840.48 Refugees/1984
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Chief of the Division of European Affairs (Pell)
M. van Zeeland said that he wished to give me in some detail his ideas in order that I might communicate them to the Under Secretary of State. M. van Zeeland has an appointment with Mr. Welles on Friday and is anxious that the Under Secretary should be informed in advance of what he proposes to discuss.
M. van Zeeland said that since he had accepted the Chairmanship of the Coordinating Foundation he had given a great deal of thought to the refugee problem and had come to the following conclusions:
[Here follow substantially the points numbered (1) to (9), inclusive, in the letter from the Under Secretary of State to President Roosevelt, December 1, printed infra.]
This is M. van Zeeland’s general program. He has already discussed it with business leaders in New York, notably with the Jewish leaders including Mr. Baerwald, Mr. Rosenberg, Mr. Lessing Rosenwald and Mr. Bernard Baruch, and he is optimistic as to the outcome. Before proceeding, however, M. van Zeeland wishes to know exactly where he stands with the American Government. He wishes to know [Page 154] whether the American Government would approve a program such as he has outlined and would at least give it a moral blessing.
Among the specific settlement schemes in which M. van Zeeland is particularly interested is the project for settlement in Angola, M. van Zeeland is, however, very much opposed to the type of procedure which has been followed so far. He does not believe that it was wise to have sent out Mr. Linton Wells83 and he does not believe that it is wise to indulge in subterfuge in dealing with the Portuguese authorities. M. van Zeeland has relations with M. Salazar84 and is willing to approach him immediately upon his return to Europe with the suggestion that the Portuguese Government provide facilities to a limited settlement company which would establish large numbers of refugees in Angola. In order to succeed, M. van Zeeland is of the opinion that he must have two things: 1) he must have the assurance that sufficient capital will be available in order that he may come to terms immediately with Salazar; and 2) he must be assured of the moral support of the American Government. He will wish to ask the Under Secretary specifically whether the American Government would wish to support a scheme for settlement in Angola and the extent to which he might use the assurances of American support in his conversations with Salazar.