562.8F3/260
The Secretary of State to President Roosevelt
My Dear Mr. President: The British Government has called an International Conference for the Regulation of Whaling to meet at London on July 17, 1939, for the purpose of discussing the results of the whaling seasons of 1938 and 1939 and the desirability of extending for a further year or two the prohibition on the killing of the humpbacked whale contained in Article I of the Protocol of 19382 which modified the International Agreement for the Regulation of Whaling signed at London on June 8, 1937.3 The British Government will convene at the same time a meeting of inspectors appointed to enforce the provisions of the International Agreement. This meeting will consider the practice of the inspectors appointed by the various signatory governments and make recommendations with a view to securing uniformity.
The Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution have recommended that the invitation be accepted and the Secretary of the Treasury has recommended the appointment of two officers of the United States Coast Guard. Mr. Herschel V. Johnson, Counselor of the American Embassy at London, attended the International Conference for the Regulation of Whaling held at London in June 1938, at which the Protocol referred to above was signed, and I believe that he should attend the forthcoming meeting. I therefore recommend that the following named persons be designated as delegates of the United States at the proposed Conference:
Mr. Herschel V. Johnson, Counselor of Embassy, American Embassy, London, Chairman;
Lieutenant Commander A. C. Richmond, United States Coast Guard, Treasury Department;
Lieutenant Q. R. Walsh, United States Coast Guard, Treasury Department.
Lieutenant Walsh is an inspector appointed by this Government to enforce the provisions of the International Agreement and as such will represent the United States at the meeting of inspectors.
In the event of their appointment, Mr. Johnson’s attendance at the meeting would involve no additional expense to the Department of State and the expenses of the Coast Guard officers would be defrayed by the Treasury Department.
I shall appreciate your informing me whether the designation of the above-named persons, in the capacities indicated, would meet with your approval.5
Faithfully yours,
- Signed June 24, 1938; Department of State Treaty Series No. 944, or 53 Stat. 1794.↩
- Department of State Treaty Series No. 933, or 52 Stat. 1460; see Foreign Relations, 1937, vol. i, pp. 920 ff.↩
- Marginal notation: “C. H. OK F. D. R.”↩