740.0011 European War 1939/729: Telegram

The Ambassador in Belgium ( Davies ) to the Secretary of State

152. For the President and the Secretary. There is great fear here that there is possibly imminent some action of either one or the other of the belligerents which will harden the present situation into an [Page 508] irrevocable, bitter, real, long and horrible war. It is directed not only to the possibility of an immediate German assault on the Western front but to the fact that the other side might precipitately do something that would destroy the trembling “bridge of peace” which delay might yet afford. They still cling desperately to the hope that time and development of some possibly unforeseen events might avert the catastrophe before it is hardened into finality. In this, their darkest hour, I have been requested by a high source to say that the only person in the world who can possibly avert the holocaust is the President of the United States and to express their hope that he might find some means of again making some effort similar to the noble ones which commanded the admiration of the liberty loving world in previous crises.

Despatch following by special messenger on Clipper.82

Davies
  1. Despatch sent direct to the President is filed in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, N. Y. It contained the information that the source of the appeal was King Leopold.