740.00116 European War, 1939/111: Telegram
The Minister in Finland (Schoenfeld) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 3—9:30 a.m.]
397. The Minister of Foreign Affairs has just handed me the following note verbale, dated December 2:
“The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland has the honour to deliver, in the name of the President of the Republic of Finland, the following reply to the message of the President of the United States of America, delivered by the American Minister on December 1, 1939, ‘The Government of Finland, approving the principle of international law enounced by the President of the United States of America, affirms its determination that its armed forces shall in no event, and under no circumstances, undertake the bombardment from the air of civilian populations or of unfortified cities, upon the understanding that these same rules of warfare will be scrupulously observed by all their opponents.’”