Office of the Historian

711.00111 Armament Control—Military Secrets/3574

Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)65
[Washington,] October 17, 1940.

This urgent memorandum66 was left with me by the Greek Minister yesterday. Under instructions from his Government, the Minister made an impassioned plea that Greece be given the opportunity to increase her defenses by obtaining the aviation matériel desired. I gave to the Minister as sympathetic a response as I could, but I made it clear that I was not informed as to the facts involved and that I feared that our own national defense requirements and our existing commitments would make it impossible for any immediate practical assistance to be afforded. Please look into the matter again and let me know what final reply I should make to the Minister.

  1. Addressed to the Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs (Murray), the Acting Chief of the Division of European Affairs (Atherton), and the Chief of the Division of Controls (Green).↩
  2. Supra. ↩