FOREIGN RELATIONS: Going, Going …

Painters got ready to scratch another name off a State Department door. The latest resignation: genial Laurence Duggan 38, Director of the Office of American Republic Affairs, for 14 years a career diplomat, longtime close friend of recently resigned Under Secretary Sumner Welles.

Deepest fissure in the badly cracking State Department, OARA has been in an uproar for months. In June 1943 came the quick, blundering recognition of the pro-Fascist Ramirez regime in Argentina. Three months later, the resignation of Welles removed the most experienced hand from the guidance of Latin American policies. Then followed:

¶ The failure of elegant U.S. Ambassador Pierre Boal, who was inclined to see most things through the eyes of Bolivia’s tin-mine owners, to warn Washington of the Bolivian revolution (TIME, Jan. 3).

¶ The Chilean recognition of the Fascist-tending Farrell regime in Argentina, which left the State Department surprised, rebuffed (TIME, March 13).

¶ The kicking upstairs (to an innocuous post as Counselor of Embassy in Havana) of Allan Dawson, OARA’s expert on Bolivia, because he protested against the State Department’s inability to make up its mind about the new Bolivian regime.

¶ The disgusted resignation of J. Kenly Bacon as Acting Chief of OARA’s Division of River Plate Affairs, after two futile years of pleading for a real crackdown on Argentina.

Last week troubled Latin American diplomats were drawing two conclusions: 1) hesitant, muddled management has seriously weakened the U.S. Good Neighbor policy; 2) the resignation of Charter Good Neighbor Sumner Welles is being followed by a gradual purge of Welles men from OARA. Chief Duggan’s exit will be followed by that of at least one important subordinate.