800.51W89 Finland/64
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Phillips)
The Finnish Minister called to tell me that he had had a conversation with Mr. Acheson, Acting Secretary of the Treasury, during which the latter told him that the President had suggested the advisability of a joint conference at the White House between himself, the Finnish Minister, the Secretary of State and Mr. Acheson.
[Page 864]The Minister wished me to know that, while, of course, he would be happy to respond to such an invitation from the President, he was not in a position to say anything definite in regard to the attitude of his Government toward the December payment on the debt; he added that he was telegraphing to his Government, advising them of the President’s suggestion and asking for instructions; these instructions presumably would not be received before the end of the week. In the circumstances, the suggestion made to me was that the conference would be more satisfactory if it could be held after the receipt of the instructions and not before.
I assured the Minister that if the White House expressed a further desire for this conference within the next two or three days, I would say that, while the Minister would be glad to be present, he felt that it might be more satisfactory to the President to wait for the instructions from Finland. I added that I would communicate also with Mr. Acheson.
The Minister thanked me and said that this would be wholly satisfactory.