500.A15a3/170: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain (Dawes)
247. Your 268 and 269.57 Your 269 was received late today and a more careful study of it may make it advisable for me to follow this [Page 231] cable with a further one early next week after fuller conference with the President.
While we have from the beginning endeavored to recognize and give weight to the international difficulties which might be presented by the excess in 8-inch cruiser tonnage insisted on by our Naval Board we must emphasize the difficulties which we on our own side would confront in obtaining the consent of our Senate to any reduction in large cruiser figures which were not supported by our naval advisers. This is a very real difficulty which we can not lose sight of. The President will be quite willing to exchange views with Mr. MacDonald when he is here on these points and to try to arrive at a settlement as between himself and Mr. MacDonald. In view of this and the difficulties which Mr. MacDonald feels he will have with our figures we make the following suggestions.
- First, we think it would be well for the Prime Minister to have in this country during the time of his visit a British naval officer in whom he has confidence with whom he could consult, if necessary, as to the views of his Admiralty. We hope that such consultation may not be necessary but we can see that such a course might have great advantages in facilitating a successful conclusion of the conversations between the President and the Prime Minister.
- Second, we think there should be no publication of the agreement contained in our 244 until after the meeting between the President and the Prime Minister. We are not satisfied with the language of No. 244 from the standpoint of publicity and we think that after the personal meeting between Mr. Hoover and Mr. MacDonald not only would it be possible to put it into better form for publication but we might possibly be able to make it more complete.
- Third, for the same reason we think that the actual sending out of the invitations to the conference might also better wait until after Mr. MacDonald’s visit. The President is willing to defer to the Prime Minister’s suggestion of a postponement of the conference, and that being so, would permit the postponement of the invitations. We feel that the personal conferences during Mr. MacDonald’s visit will throw so much light on the character and the date of the conference as to make it worth while to postpone the invitations until then.