500.A15A/333: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chairman of the American Delegation (Davis)
55. Your 74, December 15, 8 a.m. Subject to advance agreement on a satisfactory communiqué, we are prepared to accede to the British idea of putting an end to the present conversations on the 19th or 20th in a tripartite meeting. This will be sufficiently close to Japanese denunciation to make the connection between the two events clear in the public mind without the need of its being openly stressed. Meeting the British on this basis should make it easier for them to meet our preoccupations with regard to the contents of the communiqué.
In considering the draft you submitted, (1) we agree with you that it is essential to delete any reference to informal talks after adjournment, and believe that a gentleman’s understanding should be reached that there would be no talks following denunciation; (2) we feel that the last two sentences keep alive and emphasize the feeling that the British wish to continue their role of brokerage. These might well be rephrased along the following lines: “After adjournment the Governments concerned in the London conversations will keep in close touch with each other and with the other governments which are parties to the Washington and London naval Treaties. The British Government will summon a conference at such time as it thinks opportune.”
As to the actual wording of this and other parts of the communiqué I wish to give you a free hand, subject of course to my final approval, asking you to bear in mind however the following objectives: (1) we shall not cavil at the phraseology used as to whether the conversations are to be adjourned or terminated provided the sense of communiqué makes it clear that any future discussions are not a mere resumption [Page 402] of the conversations to date; (2) we are still unable to see any advantage in further preliminary conversations preparatory to a conference. In the public eye the distinction between conversations and a conference is slight; if agreement can be reached in one, it can be reached in the other; and if the prospects of success justify calling an international gathering to discuss naval problems through other than diplomatic channels, they justify the calling of the full conference. (See paragraph 1, our 49 December 8, 3 p.m.)