711.00111 Armament Control/Military Secrets/1207
Memorandum by the Chief of the Office of Arms and Munitions Control (Green)
In the course of a telephone conversation with Mr. Edison, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, this morning, I asked him whether he had any comment to make on the letter to Mr. Gibbs and the note to the Soviet Ambassador, in regard to the battleship which the Soviet Government proposes to construct in this country, which were transmitted to the Navy Department on June 17.
Mr. Edison said that he thought that both the letter and the note were satisfactory in every respect. He said that Mr. Gibbs had called at the Navy Department within the last few days, had expressed himself as entirely satisfied with the decision which had been communicated to him, and had expressed the definite intention of proceeding to prepare new plans for a battleship and to make the necessary arrangements for its construction.
I told Mr. Edison that it was my understanding that henceforth the problems relating to the construction of this battleship would be Navy Department problems and that this Department, which had been struggling with the matter for so long, could now hope that it would have very little to do with the matter in the future.
Mr. Edison said that he realized that the matter was now in his hands, adding that he would keep me informed of any developments which might be of interest to the Department of State.