Office of the Historian

793.94 Conference/31

Memorandum by the Adviser on Political Relations (Dunn) of a Trans-Atlantic Telephone Conversation With the Chargé in the United Kingdom (Johnson)

[Washington,] October 8, 1937.

Acting under the Secretary’s instruction, I telephoned the following message to Herschel Johnson in London today. Mr. Johnson said it was about seven o’clock in London at the time I was talking to him and that he would be able to transmit the message to Mr. Eden83 immediately. I referred to the request of the British Government for our [Page 68] views with regard to the calling of a meeting of the parties to the Nine Power Pact and possibly other associated powers in accordance with the second report of the Advisory Commission of the League of Nations, adopted by the Assembly on October 6.84 I told Mr. Johnson that we had given the British Chargé d’Affaires85 here yesterday our general views with regard to the meeting and that we thought the British Government would be interested in receiving a further indication of our views as they had been arrived at today. I asked him to inform the British Foreign Secretary of the following:

1.
The President suggests for their consideration that Mr. Paul van Zeeland, Prime Minister of Belgium issue the invitations to the signatories of the Nine Power Pact who are not members of the League.
2.
Also that Brussels be considered as a place of meeting.
3.
That if possible the convening of the meeting should be arranged to take place not more than two weeks from this time.
4.
That the first matter for consideration upon assembling would be the consideration of other nations to be invited.

J[ames] C. D[unn]
  1. Anthony Eden, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.↩
  2. Foreign Relations, Japan, 1931–1941, vol. i, p. 394.↩
  3. V. A. L. Mallet.↩