Foreign Relations of the United States, The Soviet Union, 1933–1939

740.00/337

Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Welles) of a Conversation With the French Ambassador (Saint-Quentin)

[Extract]

[Washington,] March 23, 1938.

The French Ambassador called to see me this afternoon. He said in the first place that he was instructed by the French Government to inquire of this Government whether the Government of the United States had received formal notification by the Soviet Government of a suggested conference of the nations of the world, exclusive of Germany, Japan and Italy, to consider the ways and means which might best be taken in order to prevent aggression and maintain peace and if we had received such notification what our reply might have been.

I replied to the Ambassador that such notification had in fact been received through a conversation which the Soviet Ambassador in Washington had had with the Secretary of State, but, so far as I was advised, no reply had as yet been made. I said, however, I thought I could inform the Ambassador for the information of his Government that this Government was not inclined to participate in such a conference as that proposed, in view of our belief that the moment was not propitious and that it was highly doubtful that any practical results could be achieved. I further said the Ambassador knew it was the determined policy of this Government not to involve itself in European political questions and the questions which seemed to be foremost in the mind of the Soviet Government when this notification was issued were European questions of a political character. I said the general policy of this Government, insofar as its foreign relations were concerned, had been very clearly announced by the Secretary of State only a few days ago³⁹ and I was sure the Ambassador would feel the position which I had announced to him was entirely consistent with the policy announced by the Secretary of State.

The Ambassador said he presumed this would be our reply; that he fully understood our position and that he would advise his Government accordingly.

The Ambassador then inquired whether there was any likelihood of our modifying our present neutrality legislation and whether there was any chance that this Government would modify that portion of our neutrality legislation which had to do with the Spanish situation. I told the Ambassador that that was a matter, as we had officially announced only a few hours before,⁴⁰ which lay within the power of the Congress and was not a matter of executive discretion, but that insofar as I was advised there would appear to be no disposition whatever on the part of the Congress to modify the neutrality legislation at this time.

The Ambassador spoke in general terms with regard to the European situation and seemed to feel that the immediate danger of any war was lessened. He had no information from his Government, however, with regard to any recent developments nor did he indicate any particular interest in the conversations proceeding between Great Britain and Italy.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

S[umner] W[elles]

39. Address entitled “Our Foreign Policy” delivered at the National Press Club, Washington, March 17, 1938; for text, see Department of State, Peace and War: United States Foreign Policy, 1931–1941 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1943), p. 407.
40. A statement by the Secretary of State on the bombing of the civilian population in Barcelona was issued March 21, 1938; for text of statement, see Department of State, Press Releases, March 26, 1938, p. 396.