Office of the Historian

File No. 861.00/2108a

The Secretary of State to the Diplomatic Liaison Officer, Supreme War Council (Frazier)1

[Telegram]
Washington, June 25, 1918, 4 p.m.

British Embassy Paris reports that French Minister for Foreign Affairs recently made an important statement in the lobbies of the Chamber to the effect that Colonel House had told him that he, Colonel House, was emphatically in favor of Japanese intervention in Siberia. Please investigate this report and cable fully.

Colonel House cannot believe that the Minister for Foreign Affairs has been correctly quoted. You will remember that Colonel House stated his views on this subject on several occasions during the meetings in November last.

[Page 224]

If you should find confirmation of the above report and that such statements are being made, please ask the Ambassador whether he will intimate to Minister for Foreign Affairs confidentially that the President has the Russian question now under consideration and any statements at the present time regarding the views supposed to be held by various people are very likely to hinder the solution of this problem.

Lansing
  1. Sent via the Embassy in France (No. 4758).↩