/01/29 : CIA-RDP80B01676R000800090019-7
-9- Pfd 445
fighter printed in China, "How to Overthrow the C tt1dlc Church'?, printed
An C:~s:ina, and so on. A far more affirmative attaak'.on he problem of
urban shun conditions and the rural insecurity ,.s 4.p? evidently needed if
these large groups, no longer poli ~;ically pa,ssj . ., $ re,tp a e, some hope
for a better life under free institutions. ;y I .,
In connection with the misunderstanding of t~
current develo
ment
i
p
s
n Cuba, I believe that exa.#
of attudenta and ^P
especially those who fought with Castro inh1s3 ec
write and cirAculate a
mong their counterparts tpyol
Their testim
ony would have a credibility whl t4no
expected to achieve.
I
rue Fra.cter of the
tINg?e :Ccs*i4lO be made
t tbarl.,:e 1e$,
u t4" Xq4ap4e.re.
i 8m+er. p, ;can` be
We encountered a unanimous and intense, and x d ~ -exaggerate, in-
tense interest in the Alliance for Progress Program. Pte?$ident Kennedy's
March 13th address was described as having created asp,'a and impression
In Latin America, the most favorable since Franklin iocaevelt's announce-
ment of the Good Neighbor Policy. Without exception, governments em-
phasized the political importance of making the Uruguay ,meeting of the
Inter-American Economic and Social Council a success, to use their word.
And that means not merely another in the long line of ipter-American
meetings.
On the other hand, there was no clear or uniform definition of what
constitutes success. There was a wide variety in t1e concept of the
meetings of objectives and procedures and great disparity in the inten-
sity and the character of national preparations for this program. A
few governments appeared to believe that the meeting would be the
occasion for the cutting of an aid melon, so to speak, with little :?e-
gard to self-help measures or structural reforms In such fields as land
tenure and taxation. But all paid at least lip service to the concept
of self-help. And several were in deadly earnest on this front.
In terms of technical work on long-term programming for national
economic and social development, Colombia, Chile, Brazil and perhaps
Venezuela seemed to be well in advance of their sister nations. Several
others handed us interesting proposal.ss, some handed us shopping lists,
so to speak, of public investment projects on which they look for aid
by loan and otherwise.
Argentina emphasized the importance in her rather special case of
Industrial development, as contrasted with social investment which has
made such long progress foar so many years in that great. country. Many
governments advanced claims for special consideration on political, or
other grounds. In several cases less emphasis was placed on outside aid
for public investment than on trade and commodity price, policies.
Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, have declared frequently their strong
emphatic interest In American policy support fortth4r commerpiai
negotiations with the European Common Market. And be'e,was the most
intense interest in joint action to stabilize coon .d,.ty prices and to
raise the prices of key import items in this countrvk ex ort items for
them, notably coffee. Some 14 countries, ap you q%p/,, of Lat,4n America
Approved For Release 2003/01/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R000800090019-7
 Approved For Release 2003/01/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R000800090019-7
-10- PR 445
are largely dependent for their foreign exchange position on their export
of coffee.
I believe our mission greatly clarified the thinking of many South
American governments on the types of results which we might hope to
achieve at the Uruguay conference, especially in the fields of investment,
programming and the coordination of outside aid. We must clearly expect
active discussion of commercial policy and of commodity markets and we
should have well defined positions on these issues.
A forthcoming attitude in these fields would do much to overcome
the disappointments which are likely with respect to the amounts and the
conditions of financial aid. As to aid, it is a fact that the needs are
enormous. The desire for accelerated growth is great and universal and
the capacity for effective use of aid is being rapidly augmented by the
systematic programming of public investment, often for the first time.
In most cases the general concepts and priorities are not far out of
line with our own thinking. It is evident that large increases in the
rate of economic and social investment and United States aid as compared
with recent years are expected throughout South America. Fortunately,
most of the governments appear to be thinking mainly in terms of hard
loans which can be financed by the World Bank, by the Inter-American
Development Bank, the Export-Import Bank, to the extent that their real
credit worthiness permits.
This in turn may be largely dependent, of course, on action in the
commercial policy and commodity market areas. If Congress furnished the
authority for making long-term commitments, there is no question but that
the ability of the Latin American governments to carry through sustained
development efforts, including the needed structural reforms, will be
greatly enhanced.
Our mission demonstrated, I think, the vital importance of reereat-
Ing confidence in a collective approach to the problems of Communist sub-
version and of indirect aggression if the inter-American system has any
hope of survival.
The abortive Cuban invasion attempt of last April, coupled with sub-
sequent public disclosure and controversy, did not enhance Latin American
opinion about the United States, I think we might as well face it, be-
cause non-intervention is still a cardinal article of faith throughout
our good neighborhood. But I suspect there is a great deal of unspoken
disappointment, actually, that the invasion failed, that even in these
uses, most of them I dare say, would have denounced any unilateral in-
lon publicly.
In some countries there has been a tendency to regard the Cuban
p9oblem as essentially a bilateral one between the United States and
uba, which might be negotiable if we only relaxed our hostility and
permitted
Approved For Release 2003/01/29 : CIA-RDP80BO1676R000800090019-7
 Approved For Release 2003/01/29 : CIA-RDP80B01676R000800090019-7
-11- PR 44,,
permitted the larger Latin American states to act as mediators. I be
lieve that we succeeded in convincing the Presidents and governments con-
cer,aed that the problem is by no means a bilateral problem, that such
issues between ups "s compensation for expropriated properties are of
secondary order, which could be negotiated if other circumstances were
favorable, and that tYe real cause of concern is the establishment of a
beachhead for Communist penetration and subversion throughout the Hemi-
sphere,
It follows that the issue is one of concern to all of the American
Republics, affecting Latin America even more than the United States,
because it is the Latin countries which are more vulnerable and actually
the object of indirect aggression today. It is they, therefore, who
should be primarily concerned with action to deal with this universal
problem.
It was generally and strongly felt that no collective action could
be officially considered until the economic conference was concluded and
had demonstrated its success as a major step toward economic and social
development, towards the creation of some sense of hope among these
miserable masses in so many of the Latin American countries.
1.12hJ.s conclusion was based partly on the need to obliterate the
memory of the April invasion effort, but; far more on the need to sho%
to dissident left wing; elememts in their countries that there a.3 real
promise of economic and social progress under genuinely democratic
regimes -. ~orking An cooperation with thr United States
As to the po.ssibllity of collective action aftfar the 6,:il.ja.nce for
Prourese meeting in Uruguay, I can't predict of course with any eonfi-
der1cc. Sut I think ft's quite possible that shesre will b