9 which we hope will eventually lead to constitutional govOF THE ernment.
ARCHIVES We have of course been giving this sort of aid, counTHE sel and advice for sometime.
The fault, however, has been that we have been trying to give it from Washington and not on the ground itself, This has been due to the type of diplomatic representative we have had in Central America which has not made it possible for the Department to have confidence in their ability to handle the situation.
Advice and courses of action have been outlined in the Department which if properly handled by diplomatic representatives would probably have solved many of the difficulties.
Our failure therefore think is attributable to two causes (1) tying our hands too far in advance before a situation has developed, and. 2) incompetent representatives.
In the past we have had incompetent representatives not only from political life but also from within the service. If competent service men are now sent as Ministers to Central America and if we support a government that is strong enough to maintain order even though it may not meet all the requirements of a constitutional government in the Anglo Saxon sense and permit those representatives, under the direction of the Department, to give orally, unofficially and by personal contact and influence friendly advice and counsel looking