500.A15A5/86: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Straus)
231. Personal for Norman Davis. Your 903, June 14, 8 p.m., from Geneva. It was always our understanding that the first purpose of the preliminary naval talks was to iron out with the British our differences on technical matters so as to achieve a common viewpoint. Whether this is to be done most effectively through direct naval talks between Leigh and Bellairs, or in the more orthodox manner through joint talks between you and responsible British officials, with the naval officers acting as advisers, is a question we cannot judge here. I doubt if you yourself can make a final decision on this point until after talking the situation over with Leigh on the basis of the President’s technical instructions. We give you full latitude as to the tactics you choose to follow, but I want to make it perfectly clear that neither the President nor I wish you to run any risk of losing control of the talks you are guiding and that what we envisaged was a system of informal talks somewhat analogous to that you and Bingham had worked out last spring. I telegraphed Bingham last night explaining that I hoped that with his rank and special knowledge of British conditions as an adjunct to your technical preeminence [Page 259] in carrying through the conversations which you arranged for last spring, this Government would be in a position to profit by the suggested arrangement.
To recapitulate: I am sure that Bingham will cheerfully cooperate with you in pursuing the course calculated to be most effective in carrying on these talks and I hope very much that you will not reach a decision as to the details of this course until you have thoroughly studied and sized up the situation after reaching London.