763.72119/9957: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain ( Davis )
661. Your 886 of June 3. For your information the President is not inclined to have us officially or unofficially attend Spa Conference. Developments which we are closely watching may change our policy, but it now seems inadvisable for us to attend. One reason is the breaking off of negotiations between Rathbone and British Treasury about which we are sending you a separate cable.70 While it is our desire, under the difficult situation, to keep in touch and cooperate as far as possible in reparation question, it seems that if we do not attend the preliminary conferences where policies and program are being determined, we should not blindly attend final conferences and be urged to adopt a program already agreed to by the other interested nations. However, if the Foreign Office presses you for an answer, you may state simply that the United States Government has not yet seen its way to accept cordial invitation to attend Spa Conference.
- Not printed. These negotiations related to the British debt to the United States.↩