Paris Peace Conf. 184.1–Helms, Birch
The Secretary of the Commission to Negotiate Peace ( Grew ) to Mr. William C. Bullitt
1. Replying to your letter of December 27th, I beg to inform you that the Commissioners Plenipotentiary today disapproved the proposal to appoint Major Birch Helms as a special military attaché or intelligence officer to assist in obtaining information for the Commission relative to the Republican sentiment in the United States, to transmit correct and accurate data to Republican leaders who may be [Page 190] in Paris, and to have authority to attend conferences of the Peace Commission with newspaper correspondents, and also to confer occasionally with members of the Commission so that correct data can be transmitted to Republican leaders in the United States independent of press despatches.