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President Coolidge to the Secretary of State
[Received July 27.]
My Dear Mr. Secretary: So far as I have been able to follow the course of the Conference, I have nothing but commendation for the position you have taken and the ability with which Mr. Gibson and the Admiral have presented our position. We have made a perfectly straightforward and candid presentation of a plan for limitation. I do not think we should deviate from it. If others are unwilling to accept it, we can very well be content with having made a fair proposal and leave others with the responsibility for its rejection. We should by all means keep our right to build such 10,000 ton cruisers [Page 134] as we wish and arm our vessels with such 8 inch guns as we wish. This statement, of course, is limited by any agreement we can make with others and the right of the British to build a like number. I am not in favor of the 6 inch gun and small cruiser proposals. I must confess that it is very disappointing to have the British position revealed to us, as it apparently shows a state of mind on their part which I did not suppose existed. In my opinion they are very shortsighted and can not hope to secure any advantage by building a navy larger than ours. Of course, there is no other navy against which they need to build.
Very truly yours,