Friendship Affirmed

Without pausing after his flying tour of European capitals, Dean Acheson last week began a six-day visit to the principal cities of Brazil. The first U.S. Secretary of State to visit South America in four years, he was there to reassure Brazilians that the U.S., in its preoccupation with the problems of Europe and Asia, has not forgotten its friendship with the world's largest republic.

For his busy guest, President Vargas staged a handsome welcome. At one state dinner in the Foreign Ministry's old-world Itamarati Palace, 120 select guests promenaded past swans in a lagoon bordered by tall royal palms. In the tropical night the palace's yellow sandstone battlements looked like a set for Aida; along them, 200 lance-bearing dragoons in plumed, gold helmets stood guard. Dinner was caviar, foie gras, pheasant and asparagus tips, followed by deep, flowery toasts in Pommery 1945.

Questions & Answers. The time of the visit was auspicious. The State Department was restudying its Western Hemisphere policy and seriously considering whether it should recognize as a basic fact that Brazil is the U.S.'s principal Latin American partner. In Rio, a joint commission was planning a billion-dollar Brazilian development program, half of it to be financed mainly by U.S. loans. Earlier in the week $37.5 million in rail and power loans for Brazil had been announced by the World Bank in Washington.

From President Vargas down, Brazilians peppered their guest with searching questions, particularly about prospects for greater economic and technical aid. Acheson blandly denied that the U.S. ever assigned a lower priority to Latin American problems. "There are two separate problems to be dealt with at the same time," he told reporters. "One is the need of our allies in the front line, those fighting in Korea, in Indo-China, the needs of French, British and our own troops in Europe. Those needs must be met or there will be no front line. But... we must carry out our historic policy in this hemisphere. Since the war, some $410 millions have been invested in Brazil. We are now entering into an even more active period of cooperation."

Burdens & Hopes. In the frank exchanges over the ceremonial demitasses of rich, black Brazilian coffee, much of the past uneasiness evaporated. Though the moderate newspaper Tribuna da Imprensa continued to caution against "the lack of continuity of the Good Neighbor policy," many Brazilian leaders were impressed by the weight of the problems U.S. foreign policy must face. Acheson, for his part, was impressed by Brazil. "Here is hope," he said. "I return to the U.S. with a lift of spirit which I have not had since I became Secretary of State."

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