123 G 31/65a
The Secretary of State to President Wilson
My Dear Mr. President: I have been thinking over the matter of your summoning Gerard to Shadow Lawn for an interview, which you will remember we discussed last Tuesday. I gained the impression that you considered it expedient not to summon him at once and delay possibly seeing him until after election.
After considering the matter I have reached the conclusion that a long delay before seeing him would be misconstrued by the people and would in any event serve no good purpose. It might be thought that you were too busy with the political campaign to give attention to an Ambassador who had returned from a principal belligerent [Page 573] power and was in possession of valuable information. Such an impression, however unwarranted, would be, I think, unfortunate. Of course I realize that delay in seeing Gerard was advisable in order to dispel the idea that he was the bearer of a special message from Germany or was called home because of a possible crisis in the submarine matter. I think, however, that the delay in summoning him to you which has already taken place has accomplished that purpose, and that further delay would be unwise.
At this time, when every little thing is subject to partisan scrutiny and criticism, I feel that we should give more heed to a matter of this sort than we would under normal conditions.
Faithfully yours,