File No. 763.72/3239
The Minister in Norway ( Schmedeman) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 7, 2 a.m.]
115. My telegram of February 5, 2 p.m.1 I had an interview with the Minister for Foreign Affairs to-day in the course of which I [Page 119] said that in view of the close cooperation hitherto between the two countries as well as of the added moral weight which his Government’s support of the President’s suggestion would lend it, I hoped: he could inform me that the Norwegian Government would take action similar to that taken by the Government of the United States. Minister for Foreign Affairs said that in a special meeting of the Cabinet it had been decided to limit the action of the Norwegian Government for the present to a joint energetic protest with the other Scandinavian countries until it could be seen how the German, submarine campaign develops. On my inquiring as to the intention of the Norwegian Government if German threats were carried out to the detriment of Norwegian merchant marine, his excellency said that in this case further decisions would be taken jointly with Sweden and Denmark. It seems clear that this Government’s attitude toward the President’s suggestion is determined by the grave danger from the south inherent in Norway’s geographical position.
- Not printed.↩