462.11L5232/187
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State (Castle)
The German Ambassador came in to ask me whether it had been possible for the Department to do anything to assure Mr. Roland Boyden’s presence in Washington prior to the date of sailing, of January 21st, of Dr. von Lewinski. I read the Ambassador a telegram to Mr. Boyden which Mr. Hackworth had just written for me, saying that the German Embassy had informed us that, since Dr. von Lewinski was leaving and it is very important that he should be able to testify before the Commission on the notice of rehearing of the Black Tom Case, that I hoped it would be possible for him to be in Washington next Monday. The telegram concluded by saying that the German Ambassador agreed with this for the reason, of course, that Mr. [Page 327] Boyden, the umpire, was appointed by the German and American Governments.
The Ambassador talked for some few minutes about the case, feeling that it would be exceedingly unfortunate if the whole matter of the claims were reopened by agreement on the part of the Commission to rehear this particular case. I made no comment on this, but did point out that I hoped that on the question of procedure, which is the most important proviso in Mr. Bonynge’s argument, that the Commission itself should decide rather than refer the matter to the Government since it would seem very unfortunate to inject a political issue.
The telegram was sent as soon as the Ambassador left.51
- Telegram not printed. Mr. Boyden arrived in Washington from Boston on January 19.↩