862.34/141: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France ( Straus )
239. Your 515, June 19, 8 p.m. For your guidance. Our general attitude with regard to the recent British-German naval conversations was expressed in the following strictly confidential aide-mémoire presented to the Foreign Office on June 12 in reply to their request for observations:
[Page 168][Here follows text of the aide-mémoire transmitted in the Department’s telegram No. 135, June 11, 5 p.m., to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom, page 164.]
We subsequently gave out a short press release paraphrasing the last paragraph of our aide-mémoire.
You will note that we have taken no position as to the merits of the agreement itself feeling that the naval problem is twofold, one part relating to the fleets of the United States, Great Britain and Japan, the other part to the fleets of the Continental Powers. In the latter field our interest is merely that an agreement be found among the leading European Naval Powers rather than its specific terms.