711.00111 Armament Control/141
The Secretary of State to the Secretary of the Navy (Swanson)
My Dear Mr. Secretary: I am in receipt of Admiral Standley’s letter—(SC)A14–6—of October 9, 1935, requesting that I indicate [Page 805] the nature of the reply which should be made to a telegram which the Navy Department has received from the Naval Attaché in Rome, in regard to the exercise of belligerent rights.
In reply, I suggest that the Naval Attaché be informed that as a state of war exists between Ethiopia and Italy, a fact which the President has recognized in his Proclamations in regard to the shipment of arms, ammunition and implements of war to those countries and in regard to travel by American citizens on vessels of those countries, each of them is entitled to belligerent rights. In existing circumstances, however, it would not appear that any case will arise in which those rights will be exercised in such a manner as to raise a practical question insofar as this Government is concerned.
Sincerely yours,