File No. 855.48/807a
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Great Britain ( Laughlin)
2358. For Poland Crevooh [sic] from Hoover:
Yours C.R.B. 132.1 I feel you should have stood upon the agreement by which all Relief foodstuff is immune “for the suffering civil population in Belgium” under the German safe-conduct contracts. This surely implies the population released by evacuation as well as that held. Also, I fear that even if the Germans refuse to agree that you send food behind the Allied lines our ultimate course must be to do it anyway, for we cannot be placed in position of starving these people at German request. If Germans refuse, you have no other course than to ask Admiral Sims to call in all Relief boats and convoy them to Rotterdam. You can only wait for German reply for a certain time without jeopardizing released population during which the French and British military ration will take care of the population. In the meantime send American delegate to each committee headquarters in order to keep in touch directly with the feeding situation and to ultimately deal between Rotterdam and such committees. I would suggest obtaining as many of the following as you need in first instance: Robert Jackson, Percy, Wellington, Wickes, Withington, Stockton, Kittredge, Dorsey Stevens.
- Not printed.↩