Message to the Congress Recommending the Payment of Claims Arising From the Occupation of Vera Cruz, Mexico.

To the Congress of the United States:

I enclose a report by the Secretary of State requesting the submission anew to the present Congress of the matter of the claims arising out of the occupation of Vera Cruz, Mexico, by American forces in 1914. These claims formed the subject of a report made by the Secretary of State to the President on December 27, 1927, and of his message to the Congress dated January 4, 1928, which are printed in Senate Document No. 33, Seventieth Congress, First session. A copy of the document mentioned is attached to the report by the Secretary of State for the convenient information of the Congress.

I renew the recommendation originally made by President Harding that, in order to effect a settlement of these claims, the Congress, as an act of grace and without reference to the question of legal liability of the United States in the matter, authorize an appropriation in the sum of $45,518.69. In bringing the matter anew to the attention of the present Congress I am hopeful that the action recommended may receive favorable consideration.

HERBERT HOOVER

The White House

December 5, 1929

The report was published as Senate Document 45.