124.62/66: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Commission to Negotiate Peace
3676. Reference your 4816, October 25.12
Please communicate following to Dresel if you approve: “You will proceed to Berlin and assume the title of American Commissioner. It is not contemplated that you should have at present any official relations with the German Government. Spanish Embassy continues to handle the diplomatic affairs of this Government and Department merely desires to have an official representative at Berlin from whom it can receive information of interest and importance. While you will do for American citizens everything compatible with your present instructions, your chief mission consists in keeping Department and Mission at Paris fully informed of political and economic conditions in Germany, the present attitude of the German Government toward American citizens and institutions as well as toward naturalized citizens of German origin, the aspirations of foreign governments in Germany, the military, economic and financial situation, etc. It is highly important that you maintain friendly and intimate relations with the representatives of Allied Governments in Germany, bearing in mind that the rupture of diplomatic relations between the German Government and the United States still continues, and that you are not a diplomatic officer accredited to Germany. You will avoid all acts which might convey the idea that your presence or that of other American officials in Germany means a resumption of diplomatic relations.”