Office of the Historian

500.A15A4 General Committee/784: Telegram

The American Delegate (Wilson) to the Secretary of State

Geneva, February 17, 1934—7 p.m.
[Received February 17—5:55 p.m.]

818. My 817, February 17, 5 p.m.

1.
Avenol can usually be counted on for dispassionate appreciation of events. His forecast contained in paragraph 8 of my 817, therefore, [Page 22] should be given serious consideration especially as it seems to harmonize with the present trends where Great Britain is the only great power still actively fighting for reduction. I should feel as disappointed as I know you would with such an ending to the Disarmament Conference. If our Government believes that an effort should still be made for a treaty with real reductions the present would seem to be the time. Such an effort to have any chance of being efficacious should be made not later than Eden’s return to London. Otherwise we may be faced with the basis of an accord between the European powers for status quo limitation and not reduction.
2.
I have little faith in the efficacy of any endeavor on our part at the present time to secure reduction. However, you may feel that the Government of the United States should make a final effort before anything crystallizes. We would thus meet a disappointing end to the Conference with the conviction that we had done our utmost. If such is your view I venture most earnestly to urge upon you the advisability of so framing any statement that it will not jeopardize the possibility of the states of Europe making peace between themselves on any basis on which they can find that peace. Any continuing understanding among them leading to appeasement can not but be advantageous to us.
3.
The hypothesis of a treaty of status quo limitation as opposed to reduction would present an entirely new problem to us. The offers which we have made to participate in various phases of activity related to disarmament have always been predicated as applying to a treaty which contained real reduction. What our attitude should be as to our own participation in any other type of treaty is one deserving very serious consideration and study.
Wilson