741.65/394: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Bingham) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 4—5:30 p.m.]
522. The press for the past 4 or 5 days has given extensive and enthusiastic publicity to a recent meeting between the Prime Minister and the Italian Ambassador and to an exchange of letters between [Page 114] the Prime Minister and Mussolini. These events have been handled by the press in such a way as to give the impression that an aggressive move is under way to bring about an Anglo-Italian rapprochement in preparation for a meeting of the Locarno powers—Great Britain, France, Germany, and Italy—in London in October.
When I saw Vansittart late yesterday afternoon I took the occasion to ask for any comment he might care to give me on these new developments. He immediately replied that the press had greatly over-dramatized the situation; that the reports of a contemplated meeting of the four Locarno powers in London in October are entirely without foundation; that the letter sent by the Prime Minister to Mussolini which was one of simple friendship and good-will necessarily called for a reply and that the British Government was doing nothing more than to pursue its steady policy of endeavoring to relieve existing tension and to work for a gradual amelioration of the European situation. The recent interview between the Prime Minister and the Italian Ambassador which was requested by the Italian Ambassador and the correspondence between the Prime Minister and Mussolini are no more than steps toward a renewed endeavor to bring about an understanding between the four great powers and are not to be interpreted as an indication of a new orientation of British policy.
While Vansittart’s cautious and restrained comment is doubtless a cold statement of the facts, I had, nevertheless the impression from him that although the press may have, as he said, put out a “grand story for the Bank Holiday” the British Government is not displeased with the wide and favorable interest shown in the possibility of an Anglo-Italian rapprochement. Even though the press has handled the story in an over-enthusiastic fashion Vansittart takes the idea it may perhaps serve as a useful purpose in softening public opinion both in Italy and in Great Britain, thus creating a more favorable atmosphere for the quiet and cautious endeavors being made behind the scene.
The Foreign Office apparently is giving very little comment or information to the press. I gather, however, from an entirely reliable press source that both in Borne and in London great efforts are being made in certain quarters to have it appear that the initiative for the recent Anglo-Italian changes came from the other side. From the same source I am informed that the interview given by Ciano to a representative of the Universal News Service and published in this morning’s papers was “framed” by the Universal News Service and the Daily Telegraph in London. The Daily Telegraph incidentally has carried the most sanguine speculations as to the Prime Minister’s hopes to promote a meeting of the Locarno powers in October.