741.00/202: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Kennedy) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 12—6:30 p.m.]
1167. I spent an hour and a half with Halifax19 this afternoon drinking tea in front of his fireplace while he outlined to me what I think may be the future policy of His Majesty’s Government. First of all, Halifax does not believe that Hitler wants to have a war with Great Britain and he does not think there is any sense in Great Britain having a war with Hitler unless there is direct interference with England’s Dominions. The future of England, as he sees it, is to strengthen herself in the air, and “by the way France should do the same,” so that nobody can get fresh with them from the air. Then after that to let Hitler go ahead and do what he likes in Central [Page 86] Europe. In other words, there is no question in Halifax’s mind that reasonably soon Hitler will make a start for Danzig, with Polish concurrence, and then for Memel, with Lithuanian acquiescence, and even if he decides to go into Rumania it is Halifax’s idea that England should mind her own business. He contends again that England would never have got into the Czechoslovak situation if it had not been for France. Therefore, he sees the future of England lies in her maintaining her relations in the Mediterranean, keeping friendly with Portugal, he hopes Spain, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Palestine—he almost burnt himself drinking his tea when he mentioned the latter—plus England’s connections in the Red Sea, fostering the Dominion connections, and staying very friendly with the United States, and then, as far as everything else is concerned, Hitler can do the best he can for himself. Halifax said they have information from Mussolini that he regards the pact with England as especially important and that is why he is so anxious to get it closed up but with Germany right on his border, he is not going to get very fresh with Hitler unless he knows his allies, whether they be England or anybody else, are going to be strong enough to help him. I asked him in that event what are the possibilities of Germany and Russia getting together. He said he did not think it likely under Hitler but he thought that the German Army might some day think it was a good move and for that reason England was going to try and keep as friendly as she could with Russia. He thinks that the world will recognize that air battles and air victories will never be decisive and that countries will protect themselves with all sorts of defenses like the Maginot line.
He also emphasized what the Prime Minister told me about Hitler’s personality; that he was uncouth and certainly not the kind of fellow one would like to go around the world with on a two-wheeled bicycle. Mussolini, on the contrary, he felt, was quite a different type.
- Viscount Halifax, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.↩