500.A15A4 General Committee/386: Telegram
The Chairman of the American Delegation (Davis) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 20—9:45 a.m.]
646. Please make following changes in my 644, May 19, 11 p.m.:
Paragraph 2, insert at the end of paragraph “with all the continuance of the international suspicion and fear which this will involve”.
Paragraph 5, first sentence to read: “As a first step the peace treaties reduced the armaments of Germany and her allies with a view to rendering impossible any aggression on their part”.
Paragraph 13, first sentence to read: “In addition I wish to make it clear that we are ready not only to do our part toward the substantive reduction of armaments but, if this is effected by general international agreement, we are also prepared to contribute in other ways to the organization of peace”. In the last sentence, after “guilty party” change to read “we will refrain from any action tending to defeat such collective effort which these states may thus make to restore peace”.
Paragraph 17 in third sentence insert “subject to existing treaty rights” before “armed forces”.
Paragraph 22 delete second sentence and insert “since then there has been an appreciable change. The recent speech by the German Chancellor before the Reichstag clarifying the German attitude and policy with regard to disarmament and indorsing the proposal of President Roosevelt has been most helpful. This and also the subsequent announcement made here by our colleague Herr Nadolny of Germany’s acceptance of the British plan as the basis of the future convention have so altered the situation as to justify us in assuming [Page 159] that we can now resume our consideration of this plan with real hope of agreement.”
In the last sentence delete “in our first reading”.