811.0141 Phoenix Group/67: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Kennedy) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 14—4:20 p.m.]
314. Your 140, April 7, 6 p.m. This matter has been discussed informally at the Foreign Office, but not with Lord Halifax. The official said that a telegram fully explaining their original memorandum had been sent to Sir Ronald Lindsay for communication to the Department.
He also stated they had no intention of conveying the impression that they wished to make an agreement regarding the President’s proposal in any way contingent upon an agreement being reached regarding trans-Pacific aviation. He said that they recognize that the President’s proposal stands by itself but that it was obviously related to the subject of trans-Pacific aviation and that they would like at the time that the announcement is made of agreement between the two countries on the President’s proposal to say that the two countries have also agreed to examine the question of trans-Pacific aviation. Regarding Hawaii, the official stated that they had not the remotest idea of offering any suggestion for joint control of any kind but that they hoped in the accomplishment of an agreement on trans-Pacific aviation to include landing facilities for British planes in Hawaii on the general basis of reciprocity. When I first talked with Lord Halifax he must have understood the proposal to refer only to Canton and Enderbury Islands. That at any rate is [Page 95] how the record at the Foreign Office stands. The official remarked, however, that he understood Canton and Enderbury Islands were the only ones of any value for aviation purposes and that he personally would be glad to see Great Britain turn all of the other disputed ones over to the United States. I should not think that this discrepancy would cause any serious difficulty and, if necessary, I can take up with Lord Halifax the question of the “other” disputed islands.
If the additional explanations offered by Lindsay are not satisfactory I presume you will advise me by telegraph.