864.51/601a: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the American Minister in Hungary ( Roosevelt )
14. This morning the Hungarian Chargé called transmitting a very pressing message from his Government asking the United States to notify Italy, France, and Great Britain that we were favorably disposed toward an immediate 5 million-pound loan to Hungary. I explained that this Government has no control over its bankers and that we never had requested and never should request the bankers to make any specific loan. We obviously had no right, I added, to approach other governments along these lines, since we could not influence our own bankers. I told him that the outcome of the London Conference3 had been exactly what we hoped in putting the whole German situation in the bankers’ hands and that I felt the Central Banks must deal with the Hungarian situation.
The disappointment of the Chargé was great and he did not seem to understand fully despite my efforts to be as sympathetic as possible. I hope that you may find the opportunity to clarify our position to the Hungarian Government.
- See vol. i, pp. 164 ff.↩