Famous Friends

Just by arriving when he did, U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles made one of the most important points of his two-day trip to Brazil last week. It was his first visit to South America in two years--and he made it with U.S. troops standing ready in Lebanon and debate on the Middle East situation about to begin in the U.N. Said Rio's Diario Carioca: "By his very presence here at this time, Senhor Dulles proves false the idea that the U.S. neglects Latin America."

Hold the Vultures. Dulles flew down to talk with President Juscelino Kubitschek and to repair the damage done to inter-American solidarity by the anti-Nixon riots last May. Kubitschek had written to President Eisenhower suggesting a presidential get-together. Later he proposed "Operation Pan-American" for a long-run strengthening of the hemisphere's bonds by planned economic development. Dulles studied Kubitschek's proposals on the long flight south, and also read reports of the reception being planned for him by leftists and nationalists. Flocks of vultures were to be released, roadblocks set up, demonstrations staged by professional Reds with signs reading "Dulles will not pass." But as he rode under an overcast sky into downtown Rio from the international airport, the only demonstrators in sight were 200 cheering, clapping Brazilians waiting outside the U.S. embassy.

Dulles and Kubitschek hit it off famously from the start. Kubitschek had thought out his Operation Pan-American, presented it forcefully at their first meeting, in the gilt study of Laranjeiras Palace the day after Dulles arrived. Its gist: 1) a strong re-establishment of Pan-American unity, with Latin America's importance to the U.S. and the free world clearly emphasized; 2) a ten-year program, coordinated by a central agency, to raise Latin American productivity and living standards, thereby throw up a barrier against Communist penetration.

Seven-Column Spread. Kubitschek did not press his idea of launching Operation Pan-American with a summit meeting. "A presidential conference," he said, "might be opportune to launch the Operation in due course, after full discussion and preparation." Their final agreement: Brazil and the U.S. will sound out the other 19 republics in the hemisphere, and, if acceptable, set up a working group in Washington by late September to draw up an outline development program; any meeting of Presidents would follow later. With that settled, Dulles and Kubitschek took time out to pose for pictures.

One of them showed Kubitschek, his arms spread, apparently pleading with Dulles, who seemed to be looking into his wallet (see cut). It was enough to send Rio's nationalist press into tail spins. The normally staid Jornal do Brasil spread it seven columns across the front page, ran a caption implying that Kubitschek was pleading desperately with a sardonically grinning Dulles. Jeered Congressman Carlos Lacerda in his Tribuna da Imprensa: "Kubitschek, the President, rises respectfully to talk to Secretary Dulles in a language which cannot be understood. For it is the language of a subaltern speaking to a superior."

Just One More. Three days after it ran the picture, Jornal (but not Lacerda's Tribuna) grudgingly explained what really happened. Kubitschek was merely imploring the photographers to end their demands for "just one more," while a smiling, relaxed Dulles held a green Brazilian dispatch case containing the joint declaration they were about to sign.

If Kubitschek had indeed been pleading for anything, he might have deserved credit for a plea well presented. After a second meeting, Dulles dashed off for a luncheon talk before the American Chamber of Commerce, then flew to Brazil's new capital, Brasilia, for a farewell dinner with Kubitschek. Then he headed back for Washington, where at week's end the Export-Import Bank announced that credits totaling $58 million in favor of the Bank of Brazil had been granted by a consortium of U.S. private banks, along with a $100 million credit from the Export-Import Bank itself.

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