Memorandum from Joseph C. Grew to President Harry S. Truman

DEPARTMENT OF STATE WASHINGTON April 25, 1945 MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT Subject: Costa Rica: Inter- ARCHIVES AND American Highway Project. PECORDS SERVICE" In September 1943 the Army determined to abandon its Central American military highway project of es- tablishing a road connection with the Canal Zone. The Department made every effort to have the project liqui- dated in as orderly a manner as possible and to turn over the maximum benefits to the parallel project to construct a permanent inter-American highway (Public Law 375). Former President Calderon Guardia of Costa Rica anxiously telegraphed President Roosevelt to re- quest that the Pioneer Highway project be continued in that country, and received a reassuring reply which ex- plained the plan to continue the inter-American highway project on a systematic basis. On October 23, 1943 the Department wrote the Public Roads Administration to point out the urgency of securing further funds, particularly in order that the work on the north section of the highway in Costa Rica taken over the P. R. A. from the Army might not be interrupted. On March 11, 1944, it wrote again to the Public Roads Administration requesting that the latter prepare and present to the Bureau of the Budget a re- quest for the additional funds required. Although the Bureau of the Budget approved the request in the spring