500.A19/70
Memorandum by the Secretary of State
The French Ambassador came in at his own request and promptly remarked that his Government would be pleased to be informed of such plans and purposes as this Government might have in mind to propose in connection with a peaceful settlement and readjustment of the chief international problems and conditions which urgently call for attention and solution. I replied that if and when President Roosevelt or this Government had in mind any definite possibilities in connection with what the Ambassador had just said, the first thing this Government would do would be to collaborate fully and elaborately in a preliminary way with the French, the British, and any other outstanding governments who think along the same fundamental lines; that this government, as I knew was the case with governments like the French and the British, was keenly aware of the numerous problems of an international character which in many respects were now growing more acute and dangerous; that at present my government was closely observing political, economic, and social developments, with the view to keeping informed up to the minute or as nearly so as possible as to their exact nature and any increasing possibilities of danger embodied in them; that as to how and when any definite, concrete steps, by nations acting in concert, would be taken to grapple with any one or more of the existing complicated conditions and questions, some of which as I had stated were becoming increasingly dangerous, was not a matter about which I would undertake to speak to the Ambassador with any definiteness whatever; that if the President should have in mind the possibility of offering a suggestion twelve months hence, or one month hence, or one week hence, it would not be within either my knowledge or my function—certainly not in the present situation—to intimate in the least as to his future purposes or plans in these respects; that in brief, I was trying to make clear that I knew nothing about any definite, future plans in this regard on the part of the President or this Government more than what I described at the outset of our conversation.
The Ambassador then said that the Prime Minister in his last conversation with him had requested him to bring up this phase with this Government and that he did not have a chance to do so on the occasion of his other call here at the Department.
[Page 649]I then casually referred to the collection of international relationships which were proclaimed at the Buenos Aires Conference11 and their indispensable nature in any program for world rehabilitation, and I expressed the hope that more and more nations abroad would join in the work of preaching and keeping alive these seven or eight basic international relationships which were in eclipse at this time.
I congratulated the Ambassador on the success of the French loan during the past few days. He spoke with confidence about the financial outlook. He also stated repeatedly during the conversation that his Government was in entire harmony with all that I undertook to say during this conversation, and would watch opportunities to cooperate. The Ambassador appeared to be in entire good humor. He agreed that the disarmament situation was presenting a serious and dangerous economic problem.