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{
    "localId": "225249115",
    "label": "Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Reports and Estimates Report, Number 50-48, Probably Argentine Policy Toward the United States to 1952 and Its Effects on United States Interests",
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    "id": "225249115",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Reports and Estimates Report, Number 50-48, Probably Argentine Policy Toward the United States to 1952 and Its Effects on United States Interests",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/225249115",
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    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 15,
            "logicalDate": "1949-02-15",
            "month": 2,
            "year": 1949
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{
    "seq": 13,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-psf/602196/875477/875477-03-13.jpg",
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    "ocrText": "tions to an expeditionary force. In common with all other Latin American republics,\nArgentina would be militarily expensive to the US in any global war, since US matériel\nwould have to be diverted for adequate modern defense. Furthermore, the contribution\nthat Argentina could make to common military defense of the continent would be\ngreatly restricted by the limited extent of its sea and air power as well as by the inade-\nquate land transportation facilities to the other republics.\nIn the event of war with the USSR, Argentine leaders will probably demand re-\nsponsibility for regional defense, despite their country's limited military capacities.\nThis will make it difficult to include Argentina in a general strategic plan. It is an-\nticipated that the Argentine Government will seek to exploit its status as an ally to\nobtain military equality if not superiority to Brazil, to further its efforts to establish\nan undisputed hegemony over the southern half of the continent exclusive of Brazil,\nand to obtain possession of the Falkland Islands. Argentine demands for US ac-\nquiescence in such efforts could be expected to generate friction with that government\nand possibly within the inter-American system and with the UK, which frictions would\ntend to undermine the unity required in war.\nOn the other hand, by virtue of its relatively advanced industrial and engineering\nexperience combined with the relatively high quality of its military discipline and train-\ning, Argentina could be expected to make more efficient use of equipment obtained\nfrom the US than any other Latin American state. And it would of course be far less\ncostly to the US to send equipment than to send both equipment and military person-\nnel and have to maintain troops at such a distance.\nThe limitations of Argentine sea power are such that the US could at best expect\nsome assistance in the defense of Cape Horn and the Straits of Magellan as an alterna-\ntive route to the Panama canal, provision of access to naval bases with their denial in\nArgentina's own self-interest to Soviet submarines, and limited patrol of sea lanes.\nII. Argentine Foreign Policy up to the Present.\n1.\nBASES AND HISTORICAL OBJECTIVES OF ARGENTINE FOREIGN POLICY.\nIn the past Argentine foreign policy has stressed Argentine ties with European\nnations, Argentine independence of US influence, the extension of Argentine leader-\nship in Latin America, and neutrality in world power conflicts.\nArgentina has considered that its national interest lay in keeping the closest pos-\nsible ties with available and potential customers, in resisting any possible subordination\nto US economic interests, and in opposing US leadership in inter-American activities.\nArgentina, prior to World War II, depended on Britain for financial development and\nmarkets for its beef, on Germany for military ideas, and on France for intellectual\nstimulus. The historical precedent of Argentina's former position as the center of the\nSpanish viceroyalty of La Plata, the possession of great wealth in agricultural resources,\nand the existence of a proud nationalist spirit have fostered the Argentine belief that\ntheir country possesses opportunities and capacities for development greatly beyond\nthose of any other Latin American country. Since they viewed their country's po-\n6"
}