Memorandum from Secretary of State Dean Acheson to President Harry S. Truman

Copy of this attached IDENTIAL to Daily sheet may 11952 DEPARTMENT OF STATE WASHINGTON May 1, 1952 MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT Subject: Visit of General Anastasio Somoza President of Nicaragua President Somoza of Nicaragua is having lunch with you at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, May 2. He is in Washington, accompanied by his wife, Salvadora De Bayle de Somoza, en route to the Lahey Clinic in Boston for medical treatment. His visit is en- tirely unofficial. President Somoza will come to the White House after calling on me in the morning. President Somoza has two sons: Luis, a Senator, and Anastasio Jr., a graduate of West Point (1946) and Chief of the General Staff. A daughter, Lillian, is married to Nicaragua's present Ambassador to the United States, Guillermo Sevilla-Sacasa. He is proud of the fact that he has ten grandchildren, and also that one son is married to an American. As a young man Somoza lived in Philadelphia for six years and there met his Nicaraguan wife. He speaks fluent English and likes to recall your visit to Nicaragua when you toured Central America on a special mission as Senator. Somoza is an able man with an engaging personality. He is informal, genial, energetic, persuasive and politically astute. He is also impulsive, vain and egocentric. His desire for personal gain is very great. In 1933 he became and still remains Director General of the Nicaraguan National Guard which the American occupation forces had organized. In 1936 he ousted the president. In a subsequent vote he was overwhelmingly elected to the presidency. He served in this office from 1937 to 1947. His present term runs from 1950 to 1957. While the Nicaraguan government is democratic and republican in form, President Somoza has run it largely as a one man show. His methods have often been criticized in the United States and DECLASSIFIED Latin E. O. 11652, Sec. 3(E) and 5(D) or (E) 5-3-77 PROJECT NL 77-57 Dept. of State letter, CONETDENTIAL By NLT- He , NARS Date 5.27.77