740.00/654
The Consul at Geneva (Bucknell) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 21.]
Sir: I have the honor to inform the Department that in a recent conversation with the Secretary General of the League Mr. Avenol discussed at some length the present international situation. To sum up his views briefly, he felt that until some sort of international conference could meet to settle basic problems such as disarmament, economic barriers to trade, et cetera, no long-range or final settlement was possible in Europe. He thought that a conference of this kind was impossible for the moment but on the other hand felt that some progress had been made in that public opinion against war in the totalitarian countries seemed to be steadily growing and furthermore the balance of forces between the democratic countries and the totalitarian states was rapidly becoming more equal. This latter factor he thought might well act as a deterrent to any desperate venture on the part of either Hitler or Mussolini. Failing some final settlement of the more underlying problems, he felt that the present situation of relative calm might be only temporary and that the general situation might change drastically from day to day or from month to month.
During the same conversation he spoke with great appreciation of the Secretary’s reply to the League concerning the technical activities of the League and our collaboration in these activities. He described the reply as a very important document and one that was greatly appreciated. He also took occasion to refer to the President’s last speech before Congress,55 which he said he had read and re-read, and described it as a “very great speech”. In speaking of the defense [Page 32] of democratic institutions in the face of totalitarian pressure, he went on to say that any defender of the League could have made the speech that the President had made before Congress in defense and support of the former institution.
As regards the present mission of the League, he felt that it was no time to make political pronouncements or to undertake political manoeuvers. Emphasis should, he thought, be placed rather upon the extension and added efficiency of the League’s technical services which would prove the value of the technical collaboration mentioned in the Secretary’s reply referred to above.
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Respectfully yours,
- January 4, 1939, Congressional Record, vol. 84, pt. 1, p. 74.↩