Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, 1933, General, Volume I

800.51W89 France/835

The Secretary of State to President-elect Roosevelt

[Washington,] January 22, 1933.

Dear Governor: You will remember that at our talk at the Mayflower⁷⁶ I suggested that it might become advisable and necessary to send a note to the French Government on the subject of the nonpayment of their December installment. We did not have the time then to finish our talk on that subject, and further reflection has tended to impress upon me the necessity of taking some such action, although perhaps not by formal note and certainly in a friendly manner.

For some time after December 15 there seemed to be a fair chance of the French reconsidering their decision with respect to the payment of that installment. It seemed, therefore, wise to urge the payment informally rather than by continuing a formal correspondence. Such a reconsideration by France has not taken place, and there may be a real danger that the French Government and people will feel that the United States in not taking any formal action since December 15 does not take very seriously the French failure to pay.

It is with this thought in mind and in the hope that if such a statement as I have drafted is made by our Ambassador in Paris to the French Government, the chances of payment will be definitely increased, thereby simplifying the question of the later handling of the French debt problem, as well as other matters which may require cooperation between the two countries.

I am enclosing a tentative draft of a proposed statement which I think states the American position in an entirely friendly spirit yet with clearness. We do not wish to take this step if you feel it would be injurious to any plan for handling the situation which you may have in mind.

Sincerely yours,

Henry L. Stimson

[Enclosure]

Draft

The United States Government has patiently deferred protest at the failure of the French Government to make the payment due on December 15th last under the terms of the Debt Settlement of April 29, 1926,⁷⁷ in the hope and expectation that the decision of the French Government would be reconsidered. That hope has not to date been realized.

The United States Government now desires formally to protest at the failure of the French Government to meet the terms of its obligations. It wishes in all friendliness to point out the great importance to the world of maintaining international obligations as an essential element of stability and in order to form the basis for the intimate understanding and cooperation among friendly nations which are so necessary to the solution of many difficult questions which now confront the world, and which require common effort.

Accordingly the United States Government trusts that the French Government will take prompt steps to correct the present situation, the continuation of which must necessarily increase misunderstanding and form an obstacle to cooperation between the nations.

76. At the Mayflower Hotel, Washington, January 19.
77. Combined Annual Reports of the World War Foreign Debt Commission, 1922–1926, p. 257.